Christianity as a Way of Life

A Systematic Theology

By: Kevin W. Hector

Narrated by: James Lurie

Focusing on Christianity’s core practices, a leading theologian imagines Christianity as a way of life oriented toward wisdom.

In this book, Kevin W. Hector argues that we can understand Christianity as a set of practices designed to transform one’s way of perceiving and being in the world. Hector examines practices that reorient us to God (imitation, corporate singing, eating together, friendship, and like-mindedness), that transform our way of being in the world (prayer, wonder, laughter, lament, and vocation), and that reshape our way of being with others (benevolence, looking for the image of God in others, forgiveness, and activism).

Taken together, the aim of these practices is to transform one’s way of perceiving and acting in the face of success and failure, risk and loss, guilt and shame, love, and loss of control. These transformations can add up to a transformation of one’s very self.

To make sense of Christianity as a way of life, in turn, these practices must be understood within the context of Christian beliefs about sin, Jesus, redemption, and eternal life. Understanding them thus requires a systematic theology, which Hector offers in this clear-eyed, ambitious, and elegant interpretation of the Christian tradition.

©2023 Yale University (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

The title is pretty descriptive

In an overly simplified sense, the point of the book is to move Christianity from a series of propositional belief statements (thin) to a “thick” belief system where those beliefs matter to not just how we see the world, but what we do in the world.

I appreciate academic books because they often interact well with not just the ideas being discussed but the alternatives to those ideas. A good academic book should grapple with the best arguments which disagree. What I don’t always appreciate about academic books is that in general, academic books tend to have really long chapters because they are making a sustained argument that pays attention to not just their point, but everything around that point as well. Long chapters require a level of sustained attention that I do not always have.

I picked this up initially as an audiobook because it was cheater for me that way. But about half way through the book I broke down and bought the (very expensive) kindle edition. There are a number of really good quotes and I know I need to read the book again because there is nuance that I need to pay attention to. To try to keep the whole idea together, I tried to mostly listen to whole chapters while I was on a walk. Which meant that I was not taking notes, but it did mean that I was listening without a lot of distraction.

So much of theology is about framing. Not in the sense of there is nothing beneath the facade, but that the way you look at something matters. Hector’s framing takes seriously Christianity as an ethical system that calls us to action. His thin/thick metaphor that is common in theological discussion, assumes that while there is not perfection within the church, that the church will be recognizable as doing church. Part of the problem with some of the discussion around Christian nationalism or cultural Christianity is that what is being held up as Christian doesn’t look like Christianity any longer. The following quote I think does a great job at illustrating that there is some point where what we are doing ceases to accurately reflect Christ.

“On the other hand, if a group of people did not embody Christ’s agency to some significant extent, it would no longer be recognizable as a church or even as trying to be a church. Think here of an anthropologist who is trying to understand the game of soccer by watching a couple of bad teams play. If the teams are so completely inept that the anthropologist cannot distinguish between intention and error, then the anthropologist will not be able to figure out what sort of game these teams mean to be playing just by watching them—the teams do not sufficiently embody the game, in other words. In the same way, there is an important difference between embodying Christ’s agency imperfectly and failing to embody that agency; if a church is so bad at bearing witness to Christ that it can no longer be said to embody his agency (albeit imperfectly), then it is fair to say that it would no longer merit the title of church.” p219
Part of what Emerson and Bracey were trying to do in Religion of Whiteness is identify when the center of the religious expression (belief and meaning structure) centers more on whiteness (cultural expression of white racial hierarchy) than on Christianity. Hector is approaching this not from the negative description that Bracey and Emerson are, but from a positive constructive theology.

There are only seven chapters in Christianity as a Way of Life and there is certainly more that can be said about Christianity than what is included here. But in an overly simplifies description, he lays out what theology is for, how we see the world, the impact of sin, how we are reoriented from sin to a new life, what is is like to be in the world as a new creation, being with others as a new creation and how we maintain a view of the end which keeps us grounded as Christians.

Hector is a professor at the University of Chicago, where I went to the divinity school, although I graduated 25 years ago now, so we didn’t overlap. He is approaching theology in a way that takes seriously the critique of theology from liberation theology or feminist and womanist theology. He regularly cites James Cone or Schleiermacher, Rosemary Radford Ruether and others that are mistrusted in the more conservative evangelical world. Taking seriously critiques of modern theology does not mean that this isn’t grounded in the history of Christianity, because he interact with Martin Luther, Augustine, Aquinas and Teresa of Avila and others just as often.

I have been involved in a long reading project about Christian Discernment over the past year or so and I appreciate that Hector is taking seriously the ethics and wisdom orientation of Christianity. He isn’t reducing Christianity to wisdom or ethics, but theology that does not take seriously the ethical implications of its teaching or the way in which it has been influenced by Jewish wisdom systems as a grappling with complexity and nuance is oversimplifying what it means to be Christian.

As I have regularly written about, my favorite definition of spiritual formation is from M Robert Mulholland Jr, “Spiritual formation is a process of being formed in the image of Christ for the sake of others.” This may not be the best book if you have not explored theology in a more academic setting, but this is one of the best books of theology I have read that takes seriously what it means to live as a Christian.