If you are looking to broaden your reading in the area of non-fiction, then read either James Davison Hunter or Christian Smith.
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On the one hand, we should not be surprised that two of the most important recent books were written by Christian sociologists. Given that the field of sociologist seeks to understand human activity, then sociologists are particularly well positioned to inform the church about where find ourselves in 2010.
What surprises me, is that there are two sociologists writing as profoundly as James Davison Hunter and Christian Smith. In the case of Christian Smith, with, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
For his part, in, To Change the World, James Davison Hunter argues that the ways in which Christians in the West have sought to “change the world” are fundamentally wrong. Notice the last line of this paragraph.
At the end of the day, the message is clear: even if not in the lofty realms of political life that he was called to, you too can be a Wilberforce. In your own sphere of influence, you can be an Edwards, a Dwight, a Booth, a Lincoln, a Churchill, a Dorothy Day, A Martin Luther King, a Mandela, a Mother Teresa, a Vaclav Havel, a John Paul II and so on. If you have the courage and hold to the right values and if you think Christianly with an adequate Christian worldview, you too can change the world.
This account is almost wholly mistaken.
It isn’t necessary to write more, given that the indefatigable Justin Taylor is blogging through Hunter’s book (see here). And, I haven’t totally decided what I think of the book yet – – I am listening attentively to the conversation. But, I do believe this is one of the most important books in recent years.
