The Suburban Christian

Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty

By Albert Y. Hsu

(paperback)

Product Details

Line: IVP Books
Length: 220 pages
Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches
Binding: paperback
Published: May 2006

ISBN-10: 0-8308-3334-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-8308-3334-4
IVP Order Code: 3334

Related Subjects

Cultural Analysis
Discipleship

"Albert Hsu has written a readable and well-researched treatment of a key issue. I live and work in the exurb, and I am grateful for his wisdom."

"The Suburban Christian is a helpful, needed resource for living thoughtfully and faithfully in suburbia. Al Hsu has researched well, thought hard and lived vulnerably to produce what I believe will become a basic primer for all believers who live in suburbia. There are no easy answers here, though. By thoughtfully deconstructing suburbia (I'll never look at malls or roads or sidewalks exactly the same way again) and by honestly wrestling with what it is like to live in suburbia (finely highlighting the tensions, ironies and surprises of life here) Al Hsu gives me a clearer, deeper understanding of the life I live and helps me ask the right questions about how to live as a suburban believer."

"With no end in sight for suburban sprawl and urban challenges spreading relentlessly outward from the city core, The Suburban Christian is right on time. Don't run from the suburbs, Al Hsu urges--redeem them. It's a message whose time has come."

"A very important book for all of those who are seeking to faithfully follow Jesus in the suburbs. A candid grappling with both the challenges and the opportunities of suburban living. A great resource for church study groups."

"Provocative, thoughtful, even prophetic, The Suburban Christian is a book the church badly needs."

"This book is a long-overdue pilgrimage through the empty promises, hidden hopes and subtle demons of suburbia. Urban cynics and suburban hermits rejoice--here is a refreshing invitation to find God at work in the margins, the same God who showed up in the unlikely badlands of Nazareth from which the world said nothing good could come."

"What an education. Al Hsu's excellent book inspires me to see the place in which I live with new clarity, creativity and gratitude. He expanded my imagination and enlarged my heart for the city near us, and God's world around us. I hope every suburban Christian will read it."

"[P]rovides a thoughtful critique of what living as a Christian in the suburbs should look like. . . . Every suburban pastor should read this book."

"Finds in suburban living a deep spiritual longing. . . . Hsu insists that you don't need to live on a farm or in the inner city to live an authentically Christian life."

"[Hsu] is an immensely appealing writer, and what he has to say, which includes practical and incremental steps to take, will resonate with many suburbanites and nonsuburbanites alike."

"In his fresh new book, The Suburban Christian, Hsu presents an exciting vision where Christians live and work to transform suburbia from a sea of consumerist isolationism into a hotbed of Christian hospitality."

Hsu wisely and carefully challenges ways Christians can be more intentional about how they live and think about life in the suburbs. His tone is vulnerable and inviting, educational, and punctuated nicely with personal illustrations . . . He also addresses challenges to the spiritual life . . . He reminds us that we are part of an interconnected whole that includes urban, suburban, and rural communities, and also global communities.

Hsu offers practical insights for living a Christian life and ways to grow spiritually within an expanding sense of community. He believes Christian churches need to consider suburbia as local mission fields whose residents are seeking answers to new problems. This is an excellent book not only for longtime suburbanites but for young families new to the suburbs.