Me-Ville? David Zimmerman is deadly serious in his new book on individualism, Deliver Us from Me-Ville. Yet he knows, as the best storytellers always do, that well-placed humor can add to the weight of the topic.

Why Me-Ville? It’s a bit corny of a joke, but, as Zimmerman points out repeatedly in this 360° portrait of Number One, individualism is nothing short of Evil itself. He means it, and has successfully convinced me: individualism is more than an annoying trait. It is a foretaste of hell.

And that’s why we need to be delivered from it: we can’t escape it. We need help.

This is a smart book, full of that quirky mix of ancient letters and pop culture that Zimmerman’s regular readers have come to expect. Be prepared to be impressed. But not with the author’s smarts: Zimmerman is not showy. He manages to write well while keep readers thinking about the problem at hand. 

Eternally deepening individualism is the direction we’re headed. That’s why Deliver Us from Me-Ville spends so much time on Jesus. Not Jesus the theological concept (as in Jesus just alright with me) but Jesus the person, the prophet—Jesus, the creator god who stood outside our sorry system and, rather than throwing in a life preserver, jumped into the flood as a flesh-and-blood human.

Our only hope for deliverance from Me-Ville is love, and the only love that can knock us out of the downward spiral from individualism to narcissism to solipsism to hell—our only hope is a love from outside the system.

How do you repent of individualism? By singing Just As I Am? Even our Christian language is faulty here. How do you grow in knowledge of Christ? Through “Loud Time,” Zimmerman suggests. There’s a cult of personal Bible study (“quiet time”) in the church, when we ought to spend more time listening to God together.

Escaping from Me-Ville is a long-term effort, one we’ll work on throughout our natural lives. When life happens, it’ll always be tempting to retreat into self-absorption. But following Jesus into a deeper love will be worth it in the long run. Zimmerman:

The farther Jesus leads us from Me-Ville to the place he has prepared for us, the less sensible it is to go back, and the less fulfilling each visit will be. (…) When you notice Jesus, especially where you weren’t expecting to see him, you notice that what he’s doing and saying are a lot more interesting, a lot more creative than what you’re doing and saying. (p.148)

True to his message, Zimmerman has added a group discussion guide to the end of the book, and inserts several practical “Escape Routes” throughout. If you’re not a book reader, try this one.