Book Review: The God of the Mundane

Be Radical. Show Crazy Love. Sell everything you have and move to Malawi. Christians today hear the message that if you are not awesome for Jesus, you may not be a real Christian. In response, Matthew Redmond's The God of the Mundane (2012) addresses the God of the ordinary, the God for the man who faithfully goes to work day in and day out, the God for the mom who is tired of chasing kids all day.

Redmond suggests that for normal Christianity for most of us is not becoming a pastor, a missionary, or a celebrity Christian, but that we live faithful Christian lives a bankers, factory workers, and moms. Unfortunately, books like Crazy Love and Radical, which are good and important books, often create what are perhaps unrealistic expectations and lead to discouragement and hopelessness, in the same way that Pinterest creates feelings of inadequacy for ordinary moms.

The God of the Mundane is a unique and important contribution. Redmond is a generally engaging writer (though initially he was unduly repetitive).  Consider for example, "We are not saved from mediocrity and obscurity, the ordinary and the mundane. We are saved in the midst of it. We are not redeemed from the mundane. We are redeemed from the slavery of thinking our mundane life is not enough" (p. 26).

I would commend this book to you if you are afraid that your life somehow doesn't quite measure up.