Book Review: Exiles

We certainly live in interesting times, with almost considerable division and polarization in our country. As a church, we don’t want to shy away from this, but instead want to disciple our people in how to navigate the intense culture wars and political animosity that define so much of life today. Exiles: The Church in the Shadow of Empire is a great book that sheds light on this very topic, and reveals a lot about how we should, as the body of Christ, respond to this divided time.

Preston Sprinkle is a leading voice in the Church today on often-controversial issues involving sexuality and gender identity issues. He regularly offers challenging but necessary dialogue about things many people often prefer to gloss over or avoid altogether. In this book, he tackles the question of political division and polarization overall, specifically why the church itself is often plagued so much by it. He argues that the Church needs to rethink its political identity altogether. The Church should focus not on nationalism, or its national identity within whatever country it resides, but instead on its universal identity as the Church. He regularly refers to Scripture, within both Old and New Testaments, that challenges the community of faith to live as exiles and as a kingdom of priests to the world. By embracing this identity as exiles and sojourners, and placing their primary identity within the body of Christ, before national or ethnic identities, Sprinkle argues many of the cultural and political issues plaguing the Church will simply fade away.

Preston Sprinkle writes this book for a general audience, and this book is very comfortably readable for anyone. It iswell-researched and uses plenty of Scripture to back up the author’s claims. And it is challenging. Some of the points the author argues are bound to stir up conversation within the Church, which is entirely in line with his purpose. Sprinkle challenges many modern American assumptions about national identity, and the identity of Christians today. This is a great resource that we recommend to church members looking to further explore how to navigate today’s divided world, and how the Church should best represent Christ in the midst of it.