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.

The Trouble with Paris

By a circuitous route, I found a DVD resource for young people, called, The Trouble with Paris. (It came via an Aussie magazine called Novus, which contained an article by Darren Rouse (famous for the very popular ProBlogger site) who's a Baptist pastor in Melbourne. In the article he referred to his other site, The Living Room, and in one of the posts there I found reference to the DVD.

The Trouble With Paris takes you on a four-week journey exposing the myths of popular culture, whilst presenting a new lens by which to view Christianity in a consumer world.

Western culture teaches us that our value and identity comes from the products, experiences and relationships that we consume. You can become a celebrity if you want it bad enough. Youth is worshipped and commitment to anything is uncool. But where do I find contentment and happiness? In a society where consumerism is god, how do Christians express their faith in a meaningful and relevant way?

Mark Sayers, Australia 's leading young adults theologian, presents a unique insight into how media and advertising impacts upon our dreams, values and expectations as Christians. The Trouble With Paris has thoughtful animation and an interactive question time, and is the ideal resource for small groups or individuals wanting to reshape how to live out your faith in a world of plastic promises.

The modules are as follows:
• Week One – The Pursuit of Happiness
• Week Two – Fame, Fortune and other Fables
• Week Three – Reality Bites
• Week Four – Finding God's Reality

You can buy a copy of the DVD directly from the website.

Radical Christianity

Savitri Durkee was born in New Mexico. She directs the radical performance community known as The Church of Stop Shopping and lives in Brooklyn.

The Church of Stop Shopping is an activist performance group based in New York City, led by Reverend Billy (stage name Bill Talen). Using the form of a revival meeting, on sidewalks and in chain stores, Reverend Billy and the gospel choir exhort consumers to abandon the products of large corporations and mass media; the group also preaches a broader message of economic justice, environmental protection, and anti-militarism, protesting sweatshops and the Iraq War. While it continues its street theater activities, the Church has also appeared on stage, has toured internationally, and most recently was the subject of a feature length film by Morgan Spurlock called “What Would Jesus Buy”.

Zack Exley is a founder and president of the New Organizing Institute, and also works with ThoughWorks as a consultant to organizations, businesses and leaders. He directed the online campaign for the British Labour Party’s 2005 re-election, and was Director of Online Organizing and Communications at Kerry-Edwards 2004. Before that, he served as Organizing Director at MoveOn.org, and was an adviser to the early Dean campaign. Zack spent the 90’s working as a union organizer. He blogs at the HuffingtonPost and ZackExley.com. In September 2007 he launched RevolutionInJesusland.com, where he blogs from the road, scouting “the fourth Great Awakening”. This evangelical “revolution” is the fastest growing and most surprising of American social movements today. From mega churches to tiny country churches, evangelical Christians are rediscovering the “gospel of the God of the oppressed.”