unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters by David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters
Book Review: Some useful information set in a limited attitude
Summary: 3 Stars
Our small discipleship group (Lutheran/Minnesota) read this book and discussed it. Individual members of the group had very different reactions (warning: we're all Boomers):
-- J stated, "I almost put it down when I saw the contributors on the back cover were all Evangelicals. I escaped from that community and I don't want to go back to it." Group pointed out only two "contributing" authors were women -- John Stott not an Evangelical -- but the narrowness of the selection of "Christian leaders" reveals the author's clear bias toward an interpretation of Christianity as meaning only the born-again/Evangelical version most often found in the southern US.
-- S noted that the "Barna biblical worldview" used to assess the depth of a person's faith is sadly lacking in WORLD view -- see p. 75 -- nothing there about social justice, ecology (stewardship of God's earth), concern for understanding the world and the Christian mission through the eyes of other races and nations --
-- H noted ironically that "As Christians we shouldn't judge others, but the people that I judge are the religious right."
--P liked the book -- felt it's thesis about how people outside Christian denominations view Christians in U.S. culture was largely true and formed a challenge to those of us who try to follow Jesus' example
-- M was "really glad" we had chosen this book. She hadn't heard of it and found it very helpful in thinking about her ministry
-- Most members of the group were very disturbed by the authors treatment of homosexuality. It isn't possible to "hate the sin and love the sinner" because you keep the view of the other person as "sinner" foremost in your mind. We are called more simply to love our neighbor.
Having discussed our frustrations with the book, the group then turned to the challenge raised -- How do we demonstrate Christ's radical love here, in our own community? Responses:
--Praying and studying the Bible, so that prayer and Scripture infuse our thinking and everything we do
--Reach out and minister to the poor and those on the margins of society
--Reflect Christ in our vocations
-- Martin Luther said: "Why do we do good works? Because our neighbor needs them." i.e. -- it's not for marketing purposes
-- Within our congregation, nurture the high profile and accomplished people in town by allowing them to be members and pressuring them or expecting them to take leadership roles -- also without calling attention to their presence. -- Attention and honors are given to those who serve.
--Encourage members of the congregation to actively support community organizations that serve the poor and those in need through time and money, rather than wasting resources through inventing our own missions just to claim the work as "ours."
The ELCA is currently facing a huge public relations problem. We need to highlight those aspects of the ELCA that truly reflect Christ's call to ministry -- like the work of Lutheran Social Services and the commitment of the ELCA to maintaining the Christian mission in its colleges and seminaries.
This author wishes that Kinneman would have included scholarly definitions of Mosaics, Busters, and Boomers. Since much of the text contrasts the views of Mosaics and Busters with some other group to which the reader is assumed to belong, it would be helpful to have Kinneman reveal something of what this group believes.
Book Review: What people think about Christianity
Summary: 5 Stars
After a while there is a certain sameness to books reporting the results of surveys of demographic groups such as "builders", "boomers", and "busters". A number of such books are gathering dust on my bookshelves, and experience has taught me that sweeping generalisations about the predilections and habits of particular demographic groups are not as helpful as I expected. However, in my view this book breaks the mould.
According to the book, young Americans who are outsiders to the Christian faith have overwhelmingly negative attitudes towards contemporary expressions of Christianity. They view people who claim to be Christian as "unChristian"; specifically, they regard the Christian community as hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political and judgmental.
Although the research behind the book was limited to the US, the attitudes described seem to me to reflect quite accurately those of young Australians who are outsiders to Christianity. Dominant perceptions of Christianity seem to come from the US "Religious Right", and Christians as a whole are seen as "anti-abortion", "anti-homosexual", "anti-any-other-sort-of-sex", and "pro-violence" when it comes to the enforcement of rules on reluctant recipients. Kinnaman's book is a timely call for us to reconsider how to demonstrate grace in our lives. Highly recommended.
Book Review: great book- from a christian perspective
Summary: 3 Stars
After reading this book, I couldn't help but think that perhaps the author has missed the primary reason that young people are leaving the so-called "flock" in droves. Could it be perhaps that they simply don't believe in Christianity and what their pastor is saying and are tired of going through the motions just to belong to a community that they have grown out of? It would make sense that the author of a book with the goal of trying to express what an "outsider" to Christianity really thinks, would at least tackle the main obstacle to faith which is the idea that Christianity is a fraud, a well-constructed web of lies. If well-meaning Christians think that the only obstacles that they face with their friends and others that they evangelize to boil down to marketing strategies, they might find themselves disappointed as the gulf in worldviews that needs to be crossed for a true convert to the faith is much broader and deeper.
Book Review: Unchristian
Summary: 1 Stars
Unchristian tends to equate "Christian" with conservative Christian. The book's content seems overly simplistic, avoiding the 800 pound gorilla in the room: namely that, as the far right conservative Christian message has gained greater prominence in public discourse over the past decade or two, the content of the message has shown itself to be shallow, often trite. Unchristian approaches declining membership in many organized churches as a marketing problem, but refuses to acknowledge that the product itself, too often the Gospel according to bumper stickers, lacks much value.Book Review: Happy Customer
Summary: 5 Stars
This book came in record time. I was going to purchase it at a bookstore but so glad that I got it on amazon. It was in excellent condition just as they said and it came within a day or two of ordering.