Consumer Detox
Consumerism is everywhere. It shapes the way we eat, shop, rest, think, love, and believe. We can’t escape it, but how can we live well in the midst of it?
Consumer Detox (Zondervan 2011) is a three-part journey to a simpler, richer, more generous life. It began as some pages on this site nearly 5 years ago. Now it’s a full grown book telling the story of what we’ve learnt through Breathe, and sketching out where we think a less consumerist life is heading.
Check out the Facebook page for recent info and details of launch events. Some early reviews and comments are here.
Browse the book here click the Read Sample box for two preview chapters).
Buy at a local bookshop or here
This book is not about guilt. It’s about life. It is a gift to be able to stand up and say with Powley, “I am a recovering consumer.”
Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President
Consumer Detox is an important and urgent message. However, Mark Powley is not a prophet of doom – his message is refreshingly practical and hopeful, offering a manifesto for a more celebratory lifestyle. Count me in!”
Pete Greig, Alpha International / 24-7Prayer.com, author of God on Mute
Please, please, please read this book. Mark Powley has noticed what is going on in our culture and offers us a real yet astounding way to live. Consumer Detox is crackling with life, full of insight, informative and yet non-judgemental. In a world where Lady Gaga is offering to change the world ‘one sequin at a time’ Consumer Detox brilliantly opens up a richer, fuller vision of how to live.
Rev Dr Viv Thomas, Director of Formation, author of The Spectacular Ordinary Life
Mark Powley has hit the nail on the head with this book. There are few things more pressing than the need for Christians to wrestle with what it means to follow Jesus in our consumer-driven culture and I’m excited that Mark has found a way to help us to do this.
Ruth Valerio, author of L is for Lifestyle: Christian living that doesn’t cost the earth, and manager of A Rocha’s Living Lightly project
Consumer Detox is a great book: accessible, tender, personal and moving. It avoids being “preachy” because Mark honestly explains his own struggles. At the same time, and more importantly, it is also subversive of our materialist values and very challenging because it shows what it means to claim to be a Christian.
Dr Alastair Duke, specialist in the European Reformation
Consumer Detox
I am a consumer.
The more I buy, the sooner
We come out of recessions,
In praise of possessions.
The untransformed mind
Is clearly defined
‘I am, because I buy’,
No need to ask ‘Why?’.
I may be squeezed
But don’t want to be freed.
It’s much too bold
To replace the mould.
The social norm
Is to closely conform.
It takes faith and grace
To give His Image space.
I am reading the book now and cannot put it down! I am looking at my lifestyle, my possessions and how I can give up. I have been seeking this knowledge based on Christian faith because as an American, I know this is not how we should be living. We have it so wrong! We easily spend $5 at the coffee shop every day without thinking how that $5 could go to help others elsewhere. Our walk and our talk do not match when we can drive to church in our expensive cars, sit in cushioned chairs and listen to the entertainment of a rock concert, just so we can feel good about ourselves while others in the world are dying because of their Christian faith.
Thank you for such a wonderful book!
Thanks for the encouragement, Kristy!
Great stuff, Mark! Perhaps the most compelling part of the book for me is the suggestion that we model our own lives on the Trinity. As God gave himself in Jesus Christ but was blessed completely in the reconciliation of Himself with creation, so we give ourselves completely to God and are blessed by the purchasing power of the Holy Spirit. As you write, ‘Give, give, give’ is a mark of God and it should be a mark of Christians, in whatever form we can manage it. Indeed, I appreciate the book’s lack of prescriptive ‘we should be doing x,y,z’ and its more measured ‘here’s what I am doing but I am not perfect’ encouragement to the reader. Of course, you also throw in a lot of ‘here’s what I am doing and they did it in the Bible so maybe you should do it too.’
I enjoyed the book’s stroll through Western European literary history. Well done especially for employing Dostoevsky’s the Idiot and Lucian!
Are you the Mark Powley who had a business in New Canaan, CT?
HI Jackie, I was in CT earlier this year, but just on a speaking tour. I’m based in the UK.
I am loving this book, and although not a great spender I have learned and been encouraged by so much. I am now doing a stall at our village flea market on Saturday to sell some stuff to raise money to help build a well in an African village. I feel God spoke to me while reading your book. Awesome. I have encouraged our local church Youth Group to join in. Can’t wait to see the results. Thank you for a brilliant book, when’s the next one coming out.
Thanks Chris – I hope this leads to really good things. There’s no follow up planned at present as I’m devoting more time to researching these things more fully, but we are hoping to spread the word about the Detox and provide ongoing comment through this Breathe site. Thanks again for the encouragement!
Mark
Oh no! Now, I have to buy another book!!!! Sounds good though!
I shop-give to charity it is an endlesss lonely life I am liviingDoreen in Calgary-these books could help me!Thank you Lorna-wonderful show.DoreenCalgary
I need both these books Lorna I need to change.