untamed - al and debra hirsch's new book reviewed...

i got sent a copy of al and debra hirsch's book untamed: reactivating a form of missional discipleship. mission and discipleship seems to be a hot theme right now - not sure why it has emerged but i guess it's a recognition that if the church is going to have any kind of impact it will be how the whole church or everyone in a local community follows in the way of christ rather than one or two who might be into mission!

rewinding slightly i first came across al when he wrote (with mike frost) the shaping of things to come which i still think is a great book and i use it with students. the passion that drives that book and indeed this one is a vision of incarnational mission - fleshed out by moving into particular neighbourhoods or communities to create community and live the life of christ there in close proximity with that community. it offered a critique of church as it is as being caught in an attaractional paradigm of expecting people to come rather than making the missional move to go where people are.

there have been two books since which i confess i haven't enjoyed anywhere near as much. the two frustrations i have with al's work are that the tone is always anti-institutional. i understand that but in the uk the institutions have been very good at opening up space for mission so it misses the mark. the second frustration for me has been a revivalist obsession - if we can only get the conditions right like they were in china revival will come. that leaves me cold. the revivalist message is disillusioning. i've heard it many times. i simply don't buy it and conditions in china were so unique anyway.

but here we are at book four. a couple of things strike me immediately. one is that this is a double act with debra. we've only met once but al and debra have clearly shared ministry in partnership over the years so this seems a natural move to make. the other is that jon birch's asbo jesus cartoons are scattered through the book and as ever they are hilarious. this was a really smart idea. hopefully there will be a book of asbojesus cartoons at some point in the near future? i've heard rumours...

my favourite thing about the book is a section on the home where al and deb challenge the church saying that christians do lots of things but a weak area is hospitality and in particular hospitality to outsiders or strangers. we invite friends round but do we extend beyond that? the early churches met in homes so the connection between church and home is a real one. and al and deb mention that they have only ever had two months in their marriage where they have not had other people living with them. that honestly blew me away. i felt challenged. we can talk theology, mission, postmodern culture etc till the cows come home but if christian discipleship meant that people actually opened up the meal table and the home in generous and open fashion the whole thing would be changed. i'm convinced of that. my friend paul thaxter says that the answer to 'who do you eat with?' shows up your instincts around mission. and it also shows that al and debra do live out what they are talking about.

the other area of strength for me is in the area they have always been strong which is living out an incarnational life. the last chapter summarises this vision very succinctly. it's a good stand alone chapter actually if you teach or want a short piece to read on this arranged round the headings of presence, proximity, powerlessness, prevenience, proclamation and passion (- why it is always Ps i never understand!!!).

as you can tell this is not a very systematic review so let me rewind slightly the book is structured in four sections looking at our views of god, culture, self and mission - all untamed of course! the tone of it is very down to earth and honest and addresses money and sex and power in good measure. it has some hard edged things to say about our views of god, and culture, and church. i think some people may find it hard to take (which is probably a good thing). there is a big undercurrent that tries to step back from consumer culture and reflect on just how much we are shaped by it - idolatry, theology, sense of self and so on. it will get you thinking...

i did have a couple of things i didn't like so much if i'm honest. the first is a piece i simply can't make any sense of whatsoever where al and debra suggest that artists shouldn't portray god. this reminded me of a chapter in knowing god by j packer that i read at university that i thought was utterly bizarre at the time. i basically totally disagree with this view. artists are a gift to the church. artists have opened up to me all sorts of insights about who god is. it struck me as ironic that the artist jon birch is portraying god in a book that critique's artists portraying god. and yet his portrayals are so prophetic! as i say i just think this is weird...

the other thing is more subtle and i have thought about this for hours on end since reading the book. i can't make sense of the paradox of the incarnation and al and debra's hugely exciting view of incarnation in local communities alongside their predominantly negative view of culture on a large scale. why not take a more incarnational view of both?! in terms of discipleship, pete ward has opened up this line of thinking (and been criticised) saying that generally we come down on consumer culture but isn't god, spirituality and so on present and meditated in and through consumer culture. perhaps we should pay attention to how this works in practice. there are of course good and bad things but for mission a starting point is around the question of where god is present? if as a missionary i travel to a tribe in africa (forgive the stereotype) and simply critique the culture negatively it simply doesn't work. john taylor in his magnificent book the primal vision says to never call another's light darkness and that sin is the last truth to be told. i returned to thinking about steve bevans work on contextual theology and mission - when i reviewed that i knocked on his door and told him i was catholic (because of the theology of culture and incarnation)! in his models of contextual theology he has a schema around types of contextual approaches - ranging from anthropological to countercultural. i won't outline the details here. but i concluded that al and debra are countercultural on this schema in relation to culture (big scale) (they are in good company - hauerwas, newbigin and others are placed there). but they have a different set of instincts on the local scale - a paradox?! i'd like to see their passion for the incarnation overwhelm their view of culture writ large as well as local.

of course they have been on a journey and context is (nearly) everything. two things about their journey - they are located in a tradition (church of christ) that is independent evangelcial so a negative view of culture writ large is entwined with that tradition, and they are aussies living in america hanging out with the mega church culture. i suspect the critique of the culture is shaped by culture shock around consumer culture in the US and US church in those contexts. and who is to say - i might well have the same reactions?! anyway those are my musings on culture in the book. it's not that i am averse to cultural critique - i think we need it. it's more about the tone we have and what we then do with it. i actually think theology of culture is one of the key questions for the future in mission and whether evangelicals are able to move from their negative posture which is why i have picked it up...

al and deb i'm sure you'll read this - so i really hope you might offer some response to this point. i think it might be good to have some conversation around this if you are up for it?... i'd love you to come back at me on this if you'd like.

anyway those two things aside it's a great book. it ceratinly provoked my thinking, challenged me and gave me a ton of cartoons to laugh at... enjoy (it's only 6.99 in the uk on amazon!).

Comments

[Ben Edson]

thanks for this jonny. when i read the shape of things to come i thought that the approach to culture wasn't particularly positive within that - seem to think that it was akin to a translational model of culture - it even includes Kraft's dynamic equivalence.

[Simon Hall]

Hey, don't knock dynamic equivalence! It's not translation!

Hi guys, thanks for the review Jonny. This seems to me to be a continuous and growing fault line. That rather strange 'tribes' thing we went on was actually pretty important to me because I realised there that my basic stance towards the 'cosmos' is that I love it! But I struggle that the majority of those who retain a passion for 'mission' generally retain a fearful/hateful attitude to the world, while many of those who are more positive about the world appear to be at best confused about mission.

[jonny]

ben, si hi! al and deb are certainly not hateful towards the world. that would be a huge overstatement... but yes si i totally get what you are saying though i think there are a lot more people who do love it as you say and are passionate about mission. there's at least three of us talking here...

[Martin Luff]

Good stuff, Jonny. Nice to read a review that has good balance - positive comments and challenge! Thanks.