The Good Life - what's wrong with it?

The way of being salt and light is a role (a part and position) that Christians are called to in the world. It is a role that requires us to take up a place in our world, at work, at school, and in the neighborhood. Christians are called to imagine another world, and to do so by living amid the divisiveness, alienation, suffering, and violence, as well as the good things, the loves and hopes of where we live now.

David Matzko McCarthy
The Good Life

Powell's Books sums this book up like this: Intimate friendships, loving families, good food, and beautiful homes--middle-class Westerners enjoy so many gifts. Christians often feel guilty about their enjoyment of these gifts, but David McCarthy suggests that God provides these things for our enjoyment. In contrast to consumerism, which encourages shallow relationships, McCarthy explains how the love of God fosters a deep attachment to the world. He describes this in relation to marriage, family, friendship, hospitality, and work. A right ordering of our desires will lead Christians to an enjoyment of life that require less stuff. This book will be appreciated by all Christians trying to live well in an affluent culture.

You have to read carefully to see the words, 'in contrast to consumerism', which appears to be the crux of the point McCarthy is making. The reviews on Amazon bring this to the fore more clearly.

Skye Jethani's new book, The Divine Commodity, is now out and about (in the States, at least). There's a not-very-long review in a post on the signs of life blog, written by the blog owner, David Swanson.

He makes the following comment at one point, and quotes from the book:

It is the description of an alternative to consumer Christianity that is most commendable. In a chapter about the tendency to place institutions before relationships Skye writes,

What may be needed is a fundamental rethinking of the church within the minds of the members, cultivating the imagination to conceive of the church as a relational community rather than an institutional organization. Beginning on the smallest end of the scale, this means relearning the lost art of friendship.

Swanson notes elsewhere:

The Divine Commodity is organized into nine chapters, each which observe an aspect of consumerism that has infiltrated the church. Filled with stories, cultural artifacts, and Biblical reflection these observations are easily connected to the reader’s own context.

Advent Conspiracy

Regrettably, it's a bit late for this video - for this year. (I've only just discovered it.) And though it makes part of its point by relating to the US, it's certainly something that Kiwis could do with seeing (we being almost as consumerism-minded as the US).




Check it out!

Todd Rhoades (who calls himself a Christ-follower) has an interesting list of ten theological issues that he feels the church will still be facing for at least another decade. Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) heads the list, but I'm not sure that the list is in any particular order. Homosexuality is there, of course; what sort of churches we'll be looking at in the future is there; social justice - and Christian consumerism. It's a good list, though no doubt others could add to it.
The comments make interesting reading. A couple of people think the list is pretty ho-hum, because it covers ground that the church has been looking at for some time, but others make some worthwhile points, including the man who defends Open Theism.

Shopping for God

James Twitchell is interested in "how religious sensation is currently being manufactured, branded, packaged, shipped out, and consumed."
Most of what we read about ministry leadership, outreach, and management is infused with a heavy dose of spiritual language. Twitchell propels the pendulum the other way. By removing God language, he asserts that most of what we assume to be fueled by divine power may actually be the result of market forces. Today, the way people choose a church is almost the same as how they shop for groceries.
The next generation won't accept the mega brand, because the "pastorpreneurs" that launched [megachurches] are mavericks, impossible to replace. The same market forces that created the megachurch may ultimately be its undoing.

Extracts from a review (by Skye Jethani) of Twitchell’s Shopping for God: How Christianity Went from in Your Heart to in Your Face.