Ronald J. Sider (1939–2022)

Eesh, where do I start? I'm so glad this book is over!

Sider and Lowe claim this is a book of intergenerational conversation on important issues facing the Church today (chapter subjects include Evangelism, Postmodernism, Marriage, Homosexuality, Living like Jesus, Politics, Reconciling differences, and Creation care), and write primarily to millennials.

Except, there is no real "conversation." One author says something, then the other author writes a "response" that simply affirms/repeats everything the first man said, albeit in slightly different words.

They talked about being willing to have an open, honest discussion with other Christians, particularly those from another generation, to wrestle with our differences, and not fall for the lie that we all have to believe exactly the same thing for there to be unity within the church. Sounds great and all, but it would have been a lot more convincing if they had more differences between them and there actually was a charitable conversation happening in the book.

My other big problem with the book is that it is all over the place. I like the idea of having multiple people weigh in on "big" issues facing the Church, but this book was too broad, trying to cover too many issues – and because of that, none of the issues were treated with the kind of depth and care required for a researched, respectful text.

I realize that this book was supposed to be a "conversation", but the authors wrote many of their personal beliefs as if they were well-known, proven facts, often without citing references. The rest of their writing was then imploring the Church to care about important issues based on these supposed facts. (For example, Sider believes that homosexual desire is not wrong, but only becomes an issue once a person acts on his desire. Also, he believes that God used evolution to create the world. These are stated as facts.)

There are constant plugs for the authors' other works ("I wrote a whole book on... xyz...") and a lot of self-righteous talk. (i.e., "Here's everything that I'm doing right – and while I'm at it, I may as well tell you a story of how somebody else failed to be like Jesus.")

The book was terribly disjointed and a waste of time.… (altro)