Resident Aliens

Quite a disappointing book given the level of fanfare it produced.

It's unfortunate that the arbitrary assumptions Hauerwas and Willimon make about secular Western culture are based such a weak interpretation of our context. They are right about the changing role of the church through the last century and the need for the church to present a real politic for our culture. But instead of theological or scriptural roots for that polis, and while ignoring the Christian development of ideas they don't like, they allow their antipathy for liberal democracy and capitalism to suffice in its stead, meaning they rather unquestioningly do little more than repeat the tired old secular leftist complaints about Western culture which have drifted show more about for two centuries. For example, their articulation of individualism in the West presents a mere caricature of the philosophical and historical reality of the nuanced ideas in question: ideas clearly rooted in Christian faith and history; ideas which have lead to relative relief from poverty, tyranny and war in the West. Their call for church and clergy to regain their rightful task in truth telling, in a similar fashion, sounds so noble and invigorating until one discovers that the political truth they expect to be told is just nonsense.

Christian communities are indeed aliens in the West, but not for the reasons Hauerwas and Willimon would like us to believe. show less

Although fairly dense in their writing style, Willimon and Hauerwas provide an important and insightful critique of church in America today.

"The challenge facing today's Christian is... to form a community, a colony of resident aliens" that knows and embodies the love of our trinitarian God (171). "The biggest problem facing Christian theology is not translation but enactment. (172)" In short, they argue that the church embodies more of the values of contemporary culture than the values of Jesus and God's kingdom. We must form counter-cultural alien colonies wherever the church is located.

Hauerwas and Willimon challenge the contemporary church--and particularly the clergy--to actively create communities that follow Jesus. They argue that Christendom exists no more, and that contemporary society is far closer to 1st century society with religious pluralism and Christianity out of power than it is to 19th century ideas that Christianity was the norm in society. As a result, they call for clergy and believers to cease making accommodations to the society in which we live and instead to live as "resident aliens" who belong to a different kingdom.

Self-righteous, self-congratulatory, pompous, and unambitious: This book is a clear example of what is wrong with Seminarians. There are good ideas here (Christianity shouldn't be a slave to tradition or society), but the good ideas are underdeveloped, unsupported, and drowned in a sea of hyperbole.

The authors say things like, "God demands that we sacrifice the lives of our children and those we love to our interpretation of His will!", "Democracy and individual rights are idols!" "Biblical
authority is more important than compassion or kindness!"

I don't buy any of that and I won't endorse it.

This book was all over the place. But in a good way. whether talking about if our church was true followers of Jesus and how they would act, to if we were true followers of Jesus how we would vote.

The book discusses how you don't teach language by teaching the rules first. You teach language by example. So why does the church want to teach people how to be Christians by teaching them the rules first.

This book also had great examples of what true Christian community should look like. Are we serving each other and looking to build each other up, or are we satisfying our own needs and using the community.

This book was all over the place. But in a good way. whether talking about if our church was true followers of Jesus and how they would act, to if we were true followers of Jesus how we would vote.

The book discusses how you don't teach language by teaching the rules first. You teach language by example. So why does the church want to teach people how to be Christians by teaching them the rules first.

This book also had great examples of what true Christian community should look like. Are we serving each other and looking to build each other up, or are we satisfying our own needs and using the community.

This book was quite an awakening for me when I first read it. Today it seems somewhat too strident in tone. Maybe because I have come to take its arguments somewhat for granted.