Rating: 
Summary: A ground-breaking reappraisal of the post-Christendom church
Review: "Resident Aliens" came out in 1989 and continues to be a controversial bestseller among church leaders. The authors argue that the days of "Christendom" are over--Western culture no longer looks on the church as an important prop or support to its values, and will no longer subsidize the church in any way, viz. soccer games and open malls on Sunday morning. And, this is a good thing! At last the church has the opportunity to recapture its role as described in scripture: a colony of "resident aliens" in a foreign country, demonstrating in word and deed that God is God indeed. For church folks who grew up in the 1950's and earlier, this book is a tough pill to swallow. But it points the way toward a revived church with a crucial mission to the world as we begin the "post-Christendom" millenium.
Rating:
Summary: No more plastic Jesus
Review: "What we call 'church' is too often a gathering of strangers who see the church as yet another 'helping institution' to gratify further their individual desires." (p. 138) So say Hauerwas and Willimon in this profoundly disturbing, profoundly liberating book. Their general thesis is that the church has lost its bearings because it's forgotten its Jesus-centered tradition. Rather than dwelling within that tradition, realizing that the church's mission is to build community that exemplifies the Kingdom and the Kingdom's values, Christians too frequently accommodate to the world in order to make their beliefs acceptable. In doing whatever they can to ameliorate the "scandal" of the gospel so as not to offend anyone, they betray the Kingdom and their tradition--and God.This is a disconcerting challenge to those of us who try to be Christians. Even if one doesn't completely agree with Hauerwas and Willimon--in fact, even if one outright disagrees with them--their message deserves serious consideration. In grappling with the thorny question of how to live in the world without being of the world--that is, how to be "resident aliens"--they force us to reconsider our commitment to the good news. One of the more interesting aspects of the book is a theme that Hauerwas has discussed in several of his other books: ethics is primarily a way of seeing the world rather than an objective, rational enterprise. All ethical systems presuppose a view of reality (even the ones that claim to be rational), and this means that in order to get to the heart of a particular ethics, one must examine the tradition from which it comes. Hauerwas and Willimon use this model to argue that Christian ethics, which is based on the eschatological tradition outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, simply can't accommodate ethical principles generated in nongospel traditions. Attempts to do so are misguided. Read this book. It will upset you, as it has upset me. But it's a good upset.
Rating:
Summary: No more plastic Jesus
Review: "What we call 'church' is too often a gathering of strangers who see the church as yet another 'helping institution' to gratify further their individual desires." (p. 138) So say Hauerwas and Willimon in this profoundly disturbing, profoundly liberating book. Their general thesis is that the church has lost its bearings because it's forgotten its Jesus-centered tradition. Rather than dwelling within that tradition, realizing that the church's mission is to build community that exemplifies the Kingdom and the Kingdom's values, Christians too frequently accommodate to the world in order to make their beliefs acceptable. In doing whatever they can to ameliorate the "scandal" of the gospel so as not to offend anyone, they betray the Kingdom and their tradition--and God. This is a disconcerting challenge to those of us who try to be Christians. Even if one doesn't completely agree with Hauerwas and Willimon--in fact, even if one outright disagrees with them--their message deserves serious consideration. In grappling with the thorny question of how to live in the world without being of the world--that is, how to be "resident aliens"--they force us to reconsider our commitment to the good news. One of the more interesting aspects of the book is a theme that Hauerwas has discussed in several of his other books: ethics is primarily a way of seeing the world rather than an objective, rational enterprise. All ethical systems presuppose a view of reality (even the ones that claim to be rational), and this means that in order to get to the heart of a particular ethics, one must examine the tradition from which it comes. Hauerwas and Willimon use this model to argue that Christian ethics, which is based on the eschatological tradition outlined in the Sermon on the Mount, simply can't accommodate ethical principles generated in nongospel traditions. Attempts to do so are misguided. Read this book. It will upset you, as it has upset me. But it's a good upset.
Rating:
Summary: Too Hot to Handle
Review: As a young college student, many years ago, I first came into contact with "Christ and Culture" by H. Richard Niebuhr and :The Cultural Subversion of the Biblical Faith" by James D. Smart. These contacts launched me into the most difficult journey of my Christian life, separating my faith from my culture. Resident Aliens helped me continue this journey. It doesn't really pick up where Niebuhr left off. It is more truthful to say this book reacts against Niebuhr. But, still I would give all three of these books 5 stars, because they helped to form me. WARNING: Hauerwas and Willimon make strong statements about becoming swept up in the culture of this world. Their statements do not play well in our current cultural climate. For instance, on page 35 the authors quote Alasdair MacIntyre, "Dying for this state, . . . is like being asked to die for the telephone company" As you can tell from this quote, this book will be challenging to read, but you could sure get people made at you if you used the wrong quote at the wrong time!
Rating:
Summary: Too Hot to Handle
Review: As a young college student, many years ago, I first came into contact with "Christ and Culture" by H. Richard Niebuhr and :The Cultural Subversion of the Biblical Faith" by James D. Smart. These contacts launched me into the most difficult journey of my Christian life, separating my faith from my culture. Resident Aliens helped me continue this journey. It doesn't really pick up where Niebuhr left off. It is more truthful to say this book reacts against Niebuhr. But, still I would give all three of these books 5 stars, because they helped to form me. WARNING: Hauerwas and Willimon make strong statements about becoming swept up in the culture of this world. Their statements do not play well in our current cultural climate. For instance, on page 35 the authors quote Alasdair MacIntyre, "Dying for this state, . . . is like being asked to die for the telephone company" As you can tell from this quote, this book will be challenging to read, but you could sure get people made at you if you used the wrong quote at the wrong time!
Rating:
Summary: An agenda-setting work for the contemporary church
Review: Hauerwas and Willimon offer a stunningly adept diagnosis for mainline churches and a prophetic warning for evangelicals. Like the evening sun, Christendom is setting in the west, and in this dusk the church has a new opportunity to reclaim the marginal identity God granted it in the first place. If you are a big fan of the Christian Coalition, this book will trouble you. If you believe that church and state go neatly hand in hand, this book will trouble you. If you are searching for perspective on how the church--for the sake of "relevance"--may lose itself in the prevailing culture, this book will be a welcome addition to your library. Ten years after its publication, RESIDENT ALIENS remains a valuable conversation partner for the church. The task remains for church leaders to enflesh the practical ramifications of the work in Christian community. Ultimately, the success of Hauerwas' and Willimon's work will be judged by that end.
Rating:
Summary: Provocation to be the Church
Review: In your face challenges to the contemporary church in America which says reclaim what you are, and tells it how: to be not about the current psychological, self-help but countercultural scandal of pure gospel particularity. They bemoan the historical-critical method and academia which prepares no pastor for church service. Bless their boldness and conviction! Although the book starts rather slow at getting to its agenda, by the time it reaches the later chapters it is right on. One might summarize its diagnosis of current church leadership by this quote: "What we call church is often a conspiracy of cordiality." "This accounts for why, to many people, church becomes suffocatingly superficial. Everybody agress to talk about everything here except what matters." The call is to readjust what is meant by a successful ministry. What an insightful analogy used here: To be a successful pastor today is almost as damning as having a happy marriage" i.e. one free from conflict. "Many successful pastors are happy only because they surrendered so early." To not surrender means preaching the gospel purely and administring the Sacraments according to God's mandate. What a daring book that for a pastor to ignore is dangerous. To contemplate is worthwhile. To implement is God pleasing.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful assessment of the Church and culture
Review: Theaters screen movies on the Lord's Day. Little League baseball and soccer schedules go uninterrupted over the entire weekend. One can find as many shopping opportunities on Sunday afternoon as are available any other day of the week. According to Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, this is a good thing. The Church has hidden too long behind the Constantinian veneer of an assumed establishment in and acceptance by Western culture. Only now, in light of the West's pronounced cultural apostasy over the last forty years (which in their view was simply the culture ridding itself of a dead relic which it never really respected in the first place), can the Church shake off its lethargy and face the fact that it does not have a true ally in the kingdoms of this world. Rather than taking a defensive or retreatist position however, Willimon and Hauerwas advocate an aggressive position of attack against the Church's exposed enemies. The answer, say the professors, is for the Church to take this incredible historical opportunity to refocus her energies and resources onto those things which are of essential and primary importance and to take hold of the "adventure of being the church". Rather than disassociating the gospel from its covenant context and presenting it as a set of abstract philosophical ideas apart from Christ, as the Church has done in an effort to make it more agreeable to the post-modern palate, the only hope for the Church is to present the gospel as it was intended by its Author; a relationship between Jesus and His people. The authors seem strongly opposed to the notion that the task of the Church is one of marketing the gospel in such a way that would make it appear more appealing to the world around her. While for some the correct approach to ministry and evangelism is in a basic sense similar to adding enough sugar to the cough medicine to make it go down and stay down, Willimon and Hauerwas are of the persuasion that the Church is at its best when it is at its boldest. They propose that the goal of the gospel is not to redefine a set of thoughts about the mysteries of God until they make sense, but rather to drastically change lives and to re-form them in the light of the stunning claims of the Word of God. The meat of the book is wrapped up in the statement, "So the theological task is not merely the interpretive matter of translating Jesus into modern categories but rather to translate the world to Him. The theologian's job is not to make the gospel credible to the modern world, but to make the world credible to the gospel." It is their thesis that the Church's primary mission is to simply be the Church, the community of Christ, confessing the gospel without apology. The result is a Church that is a culture within a culture, a colony of foreigners in a foreign land passing their language, customs and lifestyle on to their children, loving each other and their God.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic or You Will Hate It
Review: There seems to be very little middle ground for how people see Resident Aliens. It either resonates deeply with the reader or you don't get it at all. For a new generation of church leaders, the book articulates much of what we have struggled with as the modern church tries to live in the postmodern era. No matter how one sees the church and God's people, you will be provoked, disagree, laugh, and will be forced to think about the challenges that the authors lay before you. I am glad I read and re-read the book. I found it that good.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, but where is the Bible???
Review: This book by Hauerwas and Willimon give a provocative treatment on what the church really is. Their view is that the church is a colony of believers in the midst of a world of sin, corruption, and destruction. I found this book to be quite interesting and thought provoking. It is not a book that appeals to Christians who like to have a "country club" view of the church where it is a place where one can fulfill one's selfish emotional and spiritual needs. I appreciate the view expounded by the authors that the church is a place where we are to be a light to the sin darkened world. Christians--evangelical or liberal--will find this view refreshing since it emphasizes the corporate aspect of the church and its theocentric rather than anthrocentric viewpoint. I also liked the authors' perspective on how their understanding of the church affects ministry. One idea that caught my attention is their view that if a pastor becomes very popular in a short period of time, then he has failed in his duty to the church (and how so true that is!). Overall, I liked the way the authors tried to push the truth that the church is there not for ourselves but for God and the world. Despite these positive points, there was a couple of negatives. Firstly, I found their view of the church highly politicized. It felt like I was reading some treatise on Christian politics many times. Though they do not side with conservatism or liberalism (politically or theologically) they do seem to push the idea that "pacifism" is the overarching theme in our ethics. However, as the writer of Ecclesiastes states, there is a time for war (3:8). (Though Hauerwas and Willimon do not promote this, it seems that modern pacifist "Christian" theologians`seem to give the "okay" to war against right-wing fascist countries that supports the rich but turn around and say it is "not okay" to wage war against communistic/socialist countries that support peasants and workers--a view which I find very hypocritical. Christians are to condemn ANY government that oppresses people--whether the victims are poor or rich.) Secondly, I found that the authors use very little Scripture to back up their points. And those few Scripture citations that they do give are just thrown out as prooftexts. Despite those problems, this book is an useful resource for those who want to understand what the church is about from a postliberal marginally evangelical viewpoint.
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