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| unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 87 reviews)
Sales Rank: 814
Category: Book
Authors: David Kinnaman, Gabe Lyons
Publisher: Baker Books
Studio: Baker Books
Manufacturer: Baker Books
Label: Baker Books
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1
ISBN: 0801013003
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3083
EAN: 9780801013003
ASIN: 0801013003
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Based on groundbreaking Barna Group research, unChristian uncovers the negative perceptions young people have of Christianity and explores what can be done to reverse them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 82 more reviews...
Alarming but Good Book January 8, 2009
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The data divulged in this book should be alarming to the doctrinally sound Christian. Read it and weep at the current thought process of our young adults. Cohabitation condoned? Just look inside. Adultry condoned? Just look inside. Homosexuality condoned? Just look inside.
An alarming view of the late teen\early twenty something crowd. Should wake up the Generation X'ers, and baby boomers (who really wrecked this country).
 Not Persuaded... January 1, 2009
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate... Genesis 3:12
It is the very nature of sin to accuse God for the wrongs we commit. This book illustrates a very dangerous trend amongst evangelicals. Taking from the world we have become very comfortable at criticizing the church with the same level of intensity as the media critiques political campaigns. I'd like to offer the minority report: This consumers approach to the church is out of hand.
It is a product of pride and cowardice at it's worst. One of the names given to the church is the Bride of Christ. I sometimes wonder if we remember that. The reason the church is the way it is has more to do with those who would rather write a book than do. Try getting this guy to have a conversation with you and you'll see that none of these insights are free. They all come at a price and getting US to purchase his book only perpetuates this deception. How about learning to listen to the Holy Spirit? Remember Him? Brothers and sisters, I implore you with the utmost urgency and sincerity, I believe that our time would better be served by getting to know your community and ministering from the love of Christ then reading this book and others like it. Remember it's the way that Christ and the Holy Apostles did it.
 unChristian - unSettling December 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity...and Why It Matters
David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons
ISBN: 978-0-8010-1300-3 ISBN-10: 0-8010-1300-3
unChristian is not your typical Christian book. It did not need to be. Neither should one expect it to be.
unChristian is unSettling.
unChristian will either humble or anger the Christian reader.
Research has shown that Busters and Mosaics (Terms that are used to specify young people aged 16-29) do not have a good opinion of Christians.
That should not really be surprising. I'm a pastor and I know that I don't have a good opinion of Christians in general. Oh, people are nice to me and I enjoy the ministry. I pastor a group of people who treat me as family. My experience has shown me, however, that Christians can be very unChristian. This book tells us that people on the outside of the church see us that way, too. Having read the book, I don't have a very good opinion of myself. I have a long way to go in learning to show grace, mercy, and compassion.
Many of those who were interviewed were not always on the outside of the church. Their experiences on the inside drove them out, however. It is commonly known that the Christian church is the army that shoots its wounded.
As a pastor I have battled legalism. I am all for grace. I did not realize how much legalism was still in me, however. In seeking to stand for righteousness I have been less than gracious and accepting of people who sin. We Christians are unChristian because we are a self-righteous, arrogant group of people who do not listen because we are convinced that we (though we say that the Bible does, we act as if we do) have all the answers. We give advice where it is not requested. We condemn when we should be helping. We complain about the state of the world, but do little to change it. We say that we hate the sin, but love the sinner. Our actions declare that we hate both.
We are unChristian in our attitudes because we are often obnoxious and rude to those who don't believe or live as we do. The unChristian church is characterized by what they are against instead of what they are for. We are negative and hostile to those who don't fit our mold.
While telling us all of these things the authors maintain a very gracious attitude toward the church (after all, they are part of the church), and do not call for moral and theological compromise. They do call for us to seek to understand people. They call for us to seek to empathize and sympathize. They call for us to recognize the fact that all sexual sin is sin; not just homosexual sin. They remind us of the fact that kindness and compassion will do much to help those who commit these sins, but that picketing their funerals and their parades will do little to help them. The research of the authors demonstrates to us the need to hold to traditional Christian beliefs, but to let go of or unChristian attitudes and methodologies. After all, we are not ministering well as we are.
The book is well written, I must say. To me it is gripping. I intended to read it at at leisurely pace and not tie myself to it. I did not do so. I read it every opportunity that I had. I could hardly put it down. The personal anecdotes from those interviewed give authenticity and authority to the message of the book. The message of the book is this: we are behaving in an unChristian manner; we must get over our Pharisaic ways and begin to minister as Jesus Christ did. After all, He was kind and compassionate to the outcasts and sinners. He did not call them names. He loved them.
Now, please excuse me while I go and repent.
Un-Christian December 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I found this book to hold an extremely critical message for the Church regarding the way it is viewed by the same people that it is trying to reach. Church leaders need to pay attention and modify their message - not because it will resonate with the next generation - but because the church is failing to walk the way that Jesus would walk - and it is apparent.
 I didn't read the book, but heard an interview on radio December 6, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
I think the authors are sincere in looking at the issues of the Church being seen as anti-gay, hyperevangelistic, overly political and judgmental.
I am in my fifties years old and agree with this assessment. It isn't only the young who think this way. In my experience, this group that we call conservative evangelicals certainly are judgmental, anti-gay, and way too concerned with conversion. I have a good friend who is gay, who grew up in a conservative church in Texas. He came out when he was about 40, as it took that long to do so.(that statement in and of itself should get the Church thinking) He hung around some of his old conservative friends after he came out, but he kept telling me that most still had that judgmental way about them, though it could be a subtle feeling of being judged. What would it actually take for these people to see that maybe they are wrong, and that just maybe God has more to reveal in this area? Oh, but heaven forbid that the Bible made a mistake or maybe wasn't clear-their whole world would fall apart!
My experience with "conservative" Christians is that they don't only to live out their faith, they see it as their mission to convert those who don't believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, as is the cliche. Why can't they just live out their faith, and not worry about how many are converted? How would they feel if a Muslim or a Jew or a Buddhist pressured them into converting to their belief system? I have known people of other faiths who are as sincere and have just as deep a sense of spirituality as Christians.
It's funny. The conservatives always say they are in the world, but not of the world. That is a bunch of baloney, to put it bluntly but kindly. Protestantism is an American phenomena, with its emphasis on individual salvation and one's "personal relationship with Jesus Christ." You think these suburban megachurches aren't influenced by American capitalism-that bigger is better? And the American Black churches have been profoundly influenced deeply by slavery. And sadly, though some improvements have been made, Sunday is still the most segregated time in America. And the church still says it is not of the world???? Get real.
And isn't it funny, all of a sudden even some of the conservative Churches are now concerned about the environment-they call it Creation Care. But nooooo, they say they are not influenced by what has happened within the environmental movements. Yeah, right.
James Dobson at this moment is probably still the one that is most famous for being anti-gay, very political, and judgmental. The fact that he does it behind this vague kindness and so-called concern for America doesn't make it any less harmful than it is. To me, he just seems extremely angry and confused, but that is for another book.
If conservative Christians would be humble, quit trying to convert everybody, admit that they can be wrong in areas of sexuality and politics, acknowledge they don't have all the answers and that God is still revealing truth, truly listen to others and take others seriously, this book wouldn't have needed to be written.
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