Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence [Paperback]

Stanley Hauerwas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

September 11, Afghanistan, Iraq--more than ever, this is a time for the church to be taking up the question of what, as Christians, our response to violence should be. In Performing the Faith, Stanley Hauerwas revisits the familiar territory of political nonviolence through discussion of the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer-Christian ethicist, theologian, and by some definitions, martyr. This book is an intriguing commentary on Bonhoeffer's bold claim that if our common life rests on lies and injustice, we cannot be a community of peace. Pastors, seminarians, and those interested in Christian ethics are among the many who will be interested in this new word from an unwavering, faithful voice.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

If the cover and subtitle lead readers to expect a sustained engagement with Bonhoeffer, they will be disappointed. For better or worse, Hauerwas is an occasional writer, and this is another collection of the occasional pieces for which he is known, organized around a cluster of issues related to pacifism and pacifist response to the events of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath. It does contain an engagement with Bonhoeffer, one that will prompt many to wish it were more sustained. Bonhoeffer and Hauerwas are natural allies on the matter of faithful performance, and the combination of Bonhoeffer, Hauerwas, and the late John Howard Yoder, facilitated by Hauerwas' many pieces on Yoder, makes for a potentially revolutionary conversation. This collection, particularly its first part, constitutes a tentative, fragmentary, and provocative first step toward including Bonhoeffer in such a conversation. Tentativeness, fragmentariness, and provocation are almost certainly what Hauerwas had in mind, for they are consistent with his manner of working and are certainly what his readers have come to expect. Steven Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Stanley Hauerwas is the Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University. His previous books include With the Grain of the Universe, A Better Hope, and The Peaceable Kingdom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic & Brazos Press (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587430762
• ISBN-13: 978-1587430763
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #254,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living the Christian Faith (and answering his critics), July 6, 2004

By 

Tedd Steele (Naperville, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence (Paperback)

As a person who has read a lot of Hauerwas's work, the themes in this book did not surprise me at all. What did surprised me was the responsive feel that many of the essays had. In this book, it seems like Hauerwas was very aware of the criticisms against his work and feels compelled to respond to them. Hauerwas has always been invested in Theological disputes. However, in most of his older work, he was the one who served as a critic of another's thought. Lately, though, much of his work has been defending his own ideas (which he would probably claim are not his own, but a faithful expression of the Christian faith). This book is no exception.

Hauerwas has been criticized for being anti-modern, anti-liberal democracy, and sectarian. In Performing the Faith, he seems to be saying "yeah, but so what" to the first two. He is against modernity and wants to move away from foundational ways of thinking becasue he sees it as harmful to the faith. He is against liberal democracy, particularly in its most typical recent defenses, because it replaces the Christian story with a new non-story (the story that you don't need a story). It seems, though, that it is the sectarian charge that he takes most offense to. In this book particularly, Hauerwas seeks to make clear that the distinction he draws between the church and the world is "permeable" and for the good of the world. You find a desire for the church's witness to the world to be such that the world knows it is the world and desires to be the church. His emphasis on Bonhoeffer is important because Bonhoeffer experienced the tension between the church and the world in unique and compelling ways.

Buyer beware: this is a book of Hauerwas essays not a book on Bonhoeffer. Only the first section deals with Bonhoeffer. Not surprisingly, Hauerwas's read of Bonhoeffer makes Bonhoeffer sound a lot like Hauerwas (and Yoder). That does not necessarily make it wrong, but it is worth noting.

I believe this is a wonderful defense of the ideas Hauerwas has fought so long for.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of Stumbling Upon Hauerwas, October 13, 2006

By 

Dean Smith (Gaston, Or) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Performing the Faith: Bonhoeffer and the Practice of Nonviolence (Paperback)

Performing the Faith is the first book I have read of Stanley Hauerwas and I feel as though I have met a new friend. I am particularly pleased to have stumbled upon him because, while I have found many excellent biographers, historians, philosophers, scientists, social commentators, etc. to read, Hauerwas is the first contemporary intellectual evangelical Christian that has captured my attention (perhaps I have not looked very hard). Hauerwas is candid and relevant. He seems to love the give and take of a good debate. He concedes ground when appropriate, but holds his own with wit and good humor.

In this collection of essays, Hauerwas tests and expands his views against (and with) Augustine, Aquinas, Wittgenstein, Yoder, Millbank, Stout, Rawls, Barth and a host of others, including, of course, Bonhoeffer. Though Bonhoeffer is named in the book's subtitle, the heart of the book is found in the essays in part two: Truthful Performances. "What is overlooked by both subjective and objective accounts of faith is the sense in which Christian existence is first and foremost and activity - a performance, if you will." Hauerwas, with James Fodor, effectively use the analogy of rhetoric, musical performance and improvisation to illuminate "the general art of living well under God." In the next essay, Hauerwas uses Wittgenstein's work "to help rediscover the frightening beauty of the particular," to which the Christian is called to be a faithful witness. This means engaging in "life-forming practices . . . without seeking false comforts in a world of contingency."

Particularly good are Hauerwas's essays on September 11, 2001. Hauerwas is uncomfortable with the fact that "we get to call the violently secured order that makes our lives possible - peace. Only terrorists refuse to accept the peace our order names." His discomfort is exacerbated because "we know it is possible to love our enemies. Otherwise why would Christ in the Sermon on the Mount ask that we so love?" He asks, "Are we to make Christ a liar? If we do not think it possible to love our enemies, then we should plainly say Jesus is not the Messiah." What is the truth Christians are called to bring to the table? What is the Christian witness to be in a world of violence? Hauerwas doesn't offer up simplistic answers but he does concede "Yoder [in his book The Politics of Jesus] convinced me that if there is anything to this Christian `stuff' it must surely involve the conviction that the Son would rather die on the cross than have the world to be redeemed by violence."

I recommend Performing the Faith to anyone who is interesting in thoughtfully considering what it means to be a Christian in the context of our new-world-at-perpetual-war-order. I look forward to reading more of Hauerwas.