Resident Aliens by Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon is a book that attempts to present a compelling vision for what it means to be the church in today’s society. The authors argue that we are in a post-Christian, pagan society, and that church is, or at least should be, “a colony, an island of one culture in the middle of another” because as baptized Christians “our citizenship is transferred from one dominion to another, and we become…resident aliens” (p.12).

Hauerwas and Willimon present the case that we, as Christians, must recognize the reality of the state of the world and the state of the churches that we are in. We must see that we are in a post-Christian capitalist society and understand that our story as the people of God must not be dictated by the nation-state, but must be informed by the story of God and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This has huge ramifications. It means that “for Christians, the church is the most significant ethical unit” and thus the author’s (Christian) ethics presuppose “a social, communal, political starting point–the church” (p.81). They argue that the way Christians order their lives as the church is key to the world seeing who God is and seeing that God is at work in the world today (p.92).

The book draws to a close as the authors argue that the vocation of the pastor is to “orient the church toward God” (p.136). The purpose of the church is not to further gratify the desires of individuals in a materialistic and consumeristic society; rather, the purpose of the church is to become a truthful people, a community of resident aliens who in their life and actions are a sign of who God is and what God is doing.

The authors would likely think that this book could be helpful to almost any Christian in a North American church, but their target audience appears to be those in mainline denominations in the United States, and, most specifically, clergy, seminarians, and seminary professors associated with these mainline denominations.

Review by Matt Kronberg