Us for Them: Seeking Higher Ground in the Cultural Holy Wars
Ebook
Us versus them--it's one of the oldest stories ever told, and we keep finding new ways to tell it.
The conservative versus progressive cultural holy war over social justice, reconciliation, unity, and politics is the most recent version of the story, and our lives are increasingly defined by it. Which side are you on? Do you want justice or friendship? Diversity or unity? Victory or communion?
But what if this alleged holy war is better understood as an opportunity for a humble and creative collaboration? What if conservatives and progressives tell a better story together? What if we seek higher ground instead of partisan or middle ground? What if God doesn't want to pull us to the right or to the left or to the middle? What if God wants to pull us up?
Us for Them suggests that instead of hunkering down into ideological trench warfare, Christians can ascend into the elevation of the kingdom by practicing God's fierce but friendly justice in an unfriendly and unjust world. Because Christianity is a faith of justice and friendship--not one or the other.
“Austin Fischer has quickly become one of my favorite cultural commentators. I find myself enthralled and impressed with his ability to synthesize complicated issues into entertaining observations and applications for the reader. He is an equal opportunity offender, and while I don’t agree with every word, I learn so much from what he writes and feel challenged in my own convictions. You will too! This is a book you’re going to want to share!”
—Jonathan Pokluda, lead pastor, Harris Creek
“Austin Fischer has written an important book for our time. As he puts it, ‘our zeal for justice and righteousness is so easily compromised by judgment and self-righteousness.’ Both pastoral and provocative, Us for Them is a clear, uncomfortable, necessary, and ultimately hopeful work that calls Christians to embody the way of Jesus, which is to say, the way of love, humility, and kindness.”
—Jay Y. Kim, pastor, WestGate Church
“In our increasingly polarized political landscape we are in constant danger of being conscripted as foot soldiers for cannon fodder in America’s culture wars. But surely Christians should have an instinct that we are called to a presence more noble than rhetorical trench warfare. Austin Fischer emphatically intuits this in his timely book, Us for Them. Fischer writes with intelligence, eloquence, and humor as he points us toward a transcendence that rises above the hate-politics of our current culture—a transcendence that is truly Christian.”
—Brian Zahnd, author of The Wood between the Worlds
- Title: Us for Them: Seeking Higher Ground in the Cultural Holy Wars
- Author: Austin Fischer
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666773880, 9781666773873, 1666773875, 9781666773866, 1666773867, 1666773883
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666773880
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-16T01:35:01Z
Austin Fischer is the lead pastor at Vista Community Church near Austin, TX, the author of Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed and Faith in the Shadows, and a sought-after speaker.