Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society [Paperback]

Marva J. Dawn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 2003

In this prophetic call to faithful Christian living, Marva Dawn identifies the epidemic socio-cultural attitudes that destroy hope in our modern lives. Because affluent persons don't know what to value--how to choose what's important and weed out the rest--we remain dissatisfied with what we have and are compelled to want more. Dawn demonstrates, however, how Christians can organize their lives to live in ways that allow them to love God and neighbor and, in the process, alleviate the despair in their lives and in the lives of others in the world.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marva J. Dawn is Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. An internationally renowned theologian, author, and educator with Christians Equipped for Ministry, she has preached and taught at seminaries, clergy conferences, churches, assemblies, and universities all over the world.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press; 1 edition (March 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664225950
• ISBN-13: 978-0664225957
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #110,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marva J. Dawn serves the global Church as a theologian, author, musician, and educator under Christians Equipped for Ministry and as Teaching Fellow in Spiritual Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia. A scholar with four master's degrees and a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics and the Scriptures from the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Dawn has taught for clergy and worship conferences and at seminaries throughout the world. She is also well-known and highly appreciated as a preacher and speaker for all ages and sometimes contributes to worship by means of her musical gifts. She is the author of more than fifteen books and is happy married to Myron Sandberg; they reside in Washington State.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hope for a hurting world, November 21, 2003

By 

Rev. Tim HAYES (Manchester, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society (Paperback)

This is a book which excites and stirs. It animates and illuminates my hearts desire to become both authentically human and faithfully Christian, my yearning to have a faith which truly transforms my life and the community I'm part of, my craving for a faith which integrates a world fragmented by injustice and division.

Eugene Peterson writes that Marva Dawn's new book contains, " clarifying, energizing, necessary words for Christian understanding and obedience." Walter Brueggemann describes Dawn as, "one of our most acute social critics and articulate theologians, who moves quickly past the puzzling issues of method to the real stuff of faith." The real stuff of faith and life is what I deal with everyday. So does this book in any way help me as a priest and pastor to make sense of the world around me? Does it equip and encourage the church in being better at being Jesus in the world today? I believe it does!

This book is not just another post 9/11 commentary on modern life. It certainly does contain a reflective and accessible synthesis of social commentary, philosophy and theology which itself affords a piercing critique of the world as it is. But it's much much more. "Unfettered hope" is both prophetic statement and Christian apologetic, manifesto for practical engagement and pastoral handbook for faithful living. Dawn seeks to understand more cogently the forces which bind (fetter) people's lives thus preventing them from becoming truly human and truly Christian. These "fetterings" bind us and blind us by obscuring true priorities and values. In exchange people are given false hopes which result in them being distracted from what should be core values, priorities and practices, what are called our "focal concerns".

The book begins by looking at how life is fettered. It looks at the nature and character of a culture defined by consumerism and technological advancement. It does so not only in terms of its impact upon the wealthy west but also the affect on the struggling two thirds world. This is not another romantic post industrial response to modernity. The problem is not seen as technology per se but how its particular paradigm shapes our thoughts, values and ideals. The great triumph of this paradigm is seen in its "Technical bluffs"how it always promises more than it can deliver. Our optimistically grand expectations and claims concerning the future are debunked as bluff or in the words of fictional character Holden Caulfield mere phonyism. Dawn looks at the nature and extent of this paradigm. This critique is not new. It could be argued that the Wachowski brothers use similar metaphors in the movie "The Matrix" ( Warner Brothers 1999 ). But unlike the Matrix, I cannot escape fully from its grip. We live in two worlds simultaneously, the world of God's emerging kingdom and the world as it is. The challenge becomes to how "resist, restrict and reform" the all pervading value system of this post modern early 21st century culture ?

This is done, Dawn argues, by living according to focal concerns. Ch.3 looks at what Christian focal concerns might be whilst Ch.4 shows how churches in the west often fail to live by them. That we succumb to the same fetterings as everyone else is a result of not realizing the basic paradigm or underlying value system which affects us all. Ch.5 presents true hope in the "...grandly sweeping meta-narrative.. " which is the Christian faith. Consequently this, " ...frees us to live our focal concerns joyfully- to love God and our neighbours wholeheartedly" Chapter 6 gives us clues to what this might look like practically, " seventy practices by which we, empowered by the hope of the Gospel, can attend to our focal concerns and challenge the culture by which the whole world is mired in despair." This chapter has great pastoral connection for all those who struggle in the gloriously messy business of seeing and shaping lives transformed by Christ.

The final chapter further defines this hope as eschatological where our present understanding is shaped by a future promise, a beautifully crafted picture of hope based on promise not power.Even here Dawn offers brilliant pastoral insights and images. Good theology always concerns itself with the "How" of everyday life. Marva Dawn successfully does just this, whilst prayerfully integrating the book into a thoughtful and engaged spirituality. I cannot just read this book. I am drawn into its struggle to work out the implications in prayer and thought, pastoring and preaching, living and dying.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, very convicting..., March 28, 2011

By 

tocatchaglimpse - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society (Paperback)

I am almost finished reading this book; I have to admit, I'll miss the insight and prayer and repentance that seemed to go along with every new chapter (and sometimes each turn of the page). This is the first book I have read from Marva and really learned so much. I have to admit that much of what she says is already along the lines of things I believe anyway, but she does a great job of communicating what living like a child of the Most Holy God may really look like. We are so blessed...there are so many hurting, desperate people in the world today. Do we dare to change our consumer habits to better love our neighbor? I hope I will.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unfettered Hope, November 4, 2008

By 

Paul B. Dyer (La Crosse, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society (Paperback)

It's a challenging book to read, i.e. it can be somewhat difficult at times to follow the author's trains of thought, but it is in the long run well worth the work and time necessary to read it.