Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony

by Stanley Hauerwas, William H Willimon

Overview

Only when the Church enacts its scandalous Jesus-centered tradition will it truly be the body of Christ and transform the world. Twenty-five years after its first appearance, Resident Aliens remains a prophetic vision of how the Church can regain its vitality, battle its malaise, reclaim its capacity to nourish souls, and stand firmly against the illusions, pretensions, and eroding values of today's world. Resident Aliens discusses the nature of the church and its relationship to surrounding culture. It argues that churches should focus on developing Christian life and community rather than attempting to reform secular culture. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon reject the idea that America is a Christian nation; instead, Christians should see themselves as "resident aliens" in a foreign land. According to Hauerwas and Willimon, the role of Christians is not to transform government but to live lives that model the love of Christ. Rather than try to convince others to change their ethics, Christians should model a new set of ethics that are grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781426781902
Publisher:	Abingdon Press
Publication date:	04/15/2014
Edition description:	Anniversary ed.
Pages:	198
Sales rank:	666,850
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor Emeritus of Divinity and Law at the Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He has written a voluminous number of articles, authored and edited many books, and has been the subject of other theologians' writing and interest. He has been a board member of the Society of Christian Ethics, Associate Editor of a number of Christian journals and periodicals, and a frequent lecturer at campuses across the country.

Will Willimon is a preacher and teacher of preachers. He is a United Methodist bishop (retired) and serves as Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina. For twenty years he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. A 1996 Baylor University study named him among the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English speaking world. The Pew Research Center found that Will was one of the most widely read authors among Protestant clergy in 2005. His quarterly Pulpit Resource is used by thousands of pastors throughout North America, Canada, and Australia. In 2021 he gave the prestigious Lyman Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale Divinity School. Those lectures became the book, Preachers Dare: Speaking for God which is the inspiration for his ninetieth book, Listeners Dare: Hearing God in the Sermon.

Table of Contents

Foreword 1

Preface 11

Chapter 1 The Modern World: On Learning to Ask the Right Questions 15

A Changed World 15

The Right Theological Questions 19

New Understanding or New Living? 24

Chapter 2 Christian Politics in the New World 30

Mixing Religion and Politics 30

The Politics of Unbelief 36

The Church as a Social Strategy 43

Chapter 3 Salvation as Adventure 49

On the Road Again 53

The Virtues of Adventure 60

People with a Cause 66

Chapter 4 Life in the Colony: The Church as Basis for Christian Ethics 69

You Have Heard It Said … But I Say 72

All Christian Ethics Is a Social Ethic 80

We Are What We See 83

The End of the World 86

Chapter 5 Ordinary People: Christian Ethics 93

People Who Follow a God Who Is Odd 93

Saints as Significant Examples 98

Faith Confirmed Through Example 103

Chapter 6 Parish Ministry as Adventure: Learning to Enjoy Truth Telling 112

Training in Ministry 117

Successful Ministry 127

The Service of God 140

Chapter 7 Power and Truth: Virtues That Make Ministry Possible 144

Put On the Whole Armor of God 146

Boldly to Proclaim the Ministry of the Gospel 156

Empowerment for Ministry 160

By the Working of God's Power 167

Index 173