For half a century many Americans have sought the Good Life in suburbia. We wanted to explore the impact of suburban cultural values on Christian faith and practice, so we tapped two expert thinkers, writers and editors. Al Hsu is an associate editor at IVP Books and the author of IVP’s
The Suburban Christian: Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty. Dave Goetz is a veteran editor and writer whose latest book is
Death by Suburb: How to Keep the Suburbs from Killing Your Soul (HarperSanFrancisco). Al and Dave live near each other, but the following dialogue was conducted virtually.
YouthWorker Journal: What motivated both of you to explore the topic of faith in the suburbs?
Al Hsu: I’m a lifelong suburbanite. I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, not far from the country’s first indoor shopping mall, and I now live in the Chicago suburbs. Some years ago, when interacting with friends from rural and urban contexts, I began to see the different ways that suburbia had shaped me, for good and for bad — ways that I didn’t even notice because it was so much the air I breathed. I was grateful for the opportunities of suburbia but was chagrined about the sense of privilege and entitlement I often found in myself. So I wanted to understand suburbia on its own terms. The better we understand how suburbia affects us, the better we’ll be able to affect suburbia for God’s kingdom purposes.
Dave Goetz: I grew up in rural communities on the Northern Plains, and so when I moved to the Chicagoland ‘burbs, I felt, emotionally, the change in values.
YWJ: How did your approaches differ? Or maybe better: What do each of you like or disagree with concerning the other author’s book?
Hsu: Dave and I both say that Christians shouldn’t flee the suburbs, that we can find authentic Christian spiritual life here. We both emphasize the fact that Christians should live intentionally and Christianly in suburbia. Suburbia needs Christians, and I’m encouraged that there are more of us addressing the topic these days.
This is an oversimplification, but Dave has focused on the psychology of suburbia, while I’m particularly interested in the history, geography and sociology of suburbia. He’s done a lot of thinking about how suburban people get caught up in issues of status and comparison and the like. A lot of my research has been about the structural and socio-cultural forces, like physical land-use patterns or consumer branding, and their practical implications for our community and church life.
Goetz: I think we both are trying to grapple with what it means to love Jesus amid enormous wealth and comfort.
