Divine Commodity [Hardcover]

This book gives language to the sinking feeling many ministry folks have as we realize how enmeshed our churches have become with consumer culture. Skye Jethani provides the right balance of cultural analysis, clear insight, and gentle direction to show how the American church has often neglected our identity as the people of God for something more culturally relevant. To be clear, this is not a "how-to" manual; neither is it another book about all that is wrong with our churches. Like others of us, Skye has been tempted to walk away from the many frustrations of the local church but found himself unable to do so. His love for and commitment to the local church (Skye is also a pastor) is what allows us to receive the book's difficult truths.

The Divine Commodity is organized into nine chapters, each which observe an aspect of consumerism that has infiltrated the church. Filled with stories, cultural artifacts, and Biblical reflection these observations are easily connected to the reader's own context. Particularly compelling are Skye's reflections on the life and paintings of Vincent van Gogh as a foil to consumer Christianity. In the Dutch artist's life we encounter one whose commitment to Christ (he trained to be a pastor) led him to bitterly critique his experience with Christianity and the church. The addition of eleven of van Gogh's paintings helps us imagine a faith that is completely devoted to the narrow way of Jesus, one that consistently rejects the allure of self-centered faith.

It is the description of an alternative to consumer Christianity that is most commendable. In a chapter about the tendency to place institutions before relationships Skye writes,

"What may be needed is a fundamental rethinking of the church within the minds of the members, cultivating the imagination to conceive of the church as a relational community rather than an institutional organization. Beginning on the smallest end of the scale, this means relearning the lost art of friendship."

Analysis combined with imagination is why I'd recommend this book to just about anyone. My only gripe is that the book could be expanded (the 175 pages were easily read over a weekend). I am convinced that until we acknowledge the power our consumer culture holds over the church (and over me!), we will find our thirst unquenched by a faith diluted with consumer ideals. The Divine Commodity points out the primary issue for the church in our day, one that impacts our very identity and mission. Thankfully the book also prompts us to imagine a more satisfying and transforming alternative.

I did not have the same positive reaction to Divine Commodity that was expressed by other reviewers. On the plus side, the book is full of some excellent anecdotes, interesting Van Gogh analogies, and is thoughtfully written. Jethani also does warn against some attitudes and practices that water down the gospel or are otherwise harmful for churches. Consumerism - which I see as tailoring the *content* to what a me-centric person wants to hear - is something we should definitely avoid if we seek to be faithful to the gospel.

However... the book goes well beyond warning against unhealthy consumerism and attacks the motives and methods of several well-intentioned churches that have in fact seen powerful life transformation. The back cover begins with an observation that a key challenge faced by Christianity is a failure of imagination. Yet when churches get 'too' creative in trying to grab the attention of a world that has long since tuned out the church, it is blasted for being 'entertainment' or treating God as a consumable product. He charges the leaders of these churches with believing that "God changes lives through the commodification and consumption of experiences." This is a cheap shot, and not the only one in the book. This criticism is completely false for many large and innovative churches that are reaching people for Christ that no one else is. He also harshly criticizes the fact that tailoring an approach for one audience tends to lead to fairly homogeneous churches.

In the end the book makes a case to respond to the rise of consumerism by sowing seeds of silence, prayer, and fasting. I think these are important, and have their place, but good luck reaching consumeristic Americans with this approach alone. It boils down to this - culture today is flawed and the priorities of the majority of people are out of alignment. Fine, no argument there. But do we best reach these people by rejecting their culture, embracing it, leveraging it, or transforming it. The approach Jethani advocates is one approach, and it has its merits. But I wasn't enthusiastic about his approach of criticizing other approaches so strongly - isn't their room in outreach efforts to utilize different approaches to reach different people?

I can see why many would like this book, but I definitely don't see it as any kind of must-read, and would have preferred to see a more balanced and fair approach.

I picked this book up because in the past few years I've become painfully aware that the American church is plagued with consumerism. After reading it, the pain has intensified. It did nothing to soothe my fears. If the American church doesn't make some serious course correction, we're headed for shipwreck.

Chapter 8 was particularly moving--Around the Table. I appreciated the way the author was able to dissect and explain how sociological trends have fostered consumerism and individualism--that even the proliferation of suburbia is a by-product of our fallen nature's desire to be left alone, to have it our way, and to find pleasure and fulfillment in stuff rather than relationship.

I found myself thinking about Nicodemus, overwhelmed by the thought of taking it from the top, rethinking and restructuring so much. It's impossible to do such a thing--but with God all things are possible.

I help my husband pastor a large congregation. (I hate the word megachurch!) But we are a church, a community of believers, who are struggling with God's help to get free of the grip of consumer Christianity and rediscover the life God intended for us. "The Divine Commodity" is one more stepping stone toward that end. Don't read it if you're unwilling to change. This book will slap you upside the head, but not in a mean-spirited or arrogant way. Mr. Jethani appears to genuinely love the church, the Bride of Christ, and understands that it is the world's last best hope.