The premise of the book is that Seay is concerned with how American Christians fail to understand key terms to the faith, like "righteousness" or "justice." A survey was commissioned that gave dismal results that Seay's concerns are justified. The rest of the book deals with this issue.
On the surface, this idea does not intrigue me in the least bit. Definitions are relatively fickle things, and one may have a different idea of what "righteousness" means than Seay or the study. Still, as I progressed through the book, I found myself captivated by what I was reading.
Seay has a heart that longs for Christ. He wants this feeling to shine through all who claim to follow Jesus, and the book largely deals with this. How would Jesus treat the poor? The sick? The environment? The greedy? Jesus would show them all a loving, compassionate side that we are unfamiliar with, and Seay makes his points well.
I read this book with a pencil in hand, underlining sentences that struck a chord. Looking back, there were plenty. Seay has a way with allegories or metaphors that really make sense of what he's trying to say, as well as what Scripture is saying.
There were a few things in the book that I was a bit wishy-washy on, but on the whole, The Gospel According to Jesus is an excellent read for the critically-thinking Christian. Its ideas are things that should be taken to heart and pondered on.
This book was provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers and Booksneeze in exchange for an honest and fair review of the product.
5 comments:
Sounds interesting. It has been a long, long time since I've read a nonfiction Christian book (not counting the Bible, of course). I am very curious to read books about Christianity and environmentalism, and although that is probably just briefly discussed in this book, it is one of the things that caught my eye in your review.
Since I review for a few Christian book publishers, I tend to read quite a bit of nonfic Christian books. Oddly, before last year I rarely read any nonfic, but now a much larger percentage of my annual reads are made up of it.
As for the environmentalism, this book only touched on it a few times, and it felt more like the author's opinion as opposed to a Biblical mandate. Still, I enjoyed the book, and it definitely got me thinking.
i'm with Carl, it's been a while since i've read a non-fiction about the bible.. i have several friends who do, and one i know who reviews for some publishers. some aspects of the one you reviewed intrigue me.. the definitions/his interpretations of some of the subjects...
my husband reads a few authors and subjects particularly. like Carl he is interested in the discussion on the environment/stewardship.
I read E.O. Wilson's Creation for an Eco-Crit class and he is addressing a Southern Baptist Minister.. while not a recent publish, it's still relevant and interesting--and engaging to read; which is something Christian non-fiction usually lacks for me---either a low-grade writing level, a lack of rigor, or its impenetrable.
~L
good review
@L: I think that's part of the enjoyment I get from reading Christian non-fiction. There's a lot that I disagree with, but there's plenty of things to think about, too. Different ways to look at things. And if I want to be a better person, a more loving person, then I must learn to understand alternate perspectives.
I've never heard of the Wilson book. I'll have to check around. Thanks for the tip.
Sounds interesting, but I don't know if I can handle another book being added to my back log. Nice and fair review.
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