Liberalism and the Church

Al Roxburgh directed me to a useful Los Angeles Review of Books review. In it, reviewer Brad East reflects upon the challenges and potential opportunities for the Church in the West and for mission in culture. He started out discussing Stanley Hauerwas and Alasdair MacIntyre, the former a long-term interlocutor for me; and someone who’s thinking still, in my opinion, has potency – indeed, perhaps his time has yet to come in terms of the applicability of his thinking in relation to the Western church.

East then goes on to bring two fascinating books into conversation: Patrick J. Dineen’s Why Liberalism Failed, and Jamie Smith’s trilogy concluding book Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology.

This review should be read in conjunction with Alan’s online article, which I featured here. This review and both books, plus Hauerwas' thinking, and the larger questions of mission in culture need to be conversations in every church. Al's books, and the work of Steve Taylor, here in New Zealand, need to be grappled with. We need to hear what the Spirit is saying. We need to be discerning and acting communities, distinct, but in culture.