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The Church of Us vs. Them: Freedom from a Faith That Feeds on Making Enemies by David E. Fitch
theavidread3r's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
revtbrum's review against another edition
5.0
"The question for Christians everywhere, as we gather in church services amid the tumult of our times, is this: is my church more like a political rally or the table of the Lord?" "Can we, by the power and presence of the living Christ, be that space in the world that is beyond enemies?" (p. 164)
The antagonisms that Fitch addresses in this book are nothing new: debates about the authority of Scripture, the nature of conversion, and the role of the church in politics. However, I never realized the extent of the "enemy-making machine." These debates thrive on making enemies. Fitch dares to ask what it would look like to DISCERN the work of the Holy Spirit in our local communities rather than continually debate and rally behind empty ideologies.
While the book is more of an "eye-opener" than anything else, I did come away with some practical suggestions on how to live "beyond enemies." I plan to lean on the appendix in the back of the book (Appendix 2) the next time a confict or antagonism arises in a church leadership meeting
We've got a lot of work to do if we hope to move beyond the enemy-making machine. It's everywhere in our culture. Fitch's book and the stories he shares has encouraged me. It is possible. Christ has made it possible! Unfortunately, the very folks claiming to be the church oftentimes thrive on making enemies. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you want to know and follow Christ more fully, if you want to live as an agent of His peace, I highly encourage you to check out this book.
The antagonisms that Fitch addresses in this book are nothing new: debates about the authority of Scripture, the nature of conversion, and the role of the church in politics. However, I never realized the extent of the "enemy-making machine." These debates thrive on making enemies. Fitch dares to ask what it would look like to DISCERN the work of the Holy Spirit in our local communities rather than continually debate and rally behind empty ideologies.
While the book is more of an "eye-opener" than anything else, I did come away with some practical suggestions on how to live "beyond enemies." I plan to lean on the appendix in the back of the book (Appendix 2) the next time a confict or antagonism arises in a church leadership meeting
We've got a lot of work to do if we hope to move beyond the enemy-making machine. It's everywhere in our culture. Fitch's book and the stories he shares has encouraged me. It is possible. Christ has made it possible! Unfortunately, the very folks claiming to be the church oftentimes thrive on making enemies. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you want to know and follow Christ more fully, if you want to live as an agent of His peace, I highly encourage you to check out this book.
ksant's review against another edition
4.0
Good points made. Centered on the cross of Christ. There may be more to be said about the depth and the costs of transformation. Might take the premise of this book deeper. I appreciated that this author actually points the reader to the Cross. Essential.
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
5.0
We live at a moment in time where even the church is divided into two camps. You are with us or you are against us. If you aren't with us, then you must be evil. We have become adept at creating banners around which we can rally against our enemies. We talk over each other, but rarely with each other. It is dividing congregations, denominations, as well as families. I understand the importance of standing up for what is right and what is true, and that moderation is often a path to the status quo, not the common good.
So, is there a pathway that might take us to a different place, not a place of compromise where injustice continues to maintain its dominance, but a pathway to a true common good as revealed in the person of Jesus that leads to a church that moves beyond "us vs. them"? This is the point of David Fitch's latest book, titled "The Church of Us vs. Them." In this book, which is directed primarily at the evangelical community of which he is a part, Fitch invites us to look at the issues and causes that divide. He asks us to consider ways of moving beyond our "causes" to a different way of being church.
Fitch, who is a pastor and a professor, recognizes that one of the causes of our current problems is the church's loss of power that has come with the demise of Christendom. Coupled with that loss of power is our tendency of living with Christendom habits. We express these habits in the way we talk (we use Christian jargon and expect everyone to understand the meaning). We assume everyone should want to come to church, and don't come because they've not found the right one. We expect everyone to respect Christian leaders. That is, we expect everyone to live as if nothing has changed since the end of the 1950s. Since things have changed we get angry, and we make enemies. We get defensive and demand respect for our way of doing things. Such is not the case, so it's time to try something different. That means leaving behind Christendom. But it also involves recognizing the challenges that come when we try to align ourselves with the powers that be, like political parties.
We seem to know that things are not as they should be. We understand that anger, strife, and hatred are a problem. We just can't seem to get off the train. To get there we'll first need to name the problems and then figure out a way to respond, which will be different from the one we made use of in prior decades when Christendom reigned.
The purpose of the book, according to Fitch, is to move beyond enemy-making. He sees the church as a space that can be beyond enemies, but that will require major changes to the way we engage the world. That is increasingly difficult in the "Age of Trump." The polarization isn't new, but it has become magnified since the 2016 election.
The book is composed of nine chapters. The first chapter names the strife among us. He calls on us to examine our context. From there we move to the "Enemy-Making Machine." This is a conversation about banners that we rally around. Banners galvanize the people around a cause, and here's the rub: "It's always easier to gather a group around what we're against, because it gets people angry" (p. 33). Having introduced the issue of enemy-making, he introduces our debates over the Bible. While Fitch has signed a statement of faith affirming inerrancy of the Bible, he speaks here of the "Banner of the 'Inerrant Bible.'" As an alumnus of an institution that was attacked during the "battle for the Bible," I understand the issue pretty well. He is correct that the idea of an "inerrant bible" is more banner than reality (we don't have access to the autographs, which are supposed to be inerrant). Thus the question is really one of how we read Scripture.
The chapter on the question of whether one is biblical is followed by a chapter in which Fitch lays out his understanding of the Bible, which he describes as God's Grand Drama. It is the "space beyond enemies." Rather than getting up in defending the Bible, he invites us to consider the broad drama that is the Bible, a drama that moves us beyond enemy-making. Then we move to the question of making a decision, the first of two chapters that deal with questions of salvation and conversion, again moving us beyond enemy-making. The point of conversion here is participating in the reign of God. Here is where life choices come into play. It's not just about getting into heaven, it is about being transformed by one's encounter with God.
These conversations provide the foundation for dealing with the question of making America Christian again. Is this not why so many white evangelicals supported Donald Trump? He promised to give them power, so the nation could become Christian again. Of course, the question is, was American ever Christian? And is this a goal to be pursued? In other words, is the idea of the Christian nation simply another banner around which to rally the troops? In the end, it has nothing to do with being Christian. What we need is, he suggests, "a new practice of engaging the world for God's justice, a new practice of being the church in the world beyond enemies." (p. 139).
Chapters eight and nine provide Fitch the opportunity to offer his vision of a way forward. Chapter eight is titled "The Local Church is My Politics." I've struggled with the idea of the church as our politics as it has seemed to me as an evasion of responsibility. We create a community of witness, but it really doesn't demand much of us (this is especially true of white churches, no matter their political/theological alignments). That is not his intention, as I read the book. He sees the church as space wherein we work toward that vision of being a space beyond enemies. The final chapter is a vision of the church that lives beyond our divisions. Here the realm of God becomes visible within a community that seeks to overcome the divisions of our age, a church that has given up the attempt at recreating Christendom. In other words, can we make space in the church for Jesus to inhabit? There is an appendix in which Fitch seeks to develop the "rudiments of a political theology of presence." This is essentially a followup to the final chapter.
While I may have my disagreements at points, and I expect we're not completely at the same place on every issue, the most likely area of disagreement might be regarding the place of LGBTQ folks in the church and society. He seems to be welcoming, but I'm not sure if he is affirming. Part of this is due to my being in a different place than he is. I have evangelical roots but I live within a mainline context. My theology is likely to the left of his, but on the whole, however, the book spoke to me of a vision that is part of my own sense of calling. So, I want to encourage people to read the book and consider how we can move beyond the banners of enemy-making, to a vision of the common good.
So, is there a pathway that might take us to a different place, not a place of compromise where injustice continues to maintain its dominance, but a pathway to a true common good as revealed in the person of Jesus that leads to a church that moves beyond "us vs. them"? This is the point of David Fitch's latest book, titled "The Church of Us vs. Them." In this book, which is directed primarily at the evangelical community of which he is a part, Fitch invites us to look at the issues and causes that divide. He asks us to consider ways of moving beyond our "causes" to a different way of being church.
Fitch, who is a pastor and a professor, recognizes that one of the causes of our current problems is the church's loss of power that has come with the demise of Christendom. Coupled with that loss of power is our tendency of living with Christendom habits. We express these habits in the way we talk (we use Christian jargon and expect everyone to understand the meaning). We assume everyone should want to come to church, and don't come because they've not found the right one. We expect everyone to respect Christian leaders. That is, we expect everyone to live as if nothing has changed since the end of the 1950s. Since things have changed we get angry, and we make enemies. We get defensive and demand respect for our way of doing things. Such is not the case, so it's time to try something different. That means leaving behind Christendom. But it also involves recognizing the challenges that come when we try to align ourselves with the powers that be, like political parties.
We seem to know that things are not as they should be. We understand that anger, strife, and hatred are a problem. We just can't seem to get off the train. To get there we'll first need to name the problems and then figure out a way to respond, which will be different from the one we made use of in prior decades when Christendom reigned.
The purpose of the book, according to Fitch, is to move beyond enemy-making. He sees the church as a space that can be beyond enemies, but that will require major changes to the way we engage the world. That is increasingly difficult in the "Age of Trump." The polarization isn't new, but it has become magnified since the 2016 election.
The book is composed of nine chapters. The first chapter names the strife among us. He calls on us to examine our context. From there we move to the "Enemy-Making Machine." This is a conversation about banners that we rally around. Banners galvanize the people around a cause, and here's the rub: "It's always easier to gather a group around what we're against, because it gets people angry" (p. 33). Having introduced the issue of enemy-making, he introduces our debates over the Bible. While Fitch has signed a statement of faith affirming inerrancy of the Bible, he speaks here of the "Banner of the 'Inerrant Bible.'" As an alumnus of an institution that was attacked during the "battle for the Bible," I understand the issue pretty well. He is correct that the idea of an "inerrant bible" is more banner than reality (we don't have access to the autographs, which are supposed to be inerrant). Thus the question is really one of how we read Scripture.
The chapter on the question of whether one is biblical is followed by a chapter in which Fitch lays out his understanding of the Bible, which he describes as God's Grand Drama. It is the "space beyond enemies." Rather than getting up in defending the Bible, he invites us to consider the broad drama that is the Bible, a drama that moves us beyond enemy-making. Then we move to the question of making a decision, the first of two chapters that deal with questions of salvation and conversion, again moving us beyond enemy-making. The point of conversion here is participating in the reign of God. Here is where life choices come into play. It's not just about getting into heaven, it is about being transformed by one's encounter with God.
These conversations provide the foundation for dealing with the question of making America Christian again. Is this not why so many white evangelicals supported Donald Trump? He promised to give them power, so the nation could become Christian again. Of course, the question is, was American ever Christian? And is this a goal to be pursued? In other words, is the idea of the Christian nation simply another banner around which to rally the troops? In the end, it has nothing to do with being Christian. What we need is, he suggests, "a new practice of engaging the world for God's justice, a new practice of being the church in the world beyond enemies." (p. 139).
Chapters eight and nine provide Fitch the opportunity to offer his vision of a way forward. Chapter eight is titled "The Local Church is My Politics." I've struggled with the idea of the church as our politics as it has seemed to me as an evasion of responsibility. We create a community of witness, but it really doesn't demand much of us (this is especially true of white churches, no matter their political/theological alignments). That is not his intention, as I read the book. He sees the church as space wherein we work toward that vision of being a space beyond enemies. The final chapter is a vision of the church that lives beyond our divisions. Here the realm of God becomes visible within a community that seeks to overcome the divisions of our age, a church that has given up the attempt at recreating Christendom. In other words, can we make space in the church for Jesus to inhabit? There is an appendix in which Fitch seeks to develop the "rudiments of a political theology of presence." This is essentially a followup to the final chapter.
While I may have my disagreements at points, and I expect we're not completely at the same place on every issue, the most likely area of disagreement might be regarding the place of LGBTQ folks in the church and society. He seems to be welcoming, but I'm not sure if he is affirming. Part of this is due to my being in a different place than he is. I have evangelical roots but I live within a mainline context. My theology is likely to the left of his, but on the whole, however, the book spoke to me of a vision that is part of my own sense of calling. So, I want to encourage people to read the book and consider how we can move beyond the banners of enemy-making, to a vision of the common good.
rushingwater's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
rebekahjanejane's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
daveketter's review against another edition
5.0
David Fitch is speaking my love language—rebellion, relationship, and the long haul for Jesus to do the work of the Kingdom while we gather together.