The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity | Date: 28 April 2011, 04:54
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The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity
By Skye Jethani
* Publisher: Zondervan
* Number Of Pages: 192
* Publication Date: 2009-02-01
* ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0310283752
* ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780310283751
Product Description:
Synopsis
The human imagination is the key battleground in the conflict between the kingdom of God and the consumer culture. Drawing from the vivid imaginations of Impressionist painters, particularly Vincent van Gogh, each chapter of The Divine Commodity uses personal narrative, biblical exposition, and cultural observation to show how consumerism has shaped our faith, and then challenges the reader to use their sanctified imagination to envision an alternative way of expressing the Christian life in our culture.
Description:
The challenge facing Christianity today is not a lack of motivation or resources, but a failure of imagination.
A growing number of people are disturbed by the values exhibited by the contemporary church. Worship has become entertainment, the church has become a shopping mall, and God has become a consumable product. Many sense that something is wrong, but they cannot imagine an alternative way. The Divine Commodity finally articulates what so many have been feeling and offers hope for the future of a post-consumer Christianity.
Through Scripture, history, engaging narrative, and the inspiring art of Vincent van Gogh, The Divine Commodity explores spiritual practices that liberate our imaginations to live as Christ's people in a consumer culture opposed to the values of his kingdom. Each chapter shows how our formation as consumers has distorted an element of our faith. For example, the way churches have become corporations and how branding makes us more focused on image than reality. It then energizes an alternative vision for those seeking a more meaningful faith. Before we can hope to live differently, we must have our minds released from consumerism's grip and captivated once again by Christ.
Summary: Jesus the Commodity
Rating: 5
Wow.
Wrecked.
I read a lot. Some Christian books are simple. Too simple.
However, I thought this book was well-written and used Van Gogh's Starry Night (and his life) as a backdrop of this book.
If you want to be challenged, read this book. If you feel that the church looks just a little too much like the world, read this book. If you feel uncomfortable everytime God is sold, packaged, and presented with instructions, this book is for you.
What I love is that Skye challenges the current and past state of the Church, yet does so in a voice of love and as a voice considering himself part of the problem.
As Western Christians, we have attempted to commodify and package God into such a way that we have attempted to control and demystify God. Instead of believing in the power of prayer, we instead showcase 3 prayers God always answers and tell people to pray those.
This has created Consumer Christians - people who go from church to church simply looking for the best package for THEM. Problem number one? Worship is NEVER ABOUT YOU! It is about bringing GLORY TO GOD, not about what we can get from worship.
Chew on these from Skye:
* Surrendering control and embracing self-denial ensured that believers received what they needed to mature in Christ, not simply what they wanted.
* Maybe God is waiting for us to be silent long enough so he may begin painting a new picture in our imaginations.
* Our words about God are too often definitive, absolute, and proclaimed with an authority greater than their source. Such absolute pronouncements should rarely be spoken by fallible humans and then only with much trepidation.
* The contemporary church is losing its ability to inspire. The church is a corporation, its outreach is marketing, its worship is entertainment, and its god is a commodity.
We must be willing to return to the basics and release our imaginations once again.
Please please please read this book!
Summary: Refreshing & eye opening!
Rating: 5
This book was SO timely and I would go so far as to say CRITICAL for the Body of Christ to read in this day & age! We must have our eyes opened up and our imaginations stirred to see beyond what we've been taught in this consumer society! Jethani teaches through really interesting stories & the Word of God, which is what really changes our brains to see Truth! I love how Jethani doesn't just point fingers & condemn, but rather he states obvious truth and is anointed to stir the imaginations for something MORE in our relationship with the Lord and how we conduct our lives as the Church in the midst of living in this world! I bless God for Jethani's inspiration of digging more in to the life & faith of Vincent Van Gogh! Truly a unique book that will change your perspective forever!
Summary: Harsh view of megachurches and leveraging culture
Rating: 2
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.
Summary: Consumerism's God = Divine Butler + Cosmic Therapist
Rating: 4
An interesting, enjoyable blend of biography (of Vincent van Gogh) and critique (of contemporary church strategies).
Jethani's observation of consumerism's grip on the church is accurate (bigger = better, branding the church, felt needs over missional service, customization versus community, etc), but his proposed remedies (silence, prayer, fasting, love, hospitality, and friendship) - though good and needed in their own right - don't seem to match the magnitude of the problem.
If you've r
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