Joyful Exiles: Life in Christ on the Dangerous Edge of Things

by James M. Houston

Winner, 2007 World Guild Best Leadership/Theoretical Book Pastor and teacher Jim Houston reviews the insights he has gained over his years of teaching, counseling and mentoring Christians. He passes on what he has come to regard as pivotal concerns for leading a faithful Christian life in current society and culture. This is an advanced discipleship book for those who want to learn from someone with mature spiritual insight who has gone before them. If you are interested in Christian maturity, faithfulness, spiritual formation, and life, and want a guide through the "currents and eddies" of our society and culture, this book is for you.

Genres: Theology, Spirituality, Christian Living

204 pages, Hardcover

First published September 27, 2006

About the author

James ‘Jim’ M. Houston is Professor of Spiritual Theology at Regent College, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

[Note: Because there are several authors named 'James Houston', these have been entered using the author's middle initial].

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Houston is prophetic in this book. If reading this doesn't make you think and adjust you life in a more personal and Trinitarian direction then you may need a spiritual transfusion. There is so much wisdom gleaned from Houston's favorites that he introduces. It is a book that I will read the rest of my life over and over.
I would not cheapen the book by saying it "change me life". No the transformation God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit began is digging deeper and helping me to find a way to be a real Christian in a postmodern world.

[John Newton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say that I found this book a little disappointing, in spite of my huge respect for James Houston—and that may be part of the reason. For one thing, there is not a lot about joy in the book. And he dashes from topic to topic. Besides this (and no blame on the author for it) the book suffers from poor editing, with a number of silly errors that should have been caught. All in all, not Houston at his best.

[James Wheeler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Houston is not a moralist or a card carrying evangelical propositional thinker. Instead he likes to use dialectical thinking (dialogue) to guide his writing style which allows for nuance and complexity in his thought. This is a nice relief for those who want something more than a rubber stamping of right wing theology or moralism. Instead his writing calls the reader to a deeper place of contemplation, understanding both the context and historical sources of Christian thought and moral formation. He peppers in numerous spiritual giants into this particular offering, referring at times to Augustine, Dostoyevsky, Jonathan Edwards, C.S. Lewis and William Golding among others. The result is a challenging meditation on what it means to be a Christian in our post-modern times. It is a challenge to be an exile from culture because of the choice to love Christ and to seek to be shaped by him, but this choice is not a tragedy or heroic act, instead it is a journey of humility and ultimately, joy. This exile from the broader culture then, is an exchange, from lazy or convenient accommodation to a place of sacrificial and happy embrace of the way of Jesus. Highly recommended.

[Nate Duriga · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the first section of the book, I thought this was going to get a pretty low rating. First, because I had the idea in my head that the biblical idea of exile would be a key part of the book, but it's actually more of a memoir and reflections.

But parts two and three made it worth the read. In these, he offers great reflections on how technology creates a surrealism in our lives, and it requires discipline and effort to overcome it. Second, on how our society's tendency to be professionally impersonal, intellectually abstract and selfishly individualistic runs counter-current to how Christian communities pass on a lived faith.(meaning belief and practice in a relational context, not just a set of ideas)

If you think "spiritual memoir" and pass quickly over the first section, the later parts offer a 3-star read that's good for the soul.

[John B. MacDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s difficult to describe this book. Perhaps the subtitle is enough of an indication.

James Houston, once an Oxford professor, is the founding president of Regent College (Vancouver, Canada). In this volume, he writes on what it means for followers of Jesus to live as exiles. Sometimes rambling, sometimes mystical, but always engaging and profitable, we learn how we can be joyful exiles.

Here are three quotes to give you a taste of what to expect if you read this book:

- “… only in a sacrificial life do we find God at the center of everything” (121).

- “… nothing stretches and challenges us—in mind, emotions, will and spirit—more than being a Christian” (145).

- “The things that cause us the greatest personal suffering can actually free us from ourselves as we never imagined possible” (148).

This is a book I highly recommend.

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad I persisted through the epilogue in this book. I wish I had read it as the introduction! Through the reading I was getting some of it (I thought) but also finding the concepts as expressed hard to grasp. But in the epilogue he explained his reasoning for organizing the book as he did and also simply summarized the theme of each of the six essays. This was wonderful. I was able to more fully resonate with the idea of being not only an exile (which I was already fully aware of) but also a joyful one, albeit on the margins of a secular society.

[Daunavan Buyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I’ve read by Houston and it won’t be the last! Amazing book. This book left me thinking more deeply about my faith and the reality of living out my faith in community and with careful attention to the voices that are shaping my understanding of God and the world.

[Steve Pei · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I still have trouble with Houston’s Augustinian ethics, I found this book shining with wisdom. I believe it came to me at this time for a reason.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent, rollicking book on many subjects but its basic theme revolves around spiritual formation. James Houston employs dialectics throughout the book, carefully balancing both sides to examine truths - e.g. the individual and the community, doctrine and practice (my friend in his third year of studies at Regent told me that it often adopts a "both/and" approach and Houston clearly embodies this in his teaching). Along the way, he employs a wider variety of historical thinkers (Kierkegaard, Edwards, Lewis) and stories (Dostoevsky, Golding) as examples. I read this book hastily but it is one to read slowly and savour.

[Jonathan]

Yu can learn a lot in this book... Houston has shared the reflections of his life

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intellectually stimulating and thought provoking for the Christian life.

[Fred Byus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Focus on God

This is a powerful statement of living as a Christian in a strange land. Our greatest challenge is to empty ourselves of ourselves such that our core is God. Amen.