Learning to Speak Christian
Review – Stanley Hauerwas, Learning to Speak Christian (SPCK, 2011) The title alone makes this book worthy of attention. For Hauerwas, Christianity is not something that comes naturally to us. To “speak Christian”, to use Christian language about the world needs to be learned, and it is learned above all in worship, in reading Scripture, and in belonging to the church. “To learn to be a Christian …” says Hauerwas, “ is learning another language” (p. 87). This makes Christianity difficult, and Hauerwas is quite upfront about this “I do not want to make Christianity easy. I want to make it hard” (p. 116). For those already familiar with Hauerwas’ work, this is full of familiar joys. There is a marvelous, and beautifully simple, demolition of Jonathan Glover’s Humanity (it lacks an account of human good). And, of course, Hauerwas is the master of the outrageous turn of...