The Diversity Culture by Matthew Raley - A Book Review

The subtitle to this book immediately grabbed my attention: "Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between." As a youth pastor I have a large number of students that have friends (the majority % of my students have grown up in Christian homes) that fall into one of these categories. I have family that falls into this category.

I began to read through the pages and became immediately engaged with the coffee shop "Café Siddhartha" in which two individuals come to the table with very different perspectives on life and God and each other without saying a single word. I'm guilty of this.

Matthew Raley does an amazing job painting a picture of what the Diversity Culture is "the dominant American ethos of openness toward all beliefs and spiritual traditions". Raley walks through the preconceived notions most come to the table with. He encourages the reader to figure out what their own personal preconceived notions are and to wrestle with them.

Raley compares the conversations we are to engage in with those immersed in the diversity culture with the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. This is a very well written aspect of the book. It leaves the reader feeling encouraged knowing that Jesus walked through the same had conversations that we will have to in order to impact the culture. Raley is passionate about this cause stating that "unbelievers also need the endowments Christ has given you. As long as they think of Christian spirituality in terms of the group they know as evangelicals, they will not follow Christ. But if you show them the power of the risen Jesus in your testimony, the freedom you have found through the Scriptures, and the love you have stirred in members of Christ's family I think unbelievers will see the gospel for the first time. In think, in fact, that you can only show the gospel to the people of the diversity culture as an individual. You have to stick out."

The love of Christ must be shown to the world not simply told.

The Diversity Culture is a great book I recommend it to any an all who are looking for an hope in sharing there faith in the midst of this current world.