The Good Life: Genuine Christianity for the Middle Class

by David Matzko McCarthy

Book by David Matzko McCarthy

Genres: Theology

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do we live at Christians in Middle Class America? McCarthy attempts to answer this by exploring how we live with people, places and things in God’s creation, taking four parts to do so. It seemed out of order, that the final chapter on “God and Creation” should have been first in setting up how we live in God’s creation. Written in 2004, I found some elements outdated, and written by a Catholic, a bit different from my own perspective.

Still, McCarthy offers a number of challenging points about marriage, hospitality (echoes of Rosaria Butterfield!), work, patriotism (a nod to the post-9/11 world we were grappling with in 2004), what we own, etc. There were many points I spent time meditating on and enjoying, others that I found hard to know how to practice in life.

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book that's worth reading. The author provides much food for thought and practical advice for middle class believers.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wonderfully written, and sharply packaged by Brazos (Baker). McCarthy is a theo. prof. at a Catholic college in Maryland, probably in his late-30s. He uses everyday anecdotes to expose the struggle middle-class suburban Christians are in, often without knowing it. The book is 27 small chapters broken into 4 categories: People (friendship, marriage, sex and singleness, God and neighbor, etc.), Places (home and hospitality, country and nation, etc.); Things (debts, work); and God (breaking down the elements of the Apostle's Creed).

James K. A. Smith of Calvin College writes in a blurb on the back cover: "How can we resist the empire's demand for our allegiance? This remains a fundamental question for Christain discipleship, and in The Good Life, McCarthy poses it afresh. But now the empire is not Rome but the market, and the arena of challenge is not the colliseum but Wal-Mart. He offers challenging wisdom to those of us in minivans who are trying to discern what God's disruptive grace means for our friendships, our neighborhoods, and our consumer habits."

Another blurb: "Don't let the charm of his style or his mastery of the telling detail mislead you. McCarthy's The Good Life is both a sustained critique of the consumerism that enslaves and a profound account of how God's graciousness can set us free. This is theology at its best. A how to book about something that matters."

My biggest dissapointment with the book -- it does not emphasize strongly enough the centrality of the Church. Chap. 25 on the "One, Holy, Apostolic Church," was very insightful. But any study of Christian ethics needs to communicate clearly to our individualist culture -- the Church is not one means to the end, it IS the end. The Church isn't a tool for the individual Christain to use for their personal growth, it is the object of the Christian life. The Gospel is not Christ. It is Christ and his Church. McCarthy may understand that, and certainly has plenty of Gospel-driven things to say about the centrality of community, but I didn't think that point was made clearly enough.

Also, a good index would have helped. I have not read this cover to cover yet, but found myself flipping back and forth. I may have missed things. But I didn't see anything on the role of the Lord's Supper in discipleship (funny for a Presbyterian to be criticizing a Catholic for that!).

Overall, one of the best things I have read on the topic. I'm going to buy more copies for friends and parishoners.