In the preface of the book Hauerwas and Willimon lay out the trajectory of their excellent book, Resident Aliens:
We believe that the designations of the church as a colony and Christians as resident aliens are not too strong for the modern American church – indeed, we believe it is the nature of the church, at any time and in any situation, to be a colony. Perhaps it sounds a bit overly dramatic to describe the actual churches you know as colonies in the middle of an alien culture. but we believe that things have changed for the church residing in America and that faithfulness to Christ demands that we either change of else go the way of all compromised forms of the Christian faith.
Those looking to have a book that sides with their political view will be left frustrated because the authors have a way of critiquing both the left and the right while finding themselves raising questions on a totally different playing field.
In the church’s view, the political left is not noticeably more interesting than the political right; both sides tend toward solutions that act as if the world has not ended and begun in Jesus. These “solutions” are only mirror images of the status quo.
I found this book to be refreshing, frustration, convicting and full of hope. I highly recommend it to anyone in the church who knows that something is wrong!
Filed under: Book of the Week
