More Jesus Feast

Here's another snippet from Jesus Feast. I've had excellent editorial help from Leonard Allen, Greg Taylor along with Josh Ross, Sara Barton and Kara Graves (oh yeah . . . and the religion classes I've taught at Rochester College along with a spiritual formation class I taught last year at Rochester Church). After the book comes out, the previously mentioned people might not claim me. Sigh.

I'll do little previews here and there over the course of the next several months: quotes, snippets, summaries, etc. For now, here's a little piece from the introduction along with the table of contents.

In the last fifty years, Christianity shifted to the far corners of the world: China, South America, and Africa. Scholars now note that there are more Anglicans in Africa, for instance, than in all of Great Britain. The largest Christian congregation in the U.K. is Kingsway International Church—started by two African leaders. My own religious tribe, Churches of Christ from the American Restoration Movement, has been slowly declining the last three decades in the United States. Besides two major segments of Protestant faith—Pentecostal and Independent/Community—most of Western Christianity is in the midst of a season of stagnation or severe decline.

As hard as it is to swallow, more chaos consumes the twenty-first century global landscape. The devastation of America’s “9-11,” the Indian Ocean Tsunami, tragic earthquakes in Pakistan and Kashmir, the horror of Hurricane Katrina, and the latest surge of wars in the Middle East should cause Christians to ask two important questions, “Is God present and working in the face of such pressing evil?” and, “How can Christianity be ‘good news’ for those who do not ‘believe?’” These two questions under-gird this entire work. I’m convicted that Christianity’s real genius and power rests in her ability to bring healing, justice, and equality to all people. The real test of Christian theology is the result it brings for those who do not (yet) subscribe to the Christian faith.

“In other words, our Christian affirmations about the uniqueness of Christ achieve their real impact when they are subjected to the test to establish their credentials and validity not only in terms of the religious and spiritual universe in which Christians habitually operate, but also and indeed especially, in terms of the religious and spiritual worlds which persons of other faiths inhabit," says Kwame Bediako.

Jesus Feast engages the discussion of what Christianity, as a spiritual movement and not an institutional religion, can sound and look like in a pluralistic society like the one emerging in these United States. Christians and spiritual seekers must continue to examine the food being consumed. I want to help you re-imagine Christianity as a way of life, not merely a set of beliefs. That’s why this book, in this order, is about: God, Mary, Jesus, discipleship, justice, forgiveness, true beauty, unexpected prophets, hospitality, water, food, money, and spiritual disciplines.

Foreword by Brian McLaren

Part One: Re-Imagining Jesus


Introduction: Spiritual Anorexia

Chapter One: God of Surprises

Chapter Two: Theotokos

Chapter Three: Wrestling with the Real Jesus

Chapter Four: The Greatest Risk

Chapter Five: Can I Get a Witness?

Chapter Six: No Future without Forgiveness

Chapter Seven: Suffering Made Beautiful


Part Two: Living Reminders


Chapter Eight: Professor Jack

Chapter Nine: A Place at the Table

Chapter Ten: Food and Water

Chapter Eleven: Keeping Up with the Jones’s

Chapter Twelve: An Invitation to Dance

Epilogue: Jesus Feast