OK, so it's not a new book.  But, as "outside" the norm as I have been, as far as thinking about the church goes, I don't think I would have been ready for this book 10 years ago.

The cover describes the book as "A provocative Christian Assessment of culture and ministry for people who know that something is wrong." This is one of the most accurate self-descriptions I have ever seen, and I could probably stop the review right here and now. The book, as you can see, is not overweight - it's a slim 172 pages. However, it took me a long time to read, and not because it is difficult to read. The book is very well written; scholarly without being dry. The problem with this book is that there is so little fluff. At almost every paragraph I had to just set the book down and think for a while. It is my usual habit to highlight or underline as I read. This is the first book I can remember where highlighting was not enough. I finally started bending the corners of the pages with the most important highlighted sections, and I hate to do that to my books.

So, what's the book about? As you could guess from the title, the authors examine the concept of what it means to be Resident Aliens in today's culture, and along the way points out the failure of the Western Church in preserving our "alien" identity. On page 122, Hauerwas and Willimon present what they consider the fundamental question the church must ask to remain the church: "what sort of community would we have to be in order to be the sort of people who live by our convictions?"

The authors challenge both the church on the right and the church on the left as they have attempted to take on contemporary culture with the mistaken idea that to be effective at being Christians, we have to obtain political or social power. Rather, they state (p. 101):

Our claim is not that this tradition will make sense to anyone or will enable the world to run more smoothly. Our claim is that it just happens to be true.

Resident Aliens helped me to return to what I thought was true at the beginning - 25 years ago - when I first started reading the Bible and applying it on my own, before I allowed the gospel to be interpreted by the social gospel of the 70's or the religious right of the 90's.  As they so clearly explain, Christianity is not about what works, it is about what is true - "Jesus was not crucified for saying or doing what made sense..."  (p. 74). 

This is not an easy book to read - taking it seriously will mean tearing down some idols, and maybe even changing the way we live, the way we serve, or the way we worship. But, if we believe what we say we believe, what does that mean for us? Hauerwas and Willimon have done a great service in bringing us back to the reality of the gospel. Again, "what sort of community would we have to be in order to be the sort of people who live by our convictions?" I'd like to try it - not because it works, but because it's true.

Alden Swan