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The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World
A deeply reflective primer on creating meaningful connections, rebuilding abundant communities, and living in a way that engages our full humanity in an age of unprecedented anxiety and loneliness--from the author of The Tech-Wise Family
"Andy Crouch shows the path to reclaiming a life that restores the heart of what it means to thrive."--Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength
Our greatest need is to be recognized--to be seen, loved, and embedded in rich relationships with those around us. But for the last century, we've displaced that need with the ease of technology. We've dreamed of mastery without relationship (what the premodern world called magic) and abundance without dependence (what Jesus called Mammon). Yet even before a pandemic disrupted that quest, we felt threatened and strangely out of place: lonely, anxious, bored amid endless options, oddly disconnected amid infinite connections.
In The Life We're Looking For, bestselling author Andy Crouch shows how we have been seduced by a false vision of human flourishing--and how each of us can fight back. From the social innovations of the early Christian movement to the efforts of entrepreneurs working to create more humane technology, Crouch shows how we can restore true community and put people first in a world dominated by money, power, and devices.
There is a way out of our impersonal world, into a world where knowing and being known are the heartbeat of our days, our households, and our economies. Where our vulnerabilities are seen not as something to be escaped but as the key to our becoming who we were made to be together. Where technology serves us rather than masters us--and helps us become more human, not less.
"Andy Crouch shows the path to reclaiming a life that restores the heart of what it means to thrive."--Arthur C. Brooks, #1 New York Times bestselling author of From Strength to Strength
Our greatest need is to be recognized--to be seen, loved, and embedded in rich relationships with those around us. But for the last century, we've displaced that need with the ease of technology. We've dreamed of mastery without relationship (what the premodern world called magic) and abundance without dependence (what Jesus called Mammon). Yet even before a pandemic disrupted that quest, we felt threatened and strangely out of place: lonely, anxious, bored amid endless options, oddly disconnected amid infinite connections.
In The Life We're Looking For, bestselling author Andy Crouch shows how we have been seduced by a false vision of human flourishing--and how each of us can fight back. From the social innovations of the early Christian movement to the efforts of entrepreneurs working to create more humane technology, Crouch shows how we can restore true community and put people first in a world dominated by money, power, and devices.
There is a way out of our impersonal world, into a world where knowing and being known are the heartbeat of our days, our households, and our economies. Where our vulnerabilities are seen not as something to be escaped but as the key to our becoming who we were made to be together. Where technology serves us rather than masters us--and helps us become more human, not less.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2022
About the author
Andy Crouch
43 books361 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
For twelve years Andy was an editor and producer at Christianity Today (CT), including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He joined the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction." He serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.
For twelve years Andy was an editor and producer at Christianity Today (CT), including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He joined the John Templeton Foundation in 2017 as senior strategist for communication. His work and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Time, and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing—and, most importantly, received a shout-out in Lecrae's 2014 single "Non-Fiction." He serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 283 reviews
May 1, 2022
Recommended for anyone who wants a profound but accessible diagnosis for why we feel so ill at ease and lonely in a time of multiplying options, comforts and freedom. Reading this made me more human.
May 18, 2022
I HATE MAMMON!
I HATE MAMMON!
I HATE MAMMON!
I HATE MAMMON!
I HATE MAMMON!
March 6, 2023
The ”life we’re looking for” is explained in the first chapter. A newborn infant is spending his first 1 hours of life in what medics call “quiet alert”. Looking for another person’s face, looking for recognition. The personal and the relational is the life the author elevates. It’s the life that fulfils our deepest desires as unique image bearers of God. However, our modern lives have departed from this way of life. We use technology to create “superpowers” (i.e. “powers without effort”) at the cost of our personhood (i.e. “heart-soul-mind-strength complex designed for love”) because the “modern magic” diminishes our capacities. Andy identifies Mammon at the heart of this movement: “Mammon wants to put all persons into the service of things and ultimately to bring about the exploitation of all of creation”. While “the life we’re looking for” is personal and relational, the life we end up with in Modernity is impersonal and isolated. Then the author demonstrates how the New Testament is filled with personal enrichment. For example, The letters of Paul were conveyed by dear friends and close associates of the sacred author.
I find the first part of the book profound and interesting, but reading the second part felt like reading a series of articles, not chapters of the initial book. I think the discussion needs more nuance and concreteness. Valuing households and using technology as instruments rather than devices is pretty evident. In conclusion it’s a good book, but in my opinion it didn’t explore with enough diligence the complexities and practicalites of such a subject.
I find the first part of the book profound and interesting, but reading the second part felt like reading a series of articles, not chapters of the initial book. I think the discussion needs more nuance and concreteness. Valuing households and using technology as instruments rather than devices is pretty evident. In conclusion it’s a good book, but in my opinion it didn’t explore with enough diligence the complexities and practicalites of such a subject.
May 5, 2022
There are two talks I've watched/listened to, that I have revisited multiple times: Andy Crouch's "A Pruned Life" and Anthony Bradley's "Christian Personalism".
Andy's talk discusses the idea of low friction vs. high friction practices in our technological society. The former are fleeting, and leave us feeling shallow & lonely. The latter require more of us, but make for lasting, worthwhile work & relationships. Dr. Bradley's talk discusses the unique contribution Christians can make in seeking out faces, persons, and relationships that dignify and give life. This book is such a beautiful melding of these two huge ideas.
I also got whiff of themes found in the likes of Alan Noble's "You Are Not Your Own", Pete Davis' "Dedicated", and Charles Camosy's "Resisting Throwaway Culture" ....in addition to the many books that examine technology & psychology, ethics & religion. It gently brings forward our need for human connection. Our need to belong. Our need for real faces. Our need to be known. Our need to be part of a household of care, however that looks.
This book may touch on several popular genres, but Andy has a particular way of analyzing with compassion. Of observing while also being there with the reader. Of seeing the overwhelming disfunction but offering incredibly real ways forward. This book gave me hope for the choices we have to bring the Kingdom of Christ to a lonely, objectifying, addicted, disconnected society. Of choosing the higher friction practices in order to honor the images of God among us, and become more whole ourselves.
Andy's talk discusses the idea of low friction vs. high friction practices in our technological society. The former are fleeting, and leave us feeling shallow & lonely. The latter require more of us, but make for lasting, worthwhile work & relationships. Dr. Bradley's talk discusses the unique contribution Christians can make in seeking out faces, persons, and relationships that dignify and give life. This book is such a beautiful melding of these two huge ideas.
I also got whiff of themes found in the likes of Alan Noble's "You Are Not Your Own", Pete Davis' "Dedicated", and Charles Camosy's "Resisting Throwaway Culture" ....in addition to the many books that examine technology & psychology, ethics & religion. It gently brings forward our need for human connection. Our need to belong. Our need for real faces. Our need to be known. Our need to be part of a household of care, however that looks.
This book may touch on several popular genres, but Andy has a particular way of analyzing with compassion. Of observing while also being there with the reader. Of seeing the overwhelming disfunction but offering incredibly real ways forward. This book gave me hope for the choices we have to bring the Kingdom of Christ to a lonely, objectifying, addicted, disconnected society. Of choosing the higher friction practices in order to honor the images of God among us, and become more whole ourselves.
Read
January 15, 2024The rock star Bono famously sang, “But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.” Andy Crouch offers a counter-melody. As always, Crouch offers wisdom and perspective, especially as we navigate an increasingly technological and media-driven world. How do we prevent such powerful forces from taking over our lives?
August 1, 2022
If you are coming to this book looking for advice or technique on how to manage technology and develop relationships you will probably be disappointed with this book.
If you are looking for more a theological vision for how to orient yourself in the midst of a tech society you will be happy.
If you are looking for quick fixes or strategies you’ll be disappointed.
If you are looking for a vision of personhood and household that is driven by instruments and not devices. One that pushes against the love of money and the liturgies that money weaves in our lives then you’ll enjoy it.
Another insightful work by Andy Crouch.
If you are looking for more a theological vision for how to orient yourself in the midst of a tech society you will be happy.
If you are looking for quick fixes or strategies you’ll be disappointed.
If you are looking for a vision of personhood and household that is driven by instruments and not devices. One that pushes against the love of money and the liturgies that money weaves in our lives then you’ll enjoy it.
Another insightful work by Andy Crouch.
August 7, 2022
Crouch is now one of those authors whose books are automatic reads for me, and once again he delivers timely wisdom and insight.
Here are a couple good reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here are a couple good reviews:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
May 24, 2022
Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world on January 9, 2007. Since then, Apple has sold more than 2.2 billion units. My iPhone 11 has more computing power and runs more sophisticated apps than my first computer, which was a Macintosh Classic.
Smartphones make life easier. I can call, text, or videoconference people for work and for fun. I can write (or dictate), edit, post, and share articles via social media. I can snap pictures or take video of family events. When I’m bored, I can stream my favorite TV shows or movies. And I can shop for almost anything anytime online.
By the same token, though, smartphones make life weirder. I experience phantom vibration syndrome, the feeling that my phone is buzzing even though it’s not. My ability to concentrate when reading a book has suffered, as I now constantly check my iPhone for fear of missing out. And how often have I seen (or been) the date-night couple checking their devices instead of talking to one another?
All technological advances have such pros and cons. To evaluate tech, then, we must ask whether it contributes to human flourishing. And that, in turn, forces us to ask even more fundamental questions: What is a human being, and what constitutes human flourishing?
The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch seeks to answer those questions. According to Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37–40), people are supposed to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. From this, Crouch infers a definition of human being: “Every person is a heart-soul-mind-strength complex designed for love.” If this is what human beings are, then flourishing occurs when people grow holistically into their relational design.
The problem with technology is that it promises “power without relationship” and “abundance without dependence.” Crouch names these two promises “magic” and “Mammon,” respectively. They hold out the hope for “superpowers” that enable us to rise beyond our limitations.
Ironically, however, magic and Mammon, when left unchecked, corrode the holism and relationality that make life worthwhile. Crouch counts the costs:
Mind: “The defining mental activity of our time is scrolling … taking shallow hits of trivia, humor, and outrage to make up for the depths of learning, joy, and genuine lament that now feel beyond our reach.”
Strength: “The defining illness of our time is metabolic syndrome, the chronic combination of high weight, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar that is the hallmark of an inactive life.”
Heart: “The defining emotional challenge of our time is anxiety …. Now we live as voyeurs, pursuing shadowy vestiges of what we desire from behind the one-way mirror of a screen, invulnerable but alone.”
Soul: “We have lost the sense that we are both at home and on a pilgrimage in the vast, mysterious cosmos, anchored in a rich reality beyond ourselves.”
In short, technology reduces flourishing to an exercise of power in pursuit of stuff, ignoring the non-material and relational aspects of human being. “So it is no wonder that the defining condition of our time is a sense of loneliness and alienation,” Crouch writes. FaceTime is no substitute for face-to-face time, you might say. Technology cannot replace relationship.
In my opinion, there is no greater proof of the truth of this statement than the past two years of the pandemic. However necessary social isolation and information technology were for getting us through Covid, their use has correlated with an increase in mental health disorders and a decrease in social trust.
The dangers of technology don’t require Christians to become Luddites, however. Remember, technology has pros, too, not just cons. I know this personally. At the age of 21, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that that causes inflammation in the vertebrae. Over time, the disease curves the spine forward into the shape of a C, making it difficult to walk or breathe.
At first, the treatment for this condition consisted of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that alleviated the effects of inflammation. Advances in medical technology have produced biologic agents that reduce the causes of inflammation. Biologics have side effects, to be sure — such as greater proneness to infection — but overall, the newer treatment is much better than the older one.
So how do we discern the usefulness of technological advancements? How do we know that tech is helping us become heart-soul-mind-strength complexes designed for love? How do we avoid tech that promises power without relationship and abundance without dependence?
It would help, Crouch suggests, if we would distinguish a “device” from an “instrument.” Say you want to play Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G-major. You could take out your iPhone, open the YouTube app, and play a video of Yo-Yo Ma performing the song. Or you could take out a cello, open the score, and play the suite yourself. In this example, your iPhone is a device while your cello is an instrument.
Both the iPhone and the cello allow you to do something you wouldn’t be able to do without them: play Bach’s Cell Suite No. 1 in G-major. The difference is that a device makes you rely on its capabilities, while an instrument forces you to develop your own capabilities. Only the latter is consistent with growth as a heart-mind-soul-strength complex.
Mostly, though, Crouch focuses on developing our capacity to form loving relationships in a “household” as the antidote to magic and Mammon. A household is related to but not limited to a “family.” Crouch writes:
If technology offers power without relationship and abundance without dependence, the household offers its antithesis: relationship that empowers the powerless and dependence that abounds to the needy. According to Crouch, the New Testament exemplifies this kind of “community of the useless,” one blessedly free of a concern for magic and Mammon. It can make use of technological advances, but it always requires that such advances serve the purpose of binding people to one another in love.
The Life We’re Looking For, like Andy Crouch’s other books, is well-written and thought-provoking. I see the truth of its analysis most clearly when it comes to IT, smartphones, and social media. Such communication technologies are excellent examples of magic and Mammon’s false promises.
But I’d be lying if I said those promises held no allure for me. Creating a community modeled on the New Testament household is not easy. It requires us to acknowledge our needs, even as we use our resources to meet the needs of others. Too often, we just don’t want to bother or be bothered. We want to be left to our own devices.
And that, I suspect, is the attitude driving our dependence on technology.
Book Reviewed
Andy Crouch, The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World (New York: Convergent, 2022).
P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. This review is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.
Smartphones make life easier. I can call, text, or videoconference people for work and for fun. I can write (or dictate), edit, post, and share articles via social media. I can snap pictures or take video of family events. When I’m bored, I can stream my favorite TV shows or movies. And I can shop for almost anything anytime online.
By the same token, though, smartphones make life weirder. I experience phantom vibration syndrome, the feeling that my phone is buzzing even though it’s not. My ability to concentrate when reading a book has suffered, as I now constantly check my iPhone for fear of missing out. And how often have I seen (or been) the date-night couple checking their devices instead of talking to one another?
All technological advances have such pros and cons. To evaluate tech, then, we must ask whether it contributes to human flourishing. And that, in turn, forces us to ask even more fundamental questions: What is a human being, and what constitutes human flourishing?
The Life We’re Looking For by Andy Crouch seeks to answer those questions. According to Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37–40), people are supposed to love God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. From this, Crouch infers a definition of human being: “Every person is a heart-soul-mind-strength complex designed for love.” If this is what human beings are, then flourishing occurs when people grow holistically into their relational design.
The problem with technology is that it promises “power without relationship” and “abundance without dependence.” Crouch names these two promises “magic” and “Mammon,” respectively. They hold out the hope for “superpowers” that enable us to rise beyond our limitations.
Ironically, however, magic and Mammon, when left unchecked, corrode the holism and relationality that make life worthwhile. Crouch counts the costs:
Mind: “The defining mental activity of our time is scrolling … taking shallow hits of trivia, humor, and outrage to make up for the depths of learning, joy, and genuine lament that now feel beyond our reach.”
Strength: “The defining illness of our time is metabolic syndrome, the chronic combination of high weight, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar that is the hallmark of an inactive life.”
Heart: “The defining emotional challenge of our time is anxiety …. Now we live as voyeurs, pursuing shadowy vestiges of what we desire from behind the one-way mirror of a screen, invulnerable but alone.”
Soul: “We have lost the sense that we are both at home and on a pilgrimage in the vast, mysterious cosmos, anchored in a rich reality beyond ourselves.”
In short, technology reduces flourishing to an exercise of power in pursuit of stuff, ignoring the non-material and relational aspects of human being. “So it is no wonder that the defining condition of our time is a sense of loneliness and alienation,” Crouch writes. FaceTime is no substitute for face-to-face time, you might say. Technology cannot replace relationship.
In my opinion, there is no greater proof of the truth of this statement than the past two years of the pandemic. However necessary social isolation and information technology were for getting us through Covid, their use has correlated with an increase in mental health disorders and a decrease in social trust.
The dangers of technology don’t require Christians to become Luddites, however. Remember, technology has pros, too, not just cons. I know this personally. At the age of 21, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that that causes inflammation in the vertebrae. Over time, the disease curves the spine forward into the shape of a C, making it difficult to walk or breathe.
At first, the treatment for this condition consisted of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that alleviated the effects of inflammation. Advances in medical technology have produced biologic agents that reduce the causes of inflammation. Biologics have side effects, to be sure — such as greater proneness to infection — but overall, the newer treatment is much better than the older one.
So how do we discern the usefulness of technological advancements? How do we know that tech is helping us become heart-soul-mind-strength complexes designed for love? How do we avoid tech that promises power without relationship and abundance without dependence?
It would help, Crouch suggests, if we would distinguish a “device” from an “instrument.” Say you want to play Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G-major. You could take out your iPhone, open the YouTube app, and play a video of Yo-Yo Ma performing the song. Or you could take out a cello, open the score, and play the suite yourself. In this example, your iPhone is a device while your cello is an instrument.
Both the iPhone and the cello allow you to do something you wouldn’t be able to do without them: play Bach’s Cell Suite No. 1 in G-major. The difference is that a device makes you rely on its capabilities, while an instrument forces you to develop your own capabilities. Only the latter is consistent with growth as a heart-mind-soul-strength complex.
Mostly, though, Crouch focuses on developing our capacity to form loving relationships in a “household” as the antidote to magic and Mammon. A household is related to but not limited to a “family.” Crouch writes:
A household is both place and people — or maybe better, it is a particular people with a particular place. A household is a community of persons who may well take shelter under one roof but also and more fundamentally take shelter under one another’s care and concern. They provide for one another, and they depend on one another. They mingle their assets and their liabilities, their gifts and their vulnerabilities, in such a way that it is hard to tell where one member’s end and another member’s begin.
If technology offers power without relationship and abundance without dependence, the household offers its antithesis: relationship that empowers the powerless and dependence that abounds to the needy. According to Crouch, the New Testament exemplifies this kind of “community of the useless,” one blessedly free of a concern for magic and Mammon. It can make use of technological advances, but it always requires that such advances serve the purpose of binding people to one another in love.
The Life We’re Looking For, like Andy Crouch’s other books, is well-written and thought-provoking. I see the truth of its analysis most clearly when it comes to IT, smartphones, and social media. Such communication technologies are excellent examples of magic and Mammon’s false promises.
But I’d be lying if I said those promises held no allure for me. Creating a community modeled on the New Testament household is not easy. It requires us to acknowledge our needs, even as we use our resources to meet the needs of others. Too often, we just don’t want to bother or be bothered. We want to be left to our own devices.
And that, I suspect, is the attitude driving our dependence on technology.
Book Reviewed
Andy Crouch, The Life We’re Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World (New York: Convergent, 2022).
P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.
P.P.S. This review is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com by permission.
January 4, 2023
I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this book and think I will still be processing a lot of the content but my initial thoughts are that it’s super important! Informative. Helpful. Insightful. Andy Crouch’s voice is credible and trustable. He writes with gentleness and thoughtfulness and is just so dang smart!
I initially picked the book up in hopes of better understanding technology and its effects on relationships, communication, society, etc. but actually ended up learning a lot about the human condition. Crouch talks a lot about human connection, the imago dei, and the importance of prioritizing a view of individual persons in light of these things in our lives, work, and play. His arguments were more abstract / narrative-based than I was expecting — a pleasant surprise! Will probably use this as a resource for a long time!
I initially picked the book up in hopes of better understanding technology and its effects on relationships, communication, society, etc. but actually ended up learning a lot about the human condition. Crouch talks a lot about human connection, the imago dei, and the importance of prioritizing a view of individual persons in light of these things in our lives, work, and play. His arguments were more abstract / narrative-based than I was expecting — a pleasant surprise! Will probably use this as a resource for a long time!
May 1, 2022
Stunningly perceptive and immensely helpful. I've been looking for a guide for living the Kingdom in today's world. This is an excellent starting point.
December 31, 2022
Unsurprisingly brilliant, accessible, moving, true.
June 28, 2022
This is a good book about technology consumption fro a distinctly Christian angle. It highlights how at the root of technology is the desire to turn people into “things”. Things that can be manipulated or standardized to create more effective machine learning models or simply things to perpetuate consumption. It’s a unique and interesting lens through which to examine the role of technology and how we can ultimately overcome this perspective to see people as people once again.
May 5, 2022
On the surface, there’s a lot to like about this book. In face of growing isolation, loneliness, and dehumanization, the call to humanize, love, commune, recognize personhood, and form healthy households is timely, good, and appropriate.
However, since these conclusions aren’t firmly rooted, there’s a very real danger of sliding into something not so good. It’s a little like a ship that is in the right location, but since they don’t drop anchor, can be slowly carried out to sea away from where it’s supposed to be.
On page 146, Crouch says, “it is certainly true that in the long run that choice is up to us: what we ask our technology to do,” but then never really develops this idea. It’s as if there’s a reluctance to acknowledge that the human heart is prone to sin and it is humans who make instruments into devices, who make idols out of gifts.
By personifying certain kinds of technology as “Mammon,” it is easy to picture our devices as having malicious intent, but that’s not the case. Humans design devices for certain intents and humans choose to use devices for certain purposes that reveal what our hearts worship. Language like “what technology wants” is therefore misleading. In the end, if we turn from the idol of technology (even for good reasons), we are just as likely to make an idol out of something else, like “community/household.” The answer isn’t just to form communities. Since communities are human endeavors, and humans are fallen, communities will ultimately disappoint.
The only real answer to avoid unsatisfying idols is to root everything in God and His relationship to us. God’s relationship to us as exemplified in the incarnation of Jesus Christ serves as a model for us. The answer is to know God intimately so we can form communities where people can meet and know Him better. When we have complete fulfillment in a God who never fails, this motivates, guides, and overflows into the household building that Crouch espouses: where we can use technology for humanizing reasons (like the ianacare example Crouch gives).
In the end, I think Crouch has some good, practical observations and advice, but in reacting (rightly!) to the de-humanization and isolation that comes from certain devices, I’m afraid he’s set us up for another disappointment by creating another idol in “community” that won’t ultimately satisfy. The goal can’t be to cure loneliness and isolation by pursuing community. That’s just another form of self-centeredness. The goal must be to pursue God first and foremost and then when devices and community fail us, we will still not be shaken because of our firm foundation in an unchanging, eternal, loving God.
I received a free copy of this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
However, since these conclusions aren’t firmly rooted, there’s a very real danger of sliding into something not so good. It’s a little like a ship that is in the right location, but since they don’t drop anchor, can be slowly carried out to sea away from where it’s supposed to be.
On page 146, Crouch says, “it is certainly true that in the long run that choice is up to us: what we ask our technology to do,” but then never really develops this idea. It’s as if there’s a reluctance to acknowledge that the human heart is prone to sin and it is humans who make instruments into devices, who make idols out of gifts.
By personifying certain kinds of technology as “Mammon,” it is easy to picture our devices as having malicious intent, but that’s not the case. Humans design devices for certain intents and humans choose to use devices for certain purposes that reveal what our hearts worship. Language like “what technology wants” is therefore misleading. In the end, if we turn from the idol of technology (even for good reasons), we are just as likely to make an idol out of something else, like “community/household.” The answer isn’t just to form communities. Since communities are human endeavors, and humans are fallen, communities will ultimately disappoint.
The only real answer to avoid unsatisfying idols is to root everything in God and His relationship to us. God’s relationship to us as exemplified in the incarnation of Jesus Christ serves as a model for us. The answer is to know God intimately so we can form communities where people can meet and know Him better. When we have complete fulfillment in a God who never fails, this motivates, guides, and overflows into the household building that Crouch espouses: where we can use technology for humanizing reasons (like the ianacare example Crouch gives).
In the end, I think Crouch has some good, practical observations and advice, but in reacting (rightly!) to the de-humanization and isolation that comes from certain devices, I’m afraid he’s set us up for another disappointment by creating another idol in “community” that won’t ultimately satisfy. The goal can’t be to cure loneliness and isolation by pursuing community. That’s just another form of self-centeredness. The goal must be to pursue God first and foremost and then when devices and community fail us, we will still not be shaken because of our firm foundation in an unchanging, eternal, loving God.
I received a free copy of this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
June 7, 2022
Andy Crouch speaks my language. He has put into beautiful words many of the ideas that were churning in unfinished nexus form deep inside my heart and my subconscious. His insights have put into words the discontent and ill ease that has been growing in my soul with regards to the ever increasing isolationism that is part of our technological world.
Crouch isn't a Luddite. His premise is not that technology is bad but rather that we must own out technology rather than letting it own us. He creates dichotomies like devices vs instruments and superpowers vs flow to demonstrate how modern innovations can promise the world and yet steal our soul (while giving us none of those things promised).
A few quotes:
"Before we ever knew to look for a mirror, we were looking for another person's face."
"Power without effort, it turns out, diminishes us as much as it delights us."
"Once we lived with allness of heart, with a boldness of quest that was too in love with the good to call off pursuit when we encountered risk. Now we live as voyeurs, pursuing shadowy vestiges of what we desire from behind the one way mirror of a screen, invulnerable but alone."
Crouch gives his book a bold title. As he himself acknowledges, we are bombarded with big, bold promises all the time. There are all kinds of new gadgets, new diets, new financial investment plans, new... whatever, that will boldly promise "the life we are looking for" and yet they all fail to deliver even a fraction of what they promise. So I was skeptical going in to this book. It didn't take me long to realize that Crouch doesn't just promise... he delivers. My life, your life, our lives will all be so much deeper and richer if we allow the ideas he presents to saturate our souls andimpact influence our lives. Get this book. Devour it. You won't regret it.
Crouch isn't a Luddite. His premise is not that technology is bad but rather that we must own out technology rather than letting it own us. He creates dichotomies like devices vs instruments and superpowers vs flow to demonstrate how modern innovations can promise the world and yet steal our soul (while giving us none of those things promised).
A few quotes:
"Before we ever knew to look for a mirror, we were looking for another person's face."
"Power without effort, it turns out, diminishes us as much as it delights us."
"Once we lived with allness of heart, with a boldness of quest that was too in love with the good to call off pursuit when we encountered risk. Now we live as voyeurs, pursuing shadowy vestiges of what we desire from behind the one way mirror of a screen, invulnerable but alone."
Crouch gives his book a bold title. As he himself acknowledges, we are bombarded with big, bold promises all the time. There are all kinds of new gadgets, new diets, new financial investment plans, new... whatever, that will boldly promise "the life we are looking for" and yet they all fail to deliver even a fraction of what they promise. So I was skeptical going in to this book. It didn't take me long to realize that Crouch doesn't just promise... he delivers. My life, your life, our lives will all be so much deeper and richer if we allow the ideas he presents to saturate our souls and
October 6, 2022
Paints a sobering picture of our current relationship with technology, displacing and diminishing our humanity. But Crouch also invites us to consider a better way, and presents an attractive alternative where technology serves to make us more human, in the service of real flourishing and relationships.
The challenge now is to actually resist what is easy in favour of what is good.
The challenge now is to actually resist what is easy in favour of what is good.
December 19, 2022
I found this book compelling in its discussion about technology, work, relationships, and so much more. I appreciate how he explains the value of the unuseful. But I hesitate to fully embrace it because it could also become an excuse to let a person with potential not make use of that potential. Overall, a good book that I would recommend to anyone wanting to explore the ideals of Christian community.
June 28, 2023
I loved this book so much, and it hit in all the right ways. It wasn't primarily focused on specific things to start (or stop) doing, but it provided language and stories around technology and community that will be helpful while further developing and embodying these values in my own context. Repeatedly tracing problems back to Mammon and his values was unexpected and could be off-putting, but I'm also wondering if maybe Andy Crouch is onto something there. This book was energizing and left me wanting to think, read, and do more related to building a loving household and pursuing healthy communities and economies.
July 23, 2023
No page, no concept, no analogy wasted. This is one of those rare non-fiction books where you can’t set down in the middle: Andy isn’t finished with you until the very end. Full of wisdom and humanizing applications, but above all, full of hope. I love this book. I hope I’m changed by it.
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May 9, 2022i love andy crouch.
April 11, 2024
A succinct, insightful, and hopeful articulation of the prevalence of loneliness in our society and what to do about it.
February 27, 2022
I’ve been looking forward to this book anxiously, and it did not disappoint me. This book isn’t an excellent combination and next step of the argument from Playing God, Culture Making, and Tech-Wise Family.
This is also a very timely book.
We live in a moment of increasing isolation, and there are many consequences to that reality. Andy prophetically states amid the current cultural milieu that the way forward is not through the magic of technology but in recognizing and seeing people as heart-soul-mind-strength complexes designed for love. Our culture would be radically different if we all lived out the principles from this book.
Thank you, Andy, for a thoughtful, challenging, well-written gift.
(I received an electronic galley from the publisher in NetGalley.)
This is also a very timely book.
We live in a moment of increasing isolation, and there are many consequences to that reality. Andy prophetically states amid the current cultural milieu that the way forward is not through the magic of technology but in recognizing and seeing people as heart-soul-mind-strength complexes designed for love. Our culture would be radically different if we all lived out the principles from this book.
Thank you, Andy, for a thoughtful, challenging, well-written gift.
(I received an electronic galley from the publisher in NetGalley.)
April 20, 2022
A stirring story about the destructive power of technology and the way our devices hamper our ability to love and function as the persons God designed. Yet Crouch doesn't instruct us to return to completely to primitive living; rather, to transform our devices into instruments and to form households where deep reflection and intentional living are possible. His revelation of the demonic, person-like force of Mammon and superb biblical exposition of Paul's letter to the Romans was brilliant, challenging, and beautiful. I will be reflecting on the contents of this book for a long time. It's hard to imagine finding a more relevant book in 2022.
June 3, 2022
Excellent. Not only a good description of the ways things are (on account of where we have come from), but also a helpful suggestion of the ways things could be (shaping the imagination and heart to guide what we might cultivate).
Packed metaphors for thought:
* force vs taste
* devices vs instruments
* roads vs paths
* charms vs blessing
* and others
Embodied persons in place with others.
Packed metaphors for thought:
* force vs taste
* devices vs instruments
* roads vs paths
* charms vs blessing
* and others
Embodied persons in place with others.
September 18, 2022
A fascinating and engaging look on technology and our need for connection. Mainly, on how the former does not fulfill the latter. Love Andy’s writing style, although at some points he gets too philosophical for his own good.
May 14, 2022
I really appreciate Andy Crouch and he delivered with this book. His chapters on superpowers and devices vs. instruments are worth the reading of this book alone.
July 15, 2024
Great follow-up to Crouch's The Tech-Wise Family. Similar to Tech-Wise, this book encourages us to put technology in its rightful place but delves deeper into what it looks like to do so IN ORDER TO reclaim what it means to be, and to view others as, human, a person, an image bearer of our Creator. It's a reminder to steward technology well in a way that helps us to flourish in personhood, heart-soul-mind-strength. Our family is late to the game in getting our teenagers phones, according to our culture, but as we prepare to get phones for them, both of Crouch's books on technology has helped me greatly in gaining wisdom on how to engage well in a world of devices.
May 13, 2022
Crouch excels not only in his diagnosis of our present collective loneliness but also in the beautiful, biblical vision of human flourishing he sets forth. The final pages challenging what and who we value— those who are useful? those who are vulnerable? — brought me to tears. This book caused me to hope and dream and long for more.
June 29, 2022
This book feels “obvious” to me, perhaps not unlike the way that Truth feels immediately apparent to us when we stumble (or re-stumble) upon it. But this book’s simplicity and accessibility in no way dumbs down the profundity of what it has to say. Enjoyable, helpful, refreshing, simple. I never want to forget it.
August 2, 2022
Lots to like here, though its central premise seemed scattered. There were a few chapters that I devoured and was hoping for more, but overall it seemed to skim the surface. Even though (despite its subtitle) Crouch doesn't talk about technology as much as anticipated, I would still recommend this text as an entry point into a cultural conversation.
March 6, 2023
This book is not bad perse. However the main claim, that the ease of technology is displacing our greatest need to be recognized as people, is not necessarily connected with great arguments. The book felt choppy. Crouch uses Paul’s letter to the Romans to show an example of relationship reclamation that extends beyond financial and social classes. He explains the need for Christian’s and non-Christian’s alike to fight against Mammon(wealth as evil influence of false worship). However, I did like this examples that with technical advances there are two promises. 1. “Now you will be able to…” and 2. “You’ll no longer have to…”. But then with new devices there are two additional consequences 3. “You’ll no longer be able to…” and 4. “Now you’ll have to…”. For example, signing up for and utilizing an unlimited streaming service decreases the time and concentration available for reading books. With having a phone, now you will have to upgrade in the future to keep up with the new benefits. Overall, again, not a bad book, but the chapters did not mesh well together for the claim itself.
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