Where Goodness Still Grows

The title of this book caught my interest, and while I did enjoy it, I don't think it fully lived up to its promise.

The writing is clear and thoughtful, and I agreed with the author on just about every point, but it felt like the author also held back. The subtitle (“reclaiming virtue in an age of hypocrisy”) made it seem like the book would center on how to reclaim virtues that have gotten lost in the face of hypocrisy in the church at large, across denominations. I expected it to be more pointed, more eye-opening, more heart-examining based on that subtitle. Maybe I expected it to be less individualistic and more communal, targeting us as people of the whole church rather than us as individual Christians, though reclaiming virtue can, and probably needs to, be done on both levels.

My biggest complaint is that the book felt narrow in scope. Typically I don't gravitate towards Christian books where examples for all the points come from the author's own life. I prefer academic examples, historic examples, examples from a variety of people, and particularly examples from the bible. Some of the virtues listed I even questioned as biblical virtues, like authenticity. That isn't to say that authenticity isn't a virtue, just that I don't recall it being mentioned in the bible, and if it was, I would have liked to have seen where. Also, why are these virtues so valuable? Why should they be reclaimed?

The hypocrisy mentioned in the subtitle also didn't get as much attention as I would have liked. If anything she included it in a subtle way, and all focusing on the evangelical church and politics. Her frustration shone forth most in the chapter on lamentation, and mostly revolved around the lack of lamentation in current church practice. And that's true, and fine, but there were many examples of hypocrisy that could have been lamented (with fiery passion) throughout the whole book, but weren't.

Something not mentioned that should have been is the widespread abuse within the church, regardless of denomination. The chapter on purity didn't mention the hypocrisy of church leaders telling young women they are like a dirty cup of spit if they have sex and then forcing sex on them. Or the hypocrisy of Christians “focusing on the family”, when the rates of domestic violence in the church are worse than the rates outside it. Or the hypocrisy of Christian pastors preaching in $1000 sneakers, or living in multi-million dollar mansions bought with church tax-exemptions. How can the virtues of love, purity, and modesty be reclaimed in these instances? And not just on a personal level, in my own heart, but on a church-wide level? That's the book I wanted to read, but not the book I got.

The book I got was good, but forgettable. It was not groundbreaking or bold or daring as I had hoped it would be. It almost felt like the author was afraid of offending the church, or her university, too much.