The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World

Description

From the author of The Tech-Wise Family 'A fascinating and eye-opening book' - Tom Holland, author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind Our greatest need is to be recognised - to be seen, loved, and embedded in rich relationships with the people around us. But for the last century, we've displaced that need with the ease of technology. We've dreamed of power that doesn't require relationship (what the premodern world called magic) and abundance that doesn't require 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 and cultural critic Andy Crouch reveals how we traded lives of rich relationship for a world of impersonal power - and how each of us can fight back. From the generosity of early Christians 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 is the heartbeat of our days, our households, and our economies. Where our human vulnerabilities are seen not as something to be escaped but the actual key to our becoming who were made to be together. Where technology serves us rather than masters us - and helps us become more human, not less.

Andy is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, which works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His two most recent books - 2017's The Tech-Wise Family and 2016's - build on the compelling vision of faith, culture, and the image of God laid out in his previous books, Playing God and Culture Making. Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. For more than ten years he was an editor and producer at Christianity Today, including serving as executive editor from 2012 to 2016. He served 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. 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. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.

A fascinating and eye-opening book on the need to discover what might, perhaps, be called the Holy Ghost in the machine. -- Tom Holland, author of Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind It is time to coin the term "Crouchian" for writing that is profound, accessible and challenging, theologically rich and widely relevant. Only a handful can do it and Andy is the master. This book troubled and inspired me in equal measure. -- Elizabeth Oldfield, host of the Sacred podcast If you harbour a suspicion that the latest technological advance may not be all good news or that the latest life-changing gadget may not be life-changing, at least not for the better, then this book is for you. While far from being a Luddite manifesto, it asks some big questions about what it means to be a person and how technology might serve that end rather that hinder it. More than that, it begins to sketch out a better way of being human together. Read it, then give it to a friend and talk it through - face-to-face. -- Tim Chester, author and senior faculty member of Crosslands Training This is a timely and prophetic remedy for our lonely, isolated times. I cannot recommend it enough. -- Sheridan Voysey, presenter of Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2 In his book, Andy Crouch offers us a way through our technologically driven world that is both realistic and challenging. However, more than this, he gives us a compelling vision for a life lived to the full, one that hits directly at our hearts and ignites our deepest human desires. This book breaks the enchantment that technology has cast over us, propelling us to abundant human living. -- Dr Sara Schumancher, Lecturer at St Mellitus College If the genius of apocalyptic literature is to unveil concealed truths, then this book is apocalyptic. Andy Crouch exposes deep and uncomfortable realities about our world and our selves: how technology, money and convenience veil dynamics of slavery, addiction and abuse, and how aspects of modern society seduce us to pawn our personhood for superficial superpowers that diminish our humanity. This is crucial reading for everyone who wants to understand the devices and desires of our contemporary hearts. -- Christopher Watkins, Professor at Monash University, Australia Whimsical and sincere, perturbing and delightfully hopeful, The Life We're Looking For is a meditation on love, loneliness and human connection from one of the most insightful writers in his field. -- Alastair Gordon, artist and author of WHY ART MATTERS This book, at once prophetic and wise, is just what we've been looking for. Andy is a trusted guide to make culture and places where life can flourish. But in the face of big-tech and its magical promises, we need his vision to form the kind of whole-life persons able to resist false charm and instead seek the peace of the city. -- Dr Dave Benson, Director of Culture and Discipleship at The London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC) In this acutely insightful exploration of our relationship with technology and with one another, Andy Crouch gives us a direct line back to the scriptures that will have you questioning the endless scrolling that consumes so many of our waking hours. -- James Poulter, CEO of Vixex Labs Profound, captivating and wise. Andy Crouch combines penetrating and astute insights into our all-pervasive technological culture, with fresh retelling of the revolutionary communities that the early Christian church established. An inspiring and hopeful read for those who are feeling weighed down by social polarisation and post-pandemic gloom. -- John Wyatt, Emeritus Professor of Neonatal Paediatrics, Ethics and Perinatology, UCL This elegantly written book should start a conversation and I trust lead to a shift in our thinking and practice * Inspire Magazine * thought provoking...he deftly describes how the advances of technology have led to a loss of the resource of rich relationships... but also demonstrates how relationships can be reclaimed... * Life and Work Magazine *