This is a book review for The Suburban Christian
I'll begin by saying that I love Al Hsu's blog. After reading a couple of posts, and hearing about his book's recent release, I thought I'd give it a read. Here are my thoughts.
We'll start first with what you see. The cover is unispiring at best. I thought the idea of a row full of SUV's with the Christian fish decal on the back was a fun idea, however, the overall appearance of the book is stale. But as always, never judge a book by its cover. It certainly is the case with Hsu's book.
Anybody working to develope a healthy Church community in a suburb ought to read this book. It is well written (minus a few editing mistakes), well researched and applicable. Hsu begins most chapters by pointing out the flaws of a certain suburb characteristic. It makes reviewer Shane Claiborne's comment hold weight and every other reader agree that the suburb is a place to fear. But Hsu then moves to the important aspect of the books purpose. Don't fear the scary suburb culture, engage it, transform it and make it better.
Hsu proclaims that he is no sociologist, but he does well with the data he unearthed. He presents it in a readable way. I feel my knowledge of the subject has increased countless times and I've grown up and lived in a suburb my entire life.
Hsu does have some lines with the typical pithy Christian remarks, common to nearly all Christian books, but there are so few that it does not lead to the downfall of the book (to be fair I come off of reading Driscoll's book which is so chaulk full of pithy comments, my reading of Hsu's book may be skewed in his favor).
Overall this was a book I'm excited to buy and will use often in attempting to network churches in the suburban area of the San Gabriel Valley. I highly recommend this book to pastors and to have book study groups engage it as a readable text for changing the local community. If Shane Claiborne's book Irresistible Revolution can be a required text in a Christian Ethics class as it is for one Fuller class, so to should Hsu's book be made mandatory. His ethics are moderate, and his applications can be grasped by all, yet also challenging to all.
Great book Al Hsu! I look forward to your updates on suburban church culture, and hope that your voice will be a highly respected one in the field.
Permalink
