American Christians are a people of hope.But according to Hauerwas, they're inclined to misplace it.
They look for salvation in capitalism, in democracy, in postmodernity and in their practical progeny: Modern medicine, seeker-sensitive worship and "ethics" (divorced from theology).
This little volume offers some of Hauerwas' most positive arguments in favor of the church that offers a better hope and provides resources to resist the idolatrous assumptions that underlie these Enlightenment-bred systems of thought and action.
Written in his classic style -- sweeping, engaging and provocative -- this book does not necessarily break any new ground, but Hauerwas is typically unapologetic about that. ("Given the entrenchment of the position against which I am arguing, I can only say again what I have said before in the hope of establishing new habits.") Since this is a collection of essays written at other times for other purposes, no easily discernable argument connects the book from start to finish. His writing is sometimes more fierce than tight and, of course, some essays are better than others (the essays on worship and on being "sin-sick" are especially good).
What I most love about A Better Hope is that it really does offer Hauerwas' thought more in terms of something positive ('this is what I'm defending') rather than something negative ('this is what I'm against'). In fact, I think A Better Hope marks a watershed in Stan's thought.