Platt, David. Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream. Multnomah, 2010. ISBN: 9781601422217.
Meet the Author
At age 28, David Platt became the youngest American megachurch pastor when he accepted the call to be the pastor of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. Now 31, he continues to serve as pastor of this 4000 member congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and recently published his first book. Platt has five college degrees, including a doctorate and two master’s degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Georgia. To connect with David Platt, like him on facebook, follow him on twitter, or watch him on vimeo.
Book Basics
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream is Platt’s wakeup call to the American church. Based on his study of Scripture and interaction with Christian leaders in countries where religious persecution is commonplace, Platt is convinced that American Christianity has lost its saltiness and is now “settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is abandoning ourselves” (p.7). Written from a conservative and evangelistic perspective and with great concern for those who have never heard the gospel, the work seeks to push readers beyond their comfort zones and toward a more radical life of discipleship.
The first eight chapters provide a look at the details of what a life of radical discipleship is all about. At their best, these chapters combine stories from members of his church and of his own experience with biblical instruction to serve others. At their weakest, these chapters read like a bad blend of a fundamentalist sermon with ample opportunity for the reader to experience guilt by seeing how poorly he or she measures up to the bold acts of faith undertaken by almost every example given of church members. The final chapter is an invitation to respond to the theoretical ideas expressed in the book by accepting a one year challenge to live a radical faith of Christian discipleship. According to this challenge, participants should agree to five things:
- pray for the entire world
- read through the entire Word
- sacrifice your money for a specific purpose
- spend your time in another context
- commit your life to a multiplying community (p.185)
So What?
To help resource all things radical, one can visit the website which includes some resources and has links to many more related to the book and one year challenge.
I completely agree with Platt’s argument that there are many examples of poorly chosen priorities in the life of individual American Christians as well as individual American congregations. I am not convinced that his challenge is the most effective means to enact change in either context. He and I not only disagree theologically about what it means for Christians to be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and in all the world, but also on how we can be agents of change in the wider culture in our own geographical context.
In what ways do you find the American dream conflicts with a life of Christian discipleship? How do you manage those conflicts?
What would you include on a list of the characteristics of a radical disciple of Jesus Christ? How well does your life match the list?
How theologically informed are you? is your congregation? How does that knowledge translate into your daily life of discipleship?