top 10 hauerwas books -- war and the american difference

War and the American Difference is a book which offers some of Hauerwas' most developed discussion of war and violence, especially in the context of America.  The first section demonstrates how closely war is embedded in American history, experience and identity.  The second section includes his appeal (co-written with Enda McDonagh) and reflections to abolish war, a discussion of sacrifice in the context of war, and essays on CS Lewis and Martin Luther King.  The final section explores the role of the church in terms of justice (comparing Daniel Bell and Nicholas Wolterstoff), Pentecost as a language of peace, the common good, the future of parish ministry (be interesting to see some Baptist reflections on this) and mission (this paper includes a response to Nathan Kerr's criticisms of Hauerwas' ecclesiology).

The book hangs together much better than so many of Hauerwas' other essay collections, making it perhaps one of the most accessible for Hauerwas' thought.  He takes the reader on a journey around a common theme approaching it from different angles.  I think this may well become one of Hauerwas' important books.  Hauerwas certainly seems to be moving towards an ecclesiology more in engagement than in separation; that is, I wonder if he is now exploring more, as Yoder did, what it means for the church to be for the nations and not just against the nations (the title of his 1985 book that dealt with some of the same themes).  The oft-made claim of sectarianism just won't stick now (not that I think it ever really did).  Hauerwas' friends and students, I think, ground his work in the everyday life of being church (Sam Wells is the exemplar of this) in ways that answer the question of what does this look like.

This is one of Hauerwas' books that those who are interested in the ways Hauerwas thinks about discipleship, church, violence, and culture should really invest the time and money to engage.