Book Review: Dissident Discipleship by: David Augsburger

Dissident Discipleship

The thesis of Dissident Discipleship is to move its reader to a pursuit of tripolar spirituality, which is love of God, love of neighbor and sacrifice of self. This book is admittedly influenced by an Anabaptist theology and was challenging to me on a number of issues. The first was a dismantling of constantinianism, the idea of power having no place in true Christian Spirituality. I am no pacifist, but should I be? The role of Christ likeness is one of peacemaking. I further understood the effects of the Roman power structure on the church because of this book. Prior to Constantine’s conversion the church flourished in a politically powerless state, and simultaneously with superior spiritual power. When Constantine declared Christianity the state religion of Rome it applied a Roman power structure to the church. It setup a political power system from Priest to Pope. It neutered the spiritual potency of the church, and the church compensated through political power strategies. I needed to work through these feelings as an American “evangelical”. Should the church be seeking political power? No, not if it is Christ-like. Christ is not seeking a Christian nation, but wants to redeem a nation to be Christ-followers. This transition is not easy based on the way I was raised. I was always taught that America was a Christian nation, and that was where we should be today. The truth is that in the case of effective discipleship I am glad that America is not a Christian nation.

On page 71 Augsburger advocates for allowing dissent among the group. In essence humility that regards the validity of differing opinions. There is a side of me that argues with this idea. I never want to be so proud as to think I have got it all figured out, and yet there has to be direction in group life (i.e. the church). Dissent can really hinder that. What about group identity and mission? It seems in Christ’s leadership that His group was identified with Him and given specific mission. These areas were non-negotiable. No dissent was permitted by Jesus. When he was leading them to Jerusalem for His death Peter tried to dissent and was called “Satan” for it. I believe that honoring Christ involves unique identity and common mission as churches. While humility welcomes and includes dissent; spiritual leadership does not bend identity and/or mission.

The third area that I want to reflect on is the role of humor in humility. I think that humor is essential in managing ourselves in our pursuit of tripolar Spirituality. I realize more and more the role of humor between God and man. As a father of an eighteen month old, I see my daughter do humorous things. In particular she is learning to speak; she is starting with animal sounds, but when asked what a kitty-cat says she verbalizes some thing that sounds like, “OwwwM”. The M sound is on the wrong end. I think that God, as our father, is humored by us, and I think we should see humor in ourselves. I appreciated the paraphrase of Elton Trueblood on page 112, “We cannot know with certainty how much humor there is in Christ’s teaching, but we can be sure that there is far more than is normally recognized.”

These areas of reflection were all good for me, and continue to challenge the way I think. More importantly I want them to shape me more into Christ’s image. I value the perspective of someone who sees Christianity a little different than I do. It helps me to evaluate my own perspectives and change, where I can, to a better life of obedience. I have completely read this book in its entirety.