Review: Why We Love the Church

What can I say? Bagging the church has become so commonplace that writing about the AWESOMENESS of the church has become cool in a weird countercultural manner. It's so commonplace to find books about "community" and "religion (ie Church) is bad, spirituality (ie talking about God in Starbucks) is cool". But how often do you come across a book that argues FOR the Church?

In all seriousness - DeYoung and Kluck have put together a great book, worthy of its title. Mind you, this is no theological treatise examining constructs of the "visible vs the invisible" Church and so on, but a heartfelt, down-to-earth plea for Christians to come back to their senses; to stop talking about how one can find God in places like StarBucks and Enimem music, and to just love God and serve His people for who they are.

In this book, they discuss the (occassional) madness of the Emergent Church movement (and its merits), and then engage with all the "Disappointments" emergents often have with the church. And the conclusion at the end is not wholly unexpected - we know the Church isn't perfect, but whether you're emergent or reformed or pentecostal, you've got to learn to deal with it.

Mind you, the style of this book swings between bits by DeYoung and others by Kluck, but with surprisingly good effect - for reflectiveness and theological thoroughness of the former being balanced out by the humor and down-to-earth style of the latter.

Whilst they don't break any new ground in Ecclesiology, I would heartily recommend any Christian to read this book, simply for the fact that it draws us back to see the big picture - that we are God's people, broken, but eagerly awaiting our redemption. And the best place to do that, is with the Church.

Phew, long time no post.

As the title goes. It's been a fairly hectic 4-5 months. Going back to Singapore, getting wedding plans sorting, starting work back here in Melbourne. Here's some material I've been able to get through during this period:

1. Health and Medicine in the Methodist Tradition, by Hollifield.

As the author says in the preface - trying to write about something Wesley never wrote about (specifically) is an immense challenge. This book was borne out of Wesley's noted interest in health and medicine (his famous/infamous booklet The Primitve Physicke is a case in point), as well as the tradition's ongoing theology and practical involvement in the field.

It is basically organised along particular themes - such as death, suffering and life/holiness as a journey. Each section explores what Wesley thought/wrote/believed about the theme, where the Methodists took this theme, and ultimately where we should/could be headed.

Hollifield does, in my opinion, do a good job of capturing and articulating Wesleyan approaches to key medical issues, applying Wesleyan theological concepts appropriately, and filling in the gaps using by extrapolating what was said/done before. Given the sparcity of reading on this topic within the Methodist tradition, this book is a gem.

2. Theology and Proclamation, by Willimon.

I've reviewed this book on my facebook page, but I'll outline some key thoughts. This book articulates a clear theology of preaching, looking at this divine act through various theological paridigms - such as Cross and Resurrection. In doing this, Willimon successfully lifts the preachers out of the pragmatic, "life application" ghetto they often finds themselves in.

A particular declaration from the book sums it up perfectly - the primary task of preaching is not to be applicable, or interesting; it is to be biblical. For there is nothing more applicable, nothing more fascinating than the Word of God. So if our sermons are boring and irrelevant, it is not a problem with style, it is fundamentally a problem with our substance. Willimon hammers this point in over and over, and inspiringly so.

3. Being Consumed, by Cavanaugh.

Also reviewed on facebook, Cavanaugh moves beyond typical "free market" vs "state interventionalist" approaches to economics. He in some ways deconstructs our modern concept of the free market, pointing out how modern economic paradigms fall apart in the face of particular theological realities of the Christian faith. For example, he critiques our idea of the "free market" by applying Augustinian values of freedom.

The chapters on economics are interesting enough, but Cavanaugh is primarily a theologian, and really comes into his own on the more "theological" chapters, such as one where he argues for the Eucharist as articulating an alternate socio-economic reality for Christians.

Some debatable points here (especially for those of a non-Roman Catholic background), but a valueable contribution to the discussion in this field.

4. Why We Love the Church, by Kluck and DeYoung.

I'm still reading this, so the review is to come.