This was a pretty good book. I think Metzger is at his best when he is analyzing history and culture as the beginning of the book does. He does a great job of looking back and showing how the church got to this moment of being consumed by consumerism. It's effects are so wide-ranging, it's almost the water we're swimming in, without even knowing.
From there, the author goes into how the church should live out its calling in this consumer culture, that is separated, by and in large, by race and class. In my opinion, this is where Metzger's writing is weaker. He is synthesizing the work of others such as John Perkins, William Cavanaugh, and Marva Dawn. Not that any of it was bad but I thought the first half of the book was more compelling.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has an inkling of the effects of consumerism on the church in America but wants to explore its implications further and begin to live counter-culturally, resisting the commodification of the church . I was especially challenged in regard to the mono-cultural tendencies of the small group movement.
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