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Monday-morning people

by
07 May 2008

Are the young good citizens? Nicholas Holtam reads a concerned bishop

Disciples and Citizens: A vision for distinctive living
Graham Cray

GRAHAM CRAY has done a good job over many years at getting Christians to take their social context seriously: “How can we be faithful to one another and Christ in today’s culture?” In this book, under the headings of citizenship today, the corrosion of character, the cultivation of character, and the transformation of community, he emphasises that Christians are disciples and citizens.

The sections of this book that stand out are the summary chapters describing the main forces in our society towards individualisation, consumerism, and constructivism (constructing our own truths and world-views). These corrode character, and undermine community, commitment, trust, and citizenship.

Cray steers an insightful way through complex description and analysis, and comes to clear conclusions, occasionally more definite than is justified in areas where we are so much feeling our way towards understanding.

The short chapter on Generation Y, today’s young people, is one of the most important in the book. It might be right, but could also be read as the most recent version of the debate in every generation about young people not being capable of carrying the values of their predecessors. Cray doesn’t blame the young people, but he is deeply critical of the social constructs that shape their mindset. This might be more convincing had the older generation done a better job. None the less, Cray shows why the debate is important, and he is an illuminating guide.

In some ways this book is a puzzle. “It takes only a moment’s thought to see that the public life of our nation is a proper matter for Christian concern and a proper setting for Christian discipleship.” So why take 190 pages to explore this self-evident assertion? The answer may be that this book comes from a particular theological stable, and that what Cray is doing is broadening the Evangelical agenda from Church to world.

It’s a lively presentation with plenty from the Bible to help make the case. The passion and energy of the text are themselves compelling, as is the desire to find common ground with others. Some comments might have worked in a lecture to the friendly and like-minded, but come across in print as a cheap shot, creating a false polarity — as in “We are to live as an anticipation of God’s future, not as curators of our society’s past.”

There is also some extraordinary theological naïvety undermining his ability to build genuine alliances, as when he quotes David Horrell, without qualification, to say: “Paul’s claim is not so much that Christians live by distinctive ethical standards but rather that they live up to, and beyond, the ethical standards others share but do not follow.”

Cray has provided a clear account why Christians should be actively engaged in the transformation of society. By concentrating on values and the creation of character, he has avoided the danger of creating a Christian manifesto. He is content that we simply take a step in the right direction; and he has certainly done that in a way that will be helpful to Christians generally, not just to Evangelicals.

The Revd Nicholas Holtam is Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

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