Review of Living on the Borders by Mark Griffin and Theron Walker

Summary:

Mark Griffin and Theron Walker’s Living on the Borders explores what the church can learn from ethnic minorities. In short, they argue that the notion of the American melting pot is not neutral. Assimilation is assimilation into an individualistic and consumeristic world that is antithetical to ethnic minorities and Christianity. In light of this, they offer five points. First, Christians are part of the melting pot, like other minorities. Second, the melting pot is not a benign concept. Third, the ghetto is not a suitable alternative to the world (or melting pot). Fourth, both the church and ethnic immigrants finds themselves between ghettoization and the world. Fifth, the church should seek a role that is public, but not official and hegemonic.

Chapter one explores the work of the essayist-commentator, Richard Rodriguez, who is a proponent of radical assimilation. Griffin and Walker are forthright in pointing out Rodriguez’s success in assimilating into American culture, but they also emphasize the high price that he had to pay, loneliness and ultimately the irrelevance of his culture and tradition.[1] Chapter two explores freedom, “Enlightenment style,” and how this version of freedom without traditions is dangerous. They argue that the alternative to tradition is the rational individual, who has proved to be irrational over time, which leaves us only with our emotions as an arbiter of what is good and proper.[2]

The next two chapters concern the difficulties of bridge building, but the worthiness of this endeavor. They argue that because people no longer define themselves in relation to community, tradition, or God, they have a deep psychological hunger for identity, which fuels a consumeristic society. They write:

In America, as a whole, we define ourselves in opposition to communal identities – and McWorld growth depends on it.[3] Globalism is mandated by profit not citizenship. McWorld lives on spending – spending driven by a deep psychological hunger. Identity is not a gift conferred by community or by God; we create ourselves through the image we buy.[4]

They also point out the irony of all of this. A consumer based culture breeds profound conformity, as people buy the same things. Their point is clear; the world promises much, but leaves people hungry. In view of this, they underline the importance of community.[5] First, they state that the church is communal by nature and must remember this fact. Second, when the church sees the non-communal nature of the world, the church should move to the borders of society. Third, the church should bear in mind that communities, though good, will have its fair share of problem on this side of the city of God.

In the final section of the book, the authors get to the heart of their solution for the church, to live in the borderlands. They define borderlands as the place between the world and the ghetto, a place that challenges public and private, sacred and secular.[6] More specifically, they call the church to remember that they are sojourners and strangers in the world with a citizenship that is heavenly. When this happens, they argue that the church will successfully live in the borderlands:

By claiming its pilgrim heritage, and by practicing that most pilgrim of virtues (hospitality), the church will be neither a ghetto (a walled enclave) nor a domesticated resort (sentimental but devoid of life) but an inn for weary travelers of the borderlands/frontiers, and an outpost of hope for exiles bound for the city of God.[7]

Analysis:

Mark Griffin and Theron Walker have written a volume with a few important insights. First, their analogy that the church is like an ethic minority in a melting pot is something worth pondering. If they are correct in their assessment (and I am inclined to agree), their call to the church to learn from ethnic minorities will be prudent. Also it will be important for minority Christians to speak up to address the church in America with the insights that they have gained over the years. Second, their thesis that the world is driven by consumerism and its close ally individualism is an important point to make. Finally, I thought that their point about the function of emotions as the arbiter of what is good and right was excellent. I wish they had developed this more; in my opinion, the implications are great. With that said, I found a few aspects of the book frustrating. In the first place, the book could have been more tightly argued. I found that their arguments were loosely connected. If their basic thesis is that the church should live in the borders, then they should say so right from the beginning and sustain this argument throughout. They only talk about the concept of the border piece meal and even when they do, they give little description of what it means to live in the border. A few concrete examples of the church in the border would have gone a long way. Moreover, I thought they could have made the book simpler (not that it was a difficult read). After I finished the book, I asked myself, aren’t they basically saying that the church is called to be in the world, but not of it? Isn’t that what Jesus says in John 17? A book that unpacked John 17 could have achieved more clarity and cogency, in my opinion. In conclusion, Griffin and Walker have produced a volume with a few gems to consider, if there were a few frustrations.


[1] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 39.

[2] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 64.

[3] McWorld is the world driven by consumerism.

[4] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 104.

[5] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 105.

[6] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 129.

[7] Mark Griffin and Theron Walker. Living on the Border (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004), 182.