reimaginings

This books hurts, unassumingly at first, of course.  But then zero’s in on those areas of the Christian life we love to ignore.

 

Chapter one addresses the obvious first question - why a book about justice, particularly in the burbs?  Justice, according to the authors, simply means ‘acting right in our relationships’ - living by the golden rule.  So simple, but so often forgotten.

 

Chapter two discusses why we often neglect justice.  One word: privilege.  Our culture of entitlement - middle-class, cuddled safety - blinds us to cry for justice all around us.  Curiously, we even co-opt scripture to remain satisfied in delusional myopia.

 

Chapter three reveals that fear often hinders our pursuit of justice.  To avoid loss of social acceptance we prioritize culture over Christ identification. 

 

Chapter four reminds us that God is already and always at work - not requiring us to invent something new in order to get started (or as an excuse for not doing anything).

 

Chapter five, quoting Lesslie Newbigin, insists that Christian community should become a ‘hermeneutic of the gospel’. How we live each moment impacts the world far more than carefully crafted creeds and programs.

 

Chapter six defines culture as that which tends to “grow in the soil of our choices”.  All of us interact with and are shaped by culture through choices.  Make a positive impact.

 

Chapter seven posits that there is a cost to living for justice.  Even small changes elicit scrutiny and system responses - beginning in our own families.  Putting God first and investing in relationships around us thrusts us out of the closet & under a lens.

 

Chapter eight reveals that the suburbs can actually be a lonely and spiritually unhealthy place.  Yet, despite the need for justice, efforts are initially rebuffed until trust is won through relationships.

 

Chapter nine cautions us not to imagine that the need for justice is distant from where we are.  A theology of place suggests that God doesn’t waste resources by sending us elsewhere when he has something for us to do just where we are.

 

Chapter ten challenges us to develop a holistic justice orientation - eliminating our wasteful indulgence of natural resources, reprioritizing our time and effort, and intentionally living with less so that others may have enough.

 

Chapter eleven reminds us that acting for justice makes us agents of shalom.

 

Chapter twelve addresses the American quick fix mentality.  We are to live faithfully as we are called - until our last breath - leaving results with God.   

 

This book calls us to honestly rethink what we call Christianity.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.