Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony
Stanley Hauerwas
While I was reading this book I didn’t like it quite as much as the other Hauerwas works I have read, but since then I’ve found it’s stuck with me quite a bit. As the title suggests it is more emphatically focused on Christianity than his other books that I’ve read. In particular, Hauerwas strongly takes issue with the “Constantinian” viewpoint that close ties between the church and state are beneficial for the church, and with the perspective that there is some special affinity between Christianity and the (classically) liberal democratic order. I appreciated the image Hauerwas constructed of Christianity as more like Judaism, that is, an independent “community-in-exile” that can provide a stark contrast to the existing order.
I finished this while visiting with my grandma, mom, and sister in California, and it informed some very interesting discussions on religion. I on-lent it to my sister and I hope she enjoys it as I did.