Practical Justice: Living Off-Center in a Self-Centered World
by Kevin Blue
Reviewed by John Hasler
After reading the first few chapters of this book, I posted on my blog that if I were to write a book- I would write this book. Although this did not remain completely true as I continued reading, I think that it is an absolutely invaluable resource for the church in America today nonetheless.
In my opinion, one can divide the book up into four phases. In the beginning, the author talks a little more generally about the situation of the world in terms of poverty and injustice. He talks about the realities that we live in as well as Kingdom of God principles that we are to embody as the church and as individual believers. In doing so, he paints a very sober and direct picture of what is happening around us and challenges us to step up to the things that we claim we truly believe about God and the church.
He asks questions, he asks us to ask questions and he presents challenges about things like counting the costs, sacrifice and faith.
This introductory phase of the book includes some strong, but necessary statements about the reality of our Christian spirituality. The following quote is one of these examples:
“Down through ensuing generations of humanity, the true gospel has never been popular among those who have found great success in the world. Only in some moments of rousing revival have many of those who have worldly privileges really renounced their other allegiances and followed only God. The “gospel” that has been popular is a version that allows and commands no substantive change in the way we live, think and relate.” Pg. 21-22
In phase two the author uses the old adage about men and fishing. He does however; go beyond the typical debate between giving a fish/teaching a man to fish. Instead, he installs a third option and talks about how all three are necessary and have to work in unison. Just as there are various degrees of poverty and injustice, there must also be various degrees of response. In presenting this idea he writes three chapters: ‘Giving a Man a Fish – Direct Relief’, ‘Teaching a Man to Fish – Distributing Skills’ and ‘Fixing the Pond – Dealing with the System.’ This third concept is a healthy addition to the discussion.
Following the fishing analogies, the book forces us to really look at ourselves and our attitudes in moving forward. This introspection leads us to think about everything from race and class to spending to even things like personal devotion and the relearning of history.
As the book comes to a close, the final phase projects things that may potentially be on the horizon for us as we engage poverty and injustice. The author does not shy away from confronting what might be coming challenges or trouble. He is not ignorant to the fact that it is easy to bow out when things become difficult. The final two chapters of ‘Not Becoming What You Hate’ and ‘Finishing the Race’ are helpful in coming out of a book that might have been convicting.
This book accomplishes a lot in a fairly short form. Its mixture of both theoretical and practical serves us well as we begin to think about how we live. In addition to that, the author does an excellent job of retaining the vital link of our spiritual formation and our daily lives. He writes about the Kingdom of God and the American streets. He writes about Jesus and he writes about us.
Good choice! It is one of the books that I am covering in Intro to Social Justice. Great to see a good review on it here!
Rose
February 5th, 2008