Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream

The American Dream is a cultural ideal which is widespread in American thought and life. According to Platt, it was coined in 1931 by James Truslow Adams, whom he quotes as saying, “a dream…in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are” (45-46). This ideal, Platt notes, focuses on attaining success and recognition for oneself, and while there are positive elements attached to it, it runs against the ideal of self-renunciation, which is central to Christian discipleship. Ever since its initial articulation, the American Dream has also come to hold connotations of financial security and an increase in material possessions, which runs against the biblical sensibility of using one’s excess income for the benefit of others rather than for oneself.

Discipleship is a term that refers to the totality of practices in the Christian life. It is the ongoing status of being a disciple of Jesus Christ—i.e., a student of his teaching, committed to following his ways. It includes a sense of continued growth and intentional activity—it is not simply a term for a passive state of identity.