Truly the Community: Romans 12 and How to Be the Church by Marva J. Dawn is a theological book about the church, published by Eerdmans and running 319 pages.
It first appeared in 1992 under a better title: The Hilarity of Community. Same book, new cover and preface. Knowing the original title tells you more about the argument than the current one does.
Where the hilarity came from
Romans 12:8 says that the one who shows mercy should do it with cheerfulness. The Greek word there is hilarotes, and it is where the old title came from. Dawn’s whole point hangs on it. She argues that the church is meant to be marked by a strange, durable gladness, and that a joyless congregation grinding through its obligations has misread what Paul is describing.
That is a better book than a generic call to community, and it is what you are actually buying.
How she works
Dawn goes through Romans 12 slowly, a few verses at a time, across the whole book. She was a serious theologian and she does not simplify. She handles the Greek, engages other scholars, and expects you to follow an argument that develops over hundreds of pages.
She spends real time on Romans 12:1 and 2, on presenting your body as a living sacrifice and refusing to be conformed, and she reads the rest of the chapter as the shape that a non conformed community actually takes. Gifts, sincerity, hospitality, blessing people who mistreat you, refusing revenge. Her reading is that these are not separate instructions but a description of one alternative society.
Who it is for, honestly
This is not a men’s book. It was not written for men, and nothing in it is aimed at them specifically. An earlier version of this review presented it as a guide for Christian men stepping into community leadership and outreach, which misrepresented both the book and its audience.
It is also demanding. Three hundred pages of theological exposition on one chapter is a real commitment, and men looking for a men’s group resource will not find one here. There are no session plans.
What you get instead is a genuinely deep treatment of what the church is supposed to be, from someone who thought about it carefully for a long time.
Worth your time?
Yes, if you read theology for its own sake, or if you carry responsibility for the life of a congregation and want something more substantial than church growth material.
No, if you want practical steps or a group study. Wrong book, and it will sit unfinished.
An earlier version of this review reported key takeaways from a team reading. That did not happen and has been removed.