Conversation with Andy Root about his book, The Promise of Despair

[You can "click to continue" below so that you can pause the audioplayer]

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of having a conversation with Andy Root on his LiveBlog about his newest book, “The Promise of Despair.” I knew Andy a bit from my time at Princeton Seminary, and have since been increasingly impressed with both the rate at which this guy can turn out quality books, and the stuff that he’s been writing.

It was fun to get to talk with him about Chapter 3 of “The Promise of Despair,” which is entitled “The Attach of the Zombies: The Death of Belonging.” In Chapter 3, Andy talks about how, fundamentally, we just don’t know who are neighbors are anymore. Our old ideas of belonging and community are changing and so we have to rethink what that looks like in our faith communities today.

What Andy wants to suggest (and I’ll let him correct me if I’m misinterpreting it) is that we aren’t drawn together today through the usual ways of community, or by any sense of obligation…rather, Andy thinks that the way that communities will be formed and united today is through this promise of despair – through death (in its final form, but also in the many losses and deaths we all experience throughout our lives). What draws us together (in my own words) is that we’re all in this shit together.

I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in the church today and for a very different take on what community might look like. And if you’re interested, you can listen to the 15 minute conversation that Andy and I had yesterday by listening to the BlogTalkRadio player below.

Tagged as: Andy Root, emerging-church, Interview, Young Adults, Youth Ministry