Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World

Chaput celebrates the truth and the beauty of Christian vocation in our own strange land. He offers an insightful analysis of our cultural moment along with a persuasive call to faithful engagement and witness.

Archbishop Chaput has a very good knack for packaging complex realities into ways that are easy to understand. We sense the problems around us, but Chaput elevates the discussion in this book in a rational and organized way. At times he is hard-hitting, yet charitable. He doesn't just detail the challenges facing believers in contemporary times and leave us down; he offers practical guidance and hope. Strangers in a Strange Land had me questioning my own ways of dealing with matters of faith that collide with a culture where there is rising anti-Christian sentiment or religious indifference. I recommend this book to anyone concerned about living Catholic in the world today.

I enjoy Archbishop Chaput's thought. I have also read Render Unto Caesar. Strangers in a Strange Land is an accurate and realistic description of how the times we are living in are gnawing away at the pillars on which our country was founded,"equality of persons, natural rights and reverence for the law..." As the author states: "Candor is not the enemy of love and real hope begins with honesty." Archbishop Chaput gives us the knowledge we need to change things and the courage to try.

I just started reading the book, so I don't have any opinions regarding it...

It's part of a trio of books that includes "The Benedict Option" and "Out Of The Ashes" that speak to the subject of how Chrisitians should live in this current culture...

Also, Os Guinness' books "A Sane People's Suicide" and "Impossible People" address the subject...

It's an easy read, yet powerful !

I highly recommend it !

The book is easily readable and I rr

This work is an extraordinary work that lays out our task in this valley of tears. Our task is to love those that belong to us, those we encounter, and those that need to be tended to, fed, and enlightened. We have to stay focused on our goal: the city of God as we traverse this strange land, the city of man. We "fight fear and death with joy..." as we look forward to our eternity in the Beatific Vision.

Charles Chaput has articulated the current situation in our country and its causes as no one else has. His is a voice to be listened to as we make our way through the miasma of our present culture. He encourages us in spite of the chaotic expressions we find in our society today. A must read.

A very good book all Americans should read, regardless of ones respective religious persuasion. The Archbishop touches on may themes or issues in this book, for example (and is explicit in the title), living in a post Christian world, the collapse of Faith and its origins, how Democracy and technology subvert Truth and the difference between Hope and Optimism. These themes (and more) are woven together in a very lucid and logical manner that both illuminates the past and shines the light to the future. Regarding the future the Archbishop seems to see a dark future, myself, I believe I have heard the Horn of the Mark sound, and the Riders of the Rohan are coming.........

Thought provoking, uplifting work written by a brilliant author. This is something everyone, even those with liberal social leanings, should read to understand Christian values and what makes Catholics, in particular, unique in today's culture. Not an easy read, but well worthwhile.

In this very significant book, Archbishop Chaput offers a profound and thoroughgoing spiritual diagnosis of our current Western culture. Drawing upon the best of the church’s theologians, especially Augustine, he presents the contemporary state of the City of Man in all of its triumphant ugliness and amoral absurdity. Yet in a time when unconditional pessimism is an all too easy temptation for Christians, he also does much more: he points us beyond the immediate barren landscape to the City of God and sets forth a vision which, while in many ways depressing and bleak, is ultimately filled with hope. Of course, the Archbishop writes from an avowedly Roman Catholic perspective but this is a book which all orthodox Protestants should read. It builds on our common Augustinian heritage, points continually to Christ and his promises, and challenges us to be first and foremost faithful, loving Christians and Christian communities in the places and among the people where God has set us. This is a truly remarkable and important contribution to the discussion about Christian life in a post-Christian nation.

Archbishop Charles Chaput writes a book of cultural analysis and encouragement especially for devout Catholic Christians, but it is also applicable for devout Christian believers of any denomination. The first part of the book describes in some detail the decline of influence of Christian values on the secular cultures of historic Christendom with emphasis on contemporary USA. The latter part of the book recommends both devotional and practical attitudes and practices which a modern Christian can exercise to personally counter and ameliorate the more negative aspects or results of the secular advance. One of his emphases is the importance of marriage and the family in enhancing the quality of life for everyone in society. I would recommend this book to a serious Christian seeking answers the his/her concerns and to help identify constructive personal goals and behaviors which he/she could practice. It would also be of value to the non-religious and non-Christian person to try to understand the values and impulses which inform the attitudes and behaviors of a large segment of American society with whom he/she must interact and contend.

Archbishop Chaput's new book is a welcome return to the national stage, his first since the publication of his 2009 Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life Chaput is one of the most thoughtful bishops in the Church today and an astute cultural commentator by any measure. I found it remarkable to see how Chaput's diagnosis of American society and Christianity has developed since Render Unto Caesar, where he was more sanguine about the fruitfulness of direct political advocacy. What unites the two books, however, is a belief in the primacy of faith and culture over politics, and the fundamental reality of each human person's dignity and ability to choose between good and evil. This new book is an excellent guidebook for anyone who wishes to understand the situation of Christians in America and in the modern world more broadly. In addition to Chaput's own analysis, the citations in the index could serve as a curated reading list in religion, literature, history, philosophy, and theology. In short, I highly recommend it.

This is a book for our time; it's a playbook for Catholics trying to live the faith well and a window into what the Church really teaches for those who are not Catholic. Archbishop Chaput begins with a clear, concise, honest, vigorous, and, ultimately, courageous countercultural examination of our culture that eschews any and all conventional wisdom, instead opting to read the times through the person and life of Jesus Christ—and recognizing that these times doesn't measure up to that person and his life—rather than reading the Gospel through the signs of the times. Throughout, he dismantles progressive shibboleths and engages with all sorts of thinkers and texts, including those of Augustine of Hippo, whom Chaput takes as a model for engaged Christians, especially bishops and priests. Archbishop Chaput takes to heart Augustine's admonition that, when the times are miserable and burdensome, it's really human beings who should change, because that's how times change. In the second part of the book, he articulates a hopeful vision for just this: how one can survive as a faithful Catholic in unfriendly times. And the life he suggests living is radically evangelical, capable of transforming the world around those who embark on the tough but rewarding path of true Christian discipleship. His is ultimately a more hopeful vision of this world than the visions offered by similar books and thinkers, but many of them are singing from the same hymn book, even if on different pages.

There are many things to like about this book, no matter which one of the big three traditions (Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox) you belong to.

Chaput is a lucid writer who has clearly done his homework. His book ranges over many significant thinkers, past and present. His analysis of our cultural moment is sobering, but never gloomy. He well understands the indispensable virtue of Christian hope.

I read Dreher’s The Benedict Option, but find Chaput’s approach much more in keeping with the entire record of Scripture.

I hesitated to start reading this book because there are too many out there written by Catholic prelates that only offer pabulum for the layperson. Often they include only a rewrite of basic Catholic teachings but written almost like a secular self-help book, leaving the reader with nothing new to reflect about or take action on. Not this book. Archbishop Chaput demonstrates in his writing that he is both humble and an intellectual powerhouse, in the world but not of it. The sources that inform his thinking vary from religious thinkers like Augustine, Niebuhr and Newman to sociologists like Bauman and social critics like Lasch, and even to the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner. Applying his wide and varied knowledge, his pastoral experience and, ultimately, his Christian faith, Chaput delivers a work that confronts the current cultural and spiritual confusion head on. He even mentions, you know, the evil one! Chaput’s mission is to give the Catholic faithful hope and strong footing. The Church may fall in size in the United States, but it’s mission remains the same, and the ultimate rests in the fact that the battle has already been won by Christ’s victory over sin and death. Chapters deal specifically with issues, for example, like the assault on the family and traditional understandings of gender and the mixed-ideology origin of the United States, and notes that “America is child of both biblical and enlightenment spirits.” My only concern with the book is that its message may only be accessible to those with at least a college education or more. There is so much here that would be incredibly valuable if it were made more easily available to a larger audience, many who know in their hearts what’s right but can’t articulate it in a manner that wins debates. But that is one of the points of the book, which is that it is through our daily lives, particularly when living out the Sermon on the Mount, that we profess the Gospel and the message of hope most loudly and clearly.

"We've spoken frankly so far about the American landscape as we now know it. Some of the words have been difficult. But candor is not an enemy of love. And real hope begins in honesty.

The current spirit of our country inclines us to be troubled. It's a sensible temptation. How can any one person or small group of people make a difference? How can we change and renew things so that our children grow up in a better world? We come back to a question suggested at the start of this book: How can we live in joy, and serve the common good as leaven, in a culture that no longer shares what we believe?"
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As we might expect from the author of Render Unto Caesar, this is a book which focuses on how we can live both an authentically Catholic life and an American life in changing, chaotic times.

The first half of the book examines our nation's history, especially as it is tied to religion; how our society became "post Christian;" and why it will not return to the way it was. That last truth hit me hard. I'm not someone who thinks restoring a few laws is going to change the national psyche but I think I felt as if everything would settle back into old norms at some point. Absorbing Chaput's explanation was tough. But if we don't know the truth, then we aren't on firm ground for future decisions. So I'm grateful.

The second half looks at where we go from here, as Catholics, as Americans. I found it realistic and hope-filled and inspiring. What is hope and how do we maintain it? How do Jesus' promises in the Beatitudes apply to our lives and times? What does it mean to be the "people of God" in a distracted and unbelieving age?

Chaput's answer is one that I have always felt is a basic truth, perhaps because I myself came from a completely secular life before my conversion. We begin by reforming our own hearts, being authentic Christian witnesses by living our own lives with conviction. We have to be in love with our faith and with God. That is what spills over as we go into the world for work, school, and all the things that make up a normal life.

It may not always be easy, but, let's face it, we've been spoiled. All you have to do is look at the way Christians are persecuted around the world to see that.

In different ways, with varying directness, Chaput repeatedly points out that people living a fully Christian life make a difference in the world.

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"Jesus uses three images to describe using our gifts for God's kingdom: salt, light, and leaven, or yeast. ...

Note the logic at work here. Yeast mixes with flour and makes dough rise. We sprinkle salt on our food, and the meal tastes better. We turn on the lights of a dark room so we can see. The yeast, salt, and light aren't the focus of our attention. Rather, they impart their qualities to something else to make it better. And so it should be with the work of the Church in the world."
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Chaput directly addresses why withdrawing from the world won't work. I found his first reason the most compelling: "The world will come after us" because reminders of an abandoned past will be increasingly irritating. In his discussion of forming a Catholic identity, Chaput acknowledges the The Benedict Option idea, albeit without naming it specifically, adding:

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"This is wisdom, so long as we don't give up on the good present in American society. We need to create places where Catholic culture can flourish and be handed down to the next generation. ..."
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I'm not a fan of the Benedict Option, at least as I've read about it to date, but I do think it has begun a much needed discussion. Catholics and, indeed, all Christians need to be mindful of the uneasy ground beneath our feet as our society goes through a watershed moment. Strangers in a Strange Land is a clear-sighted road map to where we've been and where we need to head now.

Archbishop Chaput outlines the difficulties the modern Catholic Christian experiences in today's secular world. Christians have been persecuted since the beginning of the faith, and we are simply combating new forms of persecution in the modern ages. Archbishop Chaput's work "Strangers in a Strange Land" contains some very simple thoughts that reinforces our understanding of our Christian heritage and understanding in God. In his analysis of science, Chaput argues how science cannot explain beauty. 'Beauty can't "dwell" in the thing described as beautiful, because it doesn't exist outside the mind of the observer.' Beauty exists only because of man's interaction with God's creation.

As the title to this review states, today's man is more interested in the affirmation of what he is defining as 'rights', even if these rights are contrary to the inherent nature of why man was created. As eloquently stated by Chaput, "No man, no society, and no nation can serve two masters." What future lies ahead for our nation will depend on how each of us acts -- what master will we serve. Our collective acts will either guide our nation to new Christian prosperity of family and love under God or to a continued view that the 'self' is the ultimate master to which we serve.

Archbishop Chaput desperately wants to avoid nostalgia noting that "America can't be the way it once was." And yet, he spends so much time detailing the growing atheism of American life, the problems incurred by technology, and the ramifications of contemporary politics, that much of this book reads like a wistful eulogy for the fifties. This doesn't help us to deal with the complexity of living our lives NOW. Sure, having test tube babies is a sterile, disembodied activity that changes conventional family relationships. But should otherwise-sterile parents not avail themselves of this technology? How do we navigate a world in which medical advances both benefit us but disrupt social arrangements? And yes, morality has been moved into the realm of the subjective. But aren't calls to personal holiness simply another iteration of subjective (and inter-subjective) spirituality? Can politics move morality into the category of "fact?" and if not, how does it work? The fundamental problem of the book is that it doesn't address the complexity of contemporary life. How do we live good lives in a faithless world in which technology infiltrates our day-to-day activities with far-reaching (and unforeseeable) consequences?

This is an outstanding book. It includes the best, clearest, most honest, and most insightful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of American culture that I have seen anywhere. In the future, any clear-eyed civic engagement by American Christians will need to start from this book's insights.

It also provides invaluable guidance for any Christian trying to think about how we should live today, both individually and communally. Chaput is always blunt, and his thoughts here are sobering. But fundamentally he is counseling hope rather than despair. Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox alike should all read this book (preferably together!).

A courageous book from a courageous man. Sometimes the most important task is simply truth-telling. This book accomplishes this task in spades. Archbishop Chaput, one of the most heavy-hitting and vocal prelates in the American Church, ably provides an overview and critique of our present socio-cultural landscape. This alone would recommend this book. But he goes further, to underscore how we ourselves and our culture might be transformed by God’s grace and our response to it. In some sense, if Pope Francis is the “Pope of Mercy,” we might call Archbishop Chaput the “Bishop of Grace.” I am very glad the American Church has such a shepherd.

Excellent Book. Great Topics. A Must Read. As a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, I thought it was important for me to read what the Archbishop wrote. I couldn't be happier with the book. This is not a walk through the weeds, but an aerial view of our current situation with a glimpse into the future.

The book gets to the point quickly and then offers reasonable suggestions for how to follow Christ in this strange world we live in. Probably the most important book to read this year.

It is basically a personal formation conference with the Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Thank You,

Father Jason Buck

A brutally-honest, comprehensive and on-target assessment of the current mess we are in as citizens of a depraved society. Easy to read. Heavy to ponder. Yet bursting with inspiration and hope for the future.

While ultimately hopeful, this book is a sobering look at how far our American culture has fallen from its earlier goodness. Although he recognizes that the founders and framers of the United States were not saints, Archbishop Chaput nonetheless describes the foundations of America as resting solidly on Christian faith and Enlightenment sensibilities. He examines original American society through the writings of Alexis de Tocqueville, the great French observer of early American life, who offered a clear rationale for the success—in contrast to his own French Revolution—of America.

Archbishop Chaput sees the swift slide from godliness to self-centeredness in America as being similar to the world of the Hebrew judges, who lived in “another generation who did not know the Lord or the work which he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10). At its founding, America had a “shared moral and political creed” that transcended ethnicity and eventually even Protestant and Catholic religious differences—one founded on biblically-influenced roots. Not ignoring the contribution of Enlightenment philosophy, or romantically asserting that America was always a completely orthodox Christian nation, Archbishop Chaput sees the unique balance of reason and faith as one of the keys to the genius of America’s founding principles.

Archbishop Chaput has given us a worthwhile book, filled with insight and admonition. His words echo Christ, who himself said “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matthew 10:16-17).” The world will oppose the Christian message and the Christian person—there will be wolves who will destroy and consume. We must keep our purity and faithfulness just as a lamb trusts the shepherd instinctively. But we must also be both serpent and dove to this faithless world. The dove flies straight and true, returning home even across wide distances because of an inbred sense of direction. So must our hearts also keep their heavenward focus.

But to slither like a snake, can that be a calling as well? Christ knew that obstacles and difficulties would rise against us, and sometimes our help comes from a careful analysis of the situation and a difficult decision not to argue with wickedness. Yes, we can slither away to live another day, where there is a better opportunity to share the goodness and beauty of the Gospel. Purity and common sense can inform our life and actions, as Archbishop Chaput would warn us in our exile here on earth.

Deacon Rick Bauer, Diocese of Colorado Springs

I had previously bought Chaput's "Render Unto Caesar" and liked it. But in this book he seems to be channeling the USCCB's (and Democratic Party's) fetish for social justice--to the exclusion of Job #1, being CATHOLIC. We need bishops--and we get politicians.

No thanks.

I returned the book in lieu of throwing it against the wall. Hopefully I will get a partial credit, and it cuts the clutter.

Archbishop Charles H Chaput is a somewhat complicated figure. He is popular among many conservative and traditionalist Catholics for defending 'orthodoxy' and apparently making a stand on key neuralgic issues of the time, and for presenting a coherent body of thought. Unfortunately Chaput was also responsible for a 'top-down' Vatican-led intervention in Australia that led to the sacking of Bishop Morris of Towoomba, a rural Australian diocese that Chaput was sent to 'investigate' for doctrinal and liturgical orthodoxy. Unfortunately, Chaput's intervention and imposition of American-style traditionalist Catholicism (as well as the loss of a sensitive and competent pastor of this region) was a complete disaster. But Chaput's ideas have to be assessed on their own merits.

In this well-written and thoughtful book, Chaput zooms in quickly onto what he and many right-wing Catholics perceive to be a central problem of the church today - a failure to separate the pure 'wine' of orthodox Catholicism from the 'water' of the secular world. While Chaput draws on many wells for his argument, his position is fairly black and white - what is good is what is spelt out clearly in the official teaching of the Catholic Church, and what is not good belongs to the corrupt world which asides from the few rays of goodness, truth and beauty radiate from the church, has little or nothing to offer to church which has the fullness of grace and truth. In this vein, as with his apologetics and pastoral work, Chaput demands that Catholics return to 'orthodoxy' in practice and belief, and this means adhering rigidly to every dot, dash and full stop of the church's teaching with absolute obedience to her pastors, even if that means a smaller and more 'orthodox' church to achieve it. To put it another way, Catholicism is an either/or, take it or leave it, like it or lump it, love it or leave it package - you are either in for a penny and also in for a pound, or you are not 'in' at all. Also if you are not, you are better off being somewhere else. To this effect, some of Chaput's supporters have actively encouraged so called 'Cafeteria' Catholics (usually identified as left-leaning Catholics) to 'get out' of the church and to not come back. One can almost hear the door slamming loudly with a rude sign attached with the words scrawled in red 'NOT WELCOME HERE! SCRAM! VAMOOSE!' Yosemite Sam could not have put it better to Bugs Bunny than many 'Temple Police' do.

Of course, this sort of logic has always been present in the church from the time of the Apostle Paul onwards. It is clear Christianity has to be about something, and it can't stretch and change forever to accommodate every belief and practice without at some point losing something vital. This is why when people reject the decisions of the early church councils and the creeds (a problem that seems to occur a lot in non-Catholic and non-Orthodox churches) you have a pathetic and endless fragmentation into countless sects, each of which is tiny yet claims to have absolute truth and condemns the other. Chaput is certainly right to refute relativism and say Catholicism has to be about something or it is nothing at all. Right from the age of the fathers from Augustine to Benedict until now a crucial question for Catholics and also Christians generally is to what extent one should engage with the contemporary culture and how far can you go without compromising the core beliefs of Christianity? Is the world a positive and graced place just waiting to be perfected by the Gospel as Clement of Alexandria, Aquinas, Karl Rahner and John Paul XXIII believed, or a place of darkness, evil and perdition in dire need of complete redemption from sin, death and evil by the church as Augustine, Benedict, Newman and to some extent John Paul II and Benedict XVII seemed to believe at times? It seems both positions have their merits.

Unfortunately, Chaput's exclusivist and right-wing approach to Catholicism is also where he falls down. As Pope Francis has said, a self-referential and closed church that slams its doors to a world that is sick, poor and needy and destined to become a museum piece. The traditionalist model of triumphalism, conservatism, a rather wealthy and baroque version of Catholicism (as exemplified in the ornate vestments, lifestyle and furnishings of some traditionalist Cardinals such as Burke and Sarah) and a very narrow version of 'orthodoxy,' is simply not sustainable (though in the short-term it may be popular to some degree for the certainty it provides in a chaotic world) in a post sex-abuse, post-Vatican II church. The problem lies in the brittleness and rigidity of the system and worldview Chaput and his supporters advocate - while the church may be smaller and things clearer and more tidy when the majority are driven out, there is still plenty of room for corruption, incompetence, mismanagement and diseases including clericalism, excessive introversion, alienation of even devout and loyal Catholics, the loss of the moral credibility of the church to the wider society as a whole when it doesn't live up to its professed standards, and finally even a loss of a sense of mission and evangelisation, given priests, laity, religious and bishops prefer a closed, static and 'fortress' church where the sacraments are kept away from the people (along with grace) and the rest of the world be damned, leading to the church in effect become a small sect like the tens of thousands of others competing for members. Such a church has no future, as the empty pews in places like Ireland, Australia, and many other Western countries show in the wake of many even well-intentioned 'programs' to supposedly restore orthodoxy in belief and practice.

Chaput's vision is thus ultimately encumbered by his pre-suppositions and offers little to appeal beyond the traditionalist, wealthy white Catholic choir he is preaching to, who presumably also voted for the morally bankrupt Trump and Republican party. The cosy alliance Chaput and other right-wing church leaders have made with the Republicans supposedly in the name of Catholic values is already proving to be a Faustian bargain which will only keep reducing the church's numbers and size as more and more people of goodwill, ultimately in light of a sensible sense of decency and conscience, turn away as they always have from hypocrisy and double-dealing in public life. Sadly while I admire Chaput's desire to make Catholicism a more strong force for good in the world by attracting people, the narrowness and exclusivity of his vision only reinforces many doubts those inside and outside the church have with the direction of the church since the papacy of John Paul II and the dismal 'culture wars' of the last 30 or so years. The church needs a new vision to move forward and unfortunately I don't think Chaput's highly narrow and exclusivist one that he presents in this book is the correct one.

Archbishop Chaput's book gives deep insights as to what has gone wrong to bring us to where we are today as a nation. He then rises above the fray to give sound guidance on how to pull out of the morass that we find ourselves in. Though his analysis is brutally honest at times, he does not leave us without hope.

You have questions about today's American culture and society whether you are a Catholic, a Protestant, or other. Archbishop Chaput has insight and shares carefully collected wisdom from tremendous thinkers, scholars, and laypeople past and present. Read this thought-provoking analysis. Happy reading!

This book will help you make sense of what's going on in the world and how, as a follower of Jesus Christ, to navigate the treacherous terrain. It is also a strong reminder that Christians have an obligation not just to "survive" these difficult times, but to live in such a way that we become a light that shines in the world, illumining for others the path to the light, peace, and joy that Jesus Christ offers to every human heart.

The book crystalizes the recent cultural changes in America so that Christians are like strangers living in a strange land nowadays. Despite the profound nature of the book, it is surprisingly easy to read. Once picking up the book, it is difficult for me to put it down as if I am talking face to face with a wise but witty professor. I would recommend this insightful book not only for all Christians and also for those who want to seek the true meaning of life. It certainly invigorates me in my pursuit of happiness through faith, hope and love. Hope it will do the same for you.

Archbishop Chaput covers a great deal in his most recent book “Strangers in a Strange Land.” The book itself could serve as an entire course on the culture in a post-Christian world. Each chapter is filled with notable insights into our nation’s life. It not only describes the changes in our society but also provides reasons for how we have arrived in a disruptive world that is increasingly hostile to moral and natural law.

In the end the Archbishop provides a prescription based on Christian virtues and a realization of the Beatitudes in our own lives as a means to turn the culture to one that respects Christian values.

This insightful analysis of our present culture, and how we need to live in response, is a delight to read. Archbishop Chaput doesn't pull any punches, but an honest diagnosis of our situation is precisely what is needed. Kudos to him for having the courage to speak the truth, even when it is demanding!

Many American Christians today wonder what to do in an increasingly hostile culture. Abp. Chaput argues that withdrawal and lashing out are not options. He looks at the foundation of America and its relationship to religious culture, then argues for why we can't simply return to the past. He then elaborates this argument examining our relationship to technology, sexual morality, our understanding of truth and our public discourse, and Alasdair MacIntyre's classic book After Virtue. Chaput then describes what Christians should do in chapters on the nature of hope, the Beatitudes, corporate life in the Church, and the Letter to Diognetus. Definitely of interest to many Catholic readers, as well as those of other Christian churches and communities.

As a husband and father of a young family, I found Strangers in a Strange Land to be an outstanding compass to forge a path through challenges both ahead and among us now. Very readable and thought provoking. I encourage anyone to read this now. Jim Coffey

I felt the Archbishop depicted a very accurate description of what is really happening in the world and in relation to our responsibilities
as faithful, practicing Catholics. I enjoyed the book thoroughly and continue to refer to it often!

Thought provoking,dense book - Starts with a comprehensive analysis of today's "post- Christian" culture; must continue to read on as Archbishop Chaput writes about hope,truth,and beauty, answers quintessential questions about God,man,and Christianity , and in the end a challenge to love Christ and live the gospel !

While Chaput gives a somewhat decent account of the spiritual costs of living in fully secularized society, he unfortunately falls victim to his own religiously framed idolatry, thus inadvertently illustrating just why many Catholics find themselves "Strangers in a Strange Land."

If Catholics and other Christians actually lived the love they preach, they would understand that redeeming love can only thrive in a world of infinite mystery, not one reduced to black and white dichotomies. By focusing on so-called "sexual" and "gender" issues, Chaput and his followers not only display their inability to face the irreducible mystery of reality, but also a troubling penchant for substituting their own idolatrous views as a defense against coming to grips with life's complexities. As a previous reviewer stated, nowhere is this more obvious than in Chaput's naive understanding of human sexuality which, in his thinking, must be devoid of true intimacy unless it is open to conception. Here, strangeness is found not in how human beings choose to express their sexuality, but in Chaput's attempt to deny the reality of loving sexual expression apart from the possibility of procreation.

Reality cannot be reduced to strictly black or white terms, but always exists in infinite shades and variations of gray. Take the abortion issue. A fertilized human ovum is no more a human being than a pollywog is a frog. Being human is not simply a matter of possessing particular sequences of DNA, but of undergoing a lifetime process of development in which we hopefully realize some portion of our human potential, our God-given humanity. And as Michael Polanyi points out, all living systems are subject to standards of achievement that allow us to judge how well a particular life-form has realized its full potential and thus acquired whatever value it has. Not all human life is of equal worth and sometimes we must be willing to sacrifice one life to save another, and we can only do this by making a value judgement. One of the doctors attending the birth of a friend's child had to make this determination when, in the face of the mother's near fatal hemorrhaging, he had to decapitate a full-term baby to save the mother's life. Not a pretty picture, but real life is not always pretty. To label every fertilized human ovum as a "person" or "human being" or "baby" is to commit a not so subtle form of idolatry, substituting a very abstract idea for the messiness of being human. By reducing the irreducible to a label, Chaput commits an act of violence against reality for the purpose of advancing his own social and political agenda.

The same holds for every attempt to reduce gender to the exclusively binary categories of male or female. No human is purely male or female because the reality of gender goes beyond any binary definition determined by one's physical make-up--way beyond--to include social, psychological, and cultural factors and much much more. All of us are various combinations of masculine and feminine. All of us are more or less one way or the other, and in many situations, no way at all. To see gender in only in terms of M or F is to make an idol of a very messy reality and to substitute a willed ignorance for the irreducible mystery of gender.

Similarly, Chaput's attack on the LGTB community fails to recognize the incredibly diverse ways in which human attraction and sexuality have always been expressed. Same-gender attraction is no more a "chosen" life style than being right or left handed or ambidextrous. It is the way nature, or God if you will, created human beings such that they would be drawn toward each other.

I venerate the Catholic Church and its teachings, especially as expressed in the transformative writings of her saints who realized that God, aka Reality, cannot be conceptualized but must be approached through a process of "unknowing" what we think we know and thus opening ourselves to what appears to be "strange," but only appears that way because it can't be comprehended by our black/white thinking. If today's Catholics don't want to feel like "Strangers in a Strange Land," they need to start "unknowing" their version of reality to meet it face-to-face in all its God-given messiness.

The author did a fair amount of research in writing this book. He strings together quote after quote from people who share his beliefs. But there’s a superficiality about his writing, a shallowness and hollowness. Particularly in the sections having to do with such topics as “the sexual revolution” and birth control, he clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As a member of the celibate Catholic clergy, he lacks an important dimension of understanding due to his inexperience.

For example, at one point he states that “contraceptive intimacy” is “not ‘intimacy’ at all. It makes every sexual contact a disconnected point in time and an event without a future—two people using each other as instruments for their own relief.” His ignorance is stunning. He doesn’t seem to know that it’s possible for people who use birth control to have deeply loving relationships. This is insulting as well as untrue. The vast majority of married couples in America use contraception, after all, including Catholics. Many of them are good souls who don’t engage in sex with each other merely to obtain “relief.”

A common theme in conservative Catholic writing these days, for instance in Crisis magazine, is that the world is going to hell in a handbasket except for us, the morally superior good guys. It’s tiresome and false, but it will be a reason some people will like this book.

Chaput does a good job of summarizing key points from People of the Lie, a much more compelling book whose author, M. Scott Peck, developed profound insights about evil based on years of experience as a psychiatrist. Unlike Chaput, Peck didn’t have an agenda other than to understand and state the truth, and he didn’t have a chip on his shoulder.

People of the Lie describes a phenomenon that didn’t originate in the contemporary culture Chaput refers to as a “strange land” and a “post-Christian world.” Such people have always existed. In fact, a common aspect of their malignant deceptiveness has been a portrayal of themselves as virtuous and religious.

One more point which I’ve mentioned before in other reviews: A serious, substantive non-fiction work includes an index. Why are so many books published these days without them? Laziness on the part of publishers? Is it really so much trouble to provide one?

This book is grounded in an obvious distrust and dislike for the time we all live in. It hearkens back to the "good ol' days" In reality those good ol' days didn't actually exist for a great many people who were not accepted in the Catholic Church. We are not going to return to the past. It would behoove this author and all of those who are in the Church now and living in the past, to get on with it.

The author did a fair amount of research in writing this book. He strings together quote after quote from people who share his beliefs. But there’s a superficiality about his writing, a shallowness and hollowness. Particularly in the sections having to do with such topics as “the sexual revolution” and birth control, he clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about. As a member of the celibate Catholic clergy, he lacks an important dimension of understanding due to his inexperience.

For example, at one point he states that “contraceptive intimacy” is “not ‘intimacy’ at all. It makes every sexual contact a disconnected point in time and an event without a future—two people using each other as instruments for their own relief.” His ignorance is stunning. He doesn’t seem to know that it’s possible for people who use birth control to have deeply loving relationships. This is insulting as well as untrue. The vast majority of married couples in America use contraception, after all, including Catholics. Many of them are good souls who don’t engage in sex with each other merely to obtain “relief.”

A common theme in conservative Catholic writing these days, for instance in Crisis magazine, is that the world is going to hell in a handbasket except for us, the morally superior good guys. It’s tiresome and false, but it will be a reason some people will like this book.

Chaput does a good job of summarizing key points from People of the Lie, a much more compelling book whose author, M. Scott Peck, developed profound insights about evil based on years of experience as a psychiatrist. Unlike Chaput, Peck didn’t have an agenda other than to understand and state the truth, and he didn’t have a chip on his shoulder.

People of the Lie describes a phenomenon that didn’t originate in the contemporary culture Chaput refers to as a “strange land” and a “post-Christian world.” Such people have always existed. In fact, a common aspect of their malignant deceptiveness has been a portrayal of themselves as virtuous and religious.

One more point which I’ve mentioned before in other reviews: A serious, substantive non-fiction work includes an index. Why are so many books published these days without them? Laziness on the part of publishers? Is it really so much trouble to provide one?

This book is grounded in an obvious distrust and dislike for the time we all live in. It hearkens back to the "good ol' days" In reality those good ol' days didn't actually exist for a great many people who were not accepted in the Catholic Church. We are not going to return to the past. It would behoove this author and all of those who are in the Church now and living in the past, to get on with it.