to Hauerwas, is what makes Barth a proper natural theologian in comparison to Reinhold Niebuhr and William James, who were also featured in the lectures. Earlier in 1997 he gave the Scottish Journal of Theology lectures at Aberdeen, published as Sanctify Them in Truth (1998). Basic theological and philosophical views Hauerwas has long been associated with narrative theology and postliberal theology (which are closely related but not necessarily synonymous movements). Both of these movements are attached to Yale biblical scholars Brevard Childs, Hans Frei, and George Lindbeck. His Reforming Christian Social Ethics: Ten Theses, published in 1981, serves to summarize the key presuppositions of his alternative to what was the dominant account in Christian ethics at that time. The ten theses are listed as follows: The social significance of the Gospel requires the recognition of the narrative structure of Christian convictions for the life of the church. Every social ethic involves a narrative, whether it is concerned with the formulation of basic principles of social organization and/or with concrete policy alternatives. The ability to provide an adequate account of our existence is the primary test of the truthfulness of a social ethic. Communities formed by a truthful narrative must provide the skills to transform fate into destiny so that the unexpected, especially as it comes in the form of strangers, can be welcomed as gift. The primary social task of the church is to be itself - that is, a people who have been formed by a story that provides them with the skills for negotiating the danger of this existence, trusting in God's promise of redemption. Christian social ethics can only be done from the perspective of those who do not seek to control national or world history but who are content to live "out of control." Christian social ethics depends on the development of leadership in the church that can trust and depend on the diversity of gifts in the community. For the church to be, rather than to have, a social ethic means we must recapture the social significance of common behavior, such as acts of kindness, friendship, and the formation of families. In our attempt to control our society Christians in America have too readily accepted liberalism as a social strategy appropriate to the Christian story. The church does not exist to provide an ethos for democracy or any other form of social organization, but stands