Christianity as a Way of Life

Christianity as a Way of Life by Kevin W. Hector focuses on Christianity’s core practices, imagining it as a way of life oriented toward wisdom.

In this book, Hector argues that we can understand Christianity as a set of practices designed to transform one’s way of perceiving and being in the world. He examines practices that reorient us to God—such as imitation, corporate singing, eating together, friendship, and likemindedness—that transform our way of being in the world through prayer, wonder, laughter, lament, and vocation. Additionally, these practices reshape our way of being with others through benevolence, looking for the image of God in others, forgiveness, and activism.

Taken together, the aim of these practices is to transform one’s way of perceiving and acting in the face of success and failure, risk and loss, guilt and shame, love, and loss of control. These transformations can add up to a transformation of one’s very self.

To make sense of Christianity as a way of life, these practices must be understood within the context of Christian beliefs about sin, Jesus, redemption, and eternal life. Understanding them thus requires a systematic theology, which Hector offers in this clear-eyed, ambitious, and elegant interpretation of the Christian tradition.