I wanted to capture an emotional or psychographic niche — a way of thinking that shapes attitudes and behaviors; a spiritual geography. While I read much of the literature on the sociology of the suburbs, I spent more time reading the monastics from the Middle Ages onward. Death by Suburb is a book about spirituality. I also wrote the book primarily in the first person singular and with a sarcastic edge. A pastor in his thirties said the book reminded him of “The Simpsons,” the TV sitcom. I wanted to mock what I held so dear while at the same time holding out hope for living more reflectively. I wanted the book to provoke a response.
YWJ: Do you feel that suburbia holds more benefits for the spiritual lives of today’s Christians, or more dangers?
Hsu: I’d say that suburbia is both a threat and an opportunity for the spiritual lives of suburban Christians. The fact that suburbia is a land of abundance cuts both ways. Suburban Christians have more access to material and spiritual resources, but we’ve become numbed to physical and spiritual needs both at home and around the world. There’s so much potential for suburban Christians to do remarkable, counter-cultural things with our affluence and influence, but there’s also the spiritual danger that we’ll just turn inward and build our own empires rather than seek the welfare of others.
The challenge we face is how to wield our resources strategically to advance Christian mission, champion the poor and the marginalized and advocate for justice and peace.
Goetz:: I think to stay in the ’burbs and to thrive spiritually requires a continual mending of your life. It seems cliché to say, “You must be intentional,” but there’s no other way, really, to say it. I included at least one story in each chapter of someone doing it right. I’ve watched quite a few in our church live a quiet but intentional life that I would describe as the “deeper life.”
These folks are enormously generous — not just with their money but with their time, which is more valued, at least in my suburb, than money is.
We need to strip our “Christian activities” down to silence (prayer) and service in the world, within the context of a vital Christian community, of course.
YWJ: How do the cultural values of suburbia impact youth ministry?
Hsu: First, suburbia tends to be a commuter culture. So suburban youth groups can easily have teens from eighteen different high schools, meaning that no one local high school has a critical mass of youth group members. And many youth workers are frazzled, commuting between a dozen schools to keep up with their students’ activities. This might be beyond the youth worker’s control, but churches could recover a local parish mindset and aim to have members concentrate as much as possible in immediate local neighborhoods and schools.
