Review :: The Diversity Culture

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Matthew Raley’s The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between (Kregel Publications, 2009) certainly has a captivating title, and I was excited to receive and start reading the latest book from Viralbloggers. I had not heard of Matthew Raley nor The Diversity Culture previously, so it was the title, with all it’s imagery that lead me to read this interesting, but rather overly complicated book.

Sadly, Raley doesn’t specifically cover the folk from the title, rather lumping them altogether as The Diversity Culture. He then elegantly deconstructs the USAmerican Evangelical culture’s bigotry and stereotyping of this Diversity Culture, calling the reader back to a (radical?) Jesus like approach. He does this through exploring Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.

While The Diversity Culture was an easy read, with some wonderful imagery of the characters at the Cafe Siddhartha, I was left questioning the need to label people and began to appreciate the exploration of the Samaritan woman’s conversation with Jesus, where, whether intentional or not, it became evident that Jesus certainly didn’t need to categorize folk. This is not to say that Raley’s The Diversity Culture, is a poor book! Far from it! It is well constructed and would benefit many in the pews in mainstream legacy church in USAmerica, or for that matter, Australia too!

The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hipsters, Political Activists & Everyone in Between

Where I am left questioning the need to read such a book, is where my experiences differ from Raley. Where Raley is a USAmerican, I am Australian, where Raley is a Pastor, I am not. But that is not where it started to become evident that this book wasn’t written for me. I realised after some time that my own experiences and life had already lead my through the cafe and out the otherside, where, with my life and work with the homeless and those suffering on the edges of society here in Australia, conversations with the Samaritan woman occur almost daily.

I would recommend Matthew Raley’s The Diversity Culture: Creating Conversations of Faith with Buddhist Baristas, Agnostic Students, Aging Hippies, Political Activists, and Everyone in Between (Kregel Publications, 2009) to those in the pews of USAmerican evangelical churches, but only if they were terrified about stepping out the doors of the church buildings and their circle of Christian culture and engaging with their neighbours. But, I would I would suggest reading along the way to greeting their homosexual, mixed relations, Hindu neighbours!

Matthew Raley’s blog

First chapter download

Prime Time America Interview with Raley — (Raley is interviewed from 20:00 to 28:00. Note: This interview is hosted by Moody Radio, a longtime bastion of the culture wars.)