The Fine Line: Re-Envisioning the Gap between Christ and Culture

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More About This Book

Overview

What Does It Mean to Be in the World but Not of It?
The Answer May Surprise You.

Christ-followers are supposed to be the most liberated people ever to walk the face of the earth—with a message powerful enough to cause the dead to rise and the blind to see. We're supposed to have God living inside of us. We're supposed to know how to be in the world but not of it.

Does that describe your life?

Author Kary Oberbrunner suspects the answer is no, but not because you aren't passionate about Christ. Rather, it's because the church has been ripped apart and reassembled into two main camps that, at best, casually tolerate each other.

The first camp separates itself from people, society, and culture for the main purpose of remaining unstained by the world. While the second camp conforms itself to the ideals, philosophies, and goals of the world in an attempt to be all things to all people.

So what's the alternative? A growing number of people believe in a different way and a different world. They are transformists. And they have the power to change the world.

Care to join them?

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780310285458
  • Publisher: Zondervan
  • Publication date: 1/1/2009
  • Pages: 240
  • Sales rank: 972,688
  • Product dimensions: 5.30 (w) x 7.80 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Meet the Author

Kary Oberbrunner, MDiv, DMin, founded Redeem the Day, a movement connecting people to a process that ignites their souls on fire. Author of The Fine Line, Called, and The Journey Towards Relevance, Kary serves as a pastor at Grace Church in Ohio. He and his soul mate, Kelly, have three kids. In his free time he enjoys reading, the outdoors, and playing disc golf.

Read an Excerpt


The Fine Line
Re-envisioning the Gap between Christ and Culture

By Kary Oberbrunner
Zondervan
Copyright © 2008

Kary Oberbrunner
All right reserved.


ISBN: 978-0-310-28545-8


Chapter One WALKING THE LINE

Ask anyone who's single: there's a fine line between friendly and flirtatious.

Ask any athlete: there's a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

Ask any Christ-follower: there's a fine line between being in the world and being of the world.

The danger of walking the line is that we may accidentally cross it - wherever the line is. This fear often makes us shrink back and fall prey to the other extreme and become, in the case of the single, shy; the athlete, timid; and the believer, irrelevant.

Then what?

People miss out on having healthy friendships. Fans miss out on celebrating victories with their team. And the world misses out on seeing the kingdom of God on earth.

Discovering this fine line is difficult but not impossible. All who follow Jesus must wrestle with this question and emerge with some kind of answer. This question of relevance, as author and journalist Michael Joseph Gross put it, is "the most basic ethical question of the Christian faith."

I've seen enough of the next generation leaving the church. According to some estimates, 58 percent of young adults who attended church at eighteen no longer attend by age twenty-nine. This number accounts for more than eight million twentysomethings who are simply "missing in action."

Why are so many from this generation voting on spiritual matters with their absence?

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that there is little difference between the attitudes and actions of believers and unbelievers. Rather than drawing people to Christ, many Christians are pushing people away because of the disconnection between what we say and how we live.

That cannot continue.

Christ-followers are supposed to be the most liberated, grace-filled people on earth. We're supposed to have what people want - a message so powerful it will cause the dead to rise and the blind to see. We're supposed to have the living God living inside us. We're supposed to know how to live in the world but not be of it.

Most believers I know don't know. Most are either living out of the world or they're of the world. No wonder Christians have so little impact, so little relevance. Now more than ever, we need to understand how to live in the world but not be of it.

And that's exactly what this book will do: help you discover the fine line.

(Continues...)



Excerpted from The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner Copyright © 2008 by Kary Oberbrunner. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Table of Contents

A Note to the Reader 9

Introduction: The Phone Is Ringing 11

Part I The Battle Lines

1 Walking the Line 19

2 Divided We Fall 21

Part II Where Are We?

3 Under the Sun 31

4 The Ancient Donkey 39

5 The Spiritual Aspirin 49

6 Fifty-Foot Column 67

7 The Girl Bashers 85

Part III What Should We Do?

8 Orange Construction Cones 109

9 Skin-Deep Love 119

10 Position Is Everything 133

Part IV How Do We Do It?

11 Perfect Blue Buildings 147

12 Angels Do Exist 161

13 Thy Kingdom Come 191

14 Bilingual Is Better 199

Part V The Fine Line

15 Afraid of What? 209

Discussion Questions 217

Appendix Modernism and Postmodernism Comparison 227

Notes 231

List of Figures 237

Acknowledgments 239

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Sort by: Showing all of 4 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted December 6, 2011

    The Fine Line a Fine Read

    I received a pre-release of this book and thoroughly enjoyed Kary's perspective on what it means to be in the world and not of the world as a follower of Christ. He engages the tension followers of Christ live in as we understand what it means to be citizens of the Kingdom of God. The fine line between living as the world (conformists) and out of the world (seperatists) is not only fine, it is a truly gray area. Kary enters the gray and is not afraid to talk about it. Ultimately we are to live a life of love for everyone. Every Christian needs to engage this question.

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  • Posted June 29, 2009

    Be a Transformist!

    I just finished reading The Fine Line by Kary Oberbrunner and I must say I was surprised at how challenging and insightful it was.

    Even though the book claimed to re-envision the gap between Christ and Culture, I truly expected it to fall slightly into one camp or the other. Leaning more towards, as Kary calls it, the Separatist or Conformist camp. However in this book Kary truly does walk the fine line and shows a different way. A Transformist way.

    I for one am impressed. It was heartening to see someone call for an end to the insanity and to challenge us all to love!

    One of my favorite lines from the book is "Just like the Samaritan we'll be relevant when we get off our proverbial...um...donkeys and love people."

    If you are tired of the status quo in your Christian life than this is the book for you. If you tend to shun the world...well you aren't reading this review so never mind, but if you are one who embraces the world and all it's trappings (and if you shun the world but secretly read this blog) than you will not want to miss this challenging book.

    The stories will touch your heart, the diagrams will bring a visual picture to the teaching and the point will change your life if you let it!

    Walk the Fine Line and become a Transformist! Buy this book today!

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted October 22, 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    9780884690870

    Inspirational resource on how to follow Christ and be relevant in today's culture.

    Once I started this book, it was hard to put it down. The writing flows so smoothly that it is easier to turn the pages and keep reading than it is to stop. It seems like you are having a conversation with the author over a cup of coffee rather than reading a book. Furthermore, Kary Oberbrunner does a good job of combining theory with practice. He outlines his view of remaining relevant as a Christ follower in today's culture and then provides concrete examples of others who have done so. Though many of us may never have the impact that those individuals have had, all of us can learn how to make our faith more relevant in our everyday lives by practicing the principles outlined in this book.
    This book applies to all ages, but is especially relevant for readers in high school to those just a few years out of college and would make a great gift for someone in those stages of life.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted September 23, 2008

    In the world, not of it.

    I was able to get a sneak peek at Kary's new book. I must say it's brought clarity to an issue that's been fuzzy in my mind for quite some time. How many of us who follow Jesus have wondered what it means to be in the world, but not of it? The Fine Line reveals three camps that try and answer this paradox. Two groups, The Separatists and The Conformists, answer the question irrelevantly. Only one group, The Transformists, answers relevantly. In a day when many Christian books are watered down, Kary brings a lofty topic down to street level through a conversational tone that's faithful to the Bible. I found The Fine Line encouraging and thought provoking as it challenged me to bridge the gap between the Christ I follow and the culture I live in.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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