Thursday, June 24, 2010

Book Review: "Unfashionable"


Title: Unfashionable
Sub-title: Making a difference in the world by being different
Author: Tullian Tchividjian
Publisher: Multnomah
Book Type: Christian Living
Page Length: 196
Chapters: 17 chapters, Foreword, Introduction, Acknowledgments
SRP: $17.99
Suggested Audience: Christians who want live a life that looks different than the lost world around them.

Strengths: The back half of the book finishes extremely well. Tchividjian closes strong and saves the best for last in this book. This book is a great follow up book to a Crazy Love (Francis Chan) or a Don’t Waste Your Life (Dr. John Piper) kind of book. It’s a well-written book from a PCA pastor but it doesn’t have the overly robotic or formal academic feel of a Presbyterian author. Tchividjian does keep this book extremely theologically sound by not trying so desperately to play at our heart strings and inspire us that he leaves his foundation in search of something else. As a PCA guy, this is quite a breath of fresh air.

Weaknesses: This book starts slow and I found myself wading through the first half and having to really muscle through it. I actually put it down for a while and picked it back up again. I have had multiple people agree with me on this without even bringing it up to them before hand.

My thoughts: I enjoyed it. This book gives us a glance of what it looks like to be a Christian but it does so from 30,000 feet looking down. Meaning, it invites us to view how God sees believers existing and transforming and living among those who know not Christ at all. It gets us out of this goofy mindset where we compare ourselves to others rather than Christ. This book will build your character and challenge you in many facets.

Notable quotes: “Your citizenship has changed.”
“The kingdom is already here in true form, but it is not yet in its full form.”
“...Christians are called to be unfashionable by being mission-minded, not tribal-minded like everyone else.”
“In the Bible, however, the word for church literally means “the called-out ones...”
“We must choose to speak redemptively.”

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