Reviews of Bound Together

Two major reviews of Bound Together: How We are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices have recently been published.

First, Dr. Greg Forster wrote a review for The Gospel Coalition web site. Forster is program director at the Kern Family Foundation and the author of several books including The Joy of Calvinism (See an interview on the Joy of Calvinism here).  He begins his review of Bound Together:

Chris Brauns’s Bound Together: How We Are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices is an excellent little book that speaks directly and powerfully to one of the most critical needs of the church today. In clear and accessible prose, Brauns, pastor of Red Brick Church in Stillman Valley, Illinois, describes an amazing spiritual truth—that human beings are social as well as individual creatures—and explains the radical implications for individual piety, church life, family life, and civic life. Christian theologians and social thinkers already widely agree that this issue will be one of our key challenges in the coming generation, and Brauns’s book invites ordinary Christians into this critical conversation.

Read the whole thing here.

Forster also interacted with Bound Together on his blog, Hang Together. (Hang Together looks to be an interesting blog in general). I was encouraged that Forster wrote, “The chapter on political and civic problems stemming from our failure to understand the human person as a social creature is quite good. It’s aimed at a lay audience, but even an old hand like myself found it beneficial.” Read more here. Notice that I made a couple of reading suggestions in the comments section of that post.

Tim Challies, one of the most prolific book reviewers, has also written a review. He begins:

Most people who read this review will be like me in that they live in a culture of radical individualism. Where our identities were once inexorably wrapped up in a local community, today we are what one sociologist has referred to as networked individuals, people who are loosely bound together by interests, but each convinced that we are answerable ultimately, or perhaps only, to ourselves. Individualism reigns, solidarity is passe.

Contra this individualism comes Chris Brauns’ Bound Together: How We Are Tied to Others in Good and Bad Choices. Brauns wants Christians to understand that in God’s economy we are tied together through what he calls the “principle of the rope.” He holds that corporate solidarity is a key aspect of life as taught in the Bible. We are not meant to exist apart from fellowship and community.

Read the whole thing here.