The Feast

Things change. Things never stay the same. That's the one thing that you can count on. It's the one thing that stays the same. Make sense?

I got a call from my book publisher recently, "Josh, after talking with the marketing team and evaluating the book market . . . "

Of course I'm thinking, "They're about to pull the plug on my book. At least I'll get the contract money they've promised."

He continued, " . . . We've decided we're going to change the cover, title, and subtitle." After a carefully reasoned explanation was offered, my hear rate went down to somewhat normal levels. I actually agreed with the editor, told him, "thanks" and became excited.

So, the title is no longer Jesus Feast. The subtitle is no longer Spirituality for the Hungry. The cover is different. I still have not seen the new cover, but I'm patient.

I'm passionate about the content more than I am the look or vibe. If they think changing the book's title to The Feast: How to Serve Jesus in a Famished World will help the overall message, I'm all for it. Working with Leafwood Publishers has been outstanding thus far. I trust them a great deal.

We're a few weeks away from the book being printed. Release date is September 1st. Buy the book. That you read it is secondary (he wrote with a wry smile).

Endorsements for The Feast

Endorsements for THE FEAST: HOW TO SERVE JESUS IN A HUNGRY WORLD (Leafwood Publishers, 2009)


Josh Graves knows that the soul's hunger is not satisfied by right beliefs alone. People crave spirituality - and not just a wishy-washy, airy-fairy, this-and-that spirituality either. They want a robust, lifelong, dynamic, profound, and deep-rooted (or radical) spirituality that is focused, not simply on "my needs" or "my feelings," but on Jesus and his mission in our world.

Brian D. McLaren (from the Foreword)
Author of Everything Must Change
http://www.brianmclaren.net/


Here is a book that asks one of the most dangerous questions in the world: "What if Jesus really meant the stuff he said?" The Feast is an invitation to taste the goodness of God in Jesus, the Jesus who has been able to survive the mistakes of Christendom. And it is my prayer that all of us who feast on Christ will become what we eat -- for the world is starving for Good News that they can see and taste and feel.

Shane Claiborne
author, activist, and recovering sinner
http://www.thesimpleway.org/



In my ministry on a college campus I find young Christians and old who are yearning for a spirituality that demands everything and returns joy unending. Like loaves and fishes with baskets leftover, this book will fill those who hunger after God with good things. Read, and feast on the gospel of Christ.

Craig Kocher
Associate Dean of the Chapel
Duke University



In The Feast, Josh Graves explores the terribly important question of what it means to reconfigure Christianity as a way of life, instead of a mere system of beliefs. Along the way, we are reminded of many of the harsh, jagged edges of the story of which we are a part, which challenge our pre-conceived notions of what discipleship entails. But the story is not just of the cost of discipleship, but its joy too: So Josh also gives us a picture of a great feast indeed, a compelling picture of a kind of life lived in genuine liberty, and thus beauty.

Lee Camp
Author of Mere Discipleship
http://www.leeccamp.com/



This book is not one more argument about "post-christendom Christianity." There is little need for that. The Feast is rather a series of meditations on following Jesus today. The results are stunning. I came away not merely convinced, but moved.

Randy Harris
Abilene Christian University


At a time when it’s clear that fewer in the West consider themselves to be Christians, it’s critical that we think carefully about the meaning of the Jesus Story. Is it possible that what others are rejecting isn’t Jesus himself – with his proclamation and embodiment of God’s reign – but caricatures of that story? That’s why The Feast is such a welcome book. Josh Graves is both a guide and a companion on this exciting journey to understand and experience afresh the meaning of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Mike Cope
Heartbeat Ministries
http://www.heartbeatlife.org/


In The Feast, Josh Graves leads us beyond what happens when we discover Scripture. He challenges us to imagine what happens when Scripture discovers us.


Sara Barton
Rochester College



What you hold in your hand is of great relevance because it concerns the eternal. And eternal matters are always relevant. I found The Feast to be biblically-grounded, culturally-accessible, and subtly offensive to the spirit of religion within me. It's because of each of these realities that this book is so engaging. Joshua Graves writes humbly, confessionally, without an heir of condescension or condemnation - inviting us to imagine with him what it looks like for things to be on earth as they are in heaven and to prayerfully contend for it to be so.

Chris Seidman
Farmers Branch Church
http://www.thebranch.org/

The Feast: Introduction

Here's a brief introduction for my book, The Feast, coming out September 1, 2009 from Leafwood Publishers.

In 1871, the city of Chicago suffered a devastating fire. By the end of the destruction, almost two-thirds of the city proper had been destroyed. Likely a case of an urban myth run wild, early reports pointed to a poor Irish woman as the one responsible. A poor, immigrant Catholic (the perfect criminal in the political milieu of late nineteenth century Chicago), Catherine O’Leary was the first reported perpetrator. The Chicago Tribune reporter who “leaked” this information would later retract.Several theories now remain regarding the person responsible for the great fire. Yet, the most interesting element to me regarding the story is the reason the city burned down in the first place. Before Chicago became the “windy” city, it was known as the wooden city for its streets, buildings, factories, and homes were primarily made of a substance that could be destroyed in an instant. Chicago was made of wood and it would soon learn the fallacy of constructing an entire community/existence upon a fragile source.

This is a great metaphor for our cultural situation regarding Christianity and the Church. Made of wood (science= God), our western religious cities are slowly burning. Architects from all over the world are now coming to this city to a) diagnose the cause of the fire (i.e. the failures of modernity) and b) create new possibilities and paradigms within our given context.This is not to say that the “wooden city” was evil, bankrupt, or false. Rather, it is to recognize the limitations as well as the possibilities now for the future.

According to Christian scholar, Alister McGrath, almost two-thirds of all Christians lived in the West in 1900. And now, only one-third were still recognized as “Western” by 2000. In the last fifty years, Christianity shifted to the far corners of the world: China, South America, and Africa. Scholars now note there are more Anglicans in Africa, for instance, than in all of Great Britain.[1] In fact, it seems there are more Christians living in China and Africa then in the United States—a statistic unimaginable even fifty years ago.

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.

In virtually every part of America (including the Bible Belt), Christianity is dying a slow death. Out of these ashes exists the opportunity to continue to dream about God’s activity and the potential for the story of Jesus to receive a fresh hearing.

Part autobiography, social justice manifesto, historical reflection, treatise on grace, journal from the urban/suburban world, and narrative reading of Jesus’ life—The Feast is a book seeking to bridge the world of reflection and practice. The chasm of belief and practice (a product of the Enlightenment and its quest for facts and objective truth) is evident even in many of today’s “post” modern writings. The Feast is one attempt to do reflection and practice in a harmonious dance.

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[1]See Philip Jenkins outstanding trilogy on the emerging shape of global Christianity: The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (New York: Oxford Press, 2006); The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (New York: Oxford Press, 2007); and God’s Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe’s Religious Crisis (New York: Oxford Press, 2007). Also, Brian D. McLaren’s Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007) is one of the more constructive blue-prints per the church’s local and global mission in our pluralistic society

New Look for Blog, Jesus Feast

While I'm working on new projects related to my first book (Jesus Feast), I've updated the look of the blog (now going by the same name as the book). The look will likely change again this summer as we get the final image/look set for the book. The final edits (syntax, comma splices, vocab, etc.) are being finished. Now, the book goes to the final stage.

Proofs should be done by early June. Publication is set for August/September.

I've been very fortunate to work with two great editors (and formidable writers in their own right) on this project: Leonard Allen and Greg Taylor. GT has pushed me to hone and craft this book so that it is a tight presentation of what I really think Christian spirituality should "feel" like in a postmodern world.

I received Brian McLaren's foreword this week. I'm really excited to see this entire project come together.

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

Jesus Feast--Late Summer 2009

Giving It (Jesus Feast) Away

In September 2007, I was on a small plane flying from Abilene to Dallas, Texas. I had just finished teaching a class on the relationship of film and spirituality in postmodern cultures at Abilene Christian University. As we were making our way to Dallas, I started to get an idea. So, I did what I always do, I grabbed the first thing I could find. Normally, on an airplane, that means one grabs a napkin. I know of one famous basketball coach, for instance, who wrote a book called My Life On a Napkin for this same reason--ideas come at you when you least expect. Writers, storytellers, poets, movie producers all talk about the creative inspiration and its unpredictability.

I started to write out an overall plan for a book. I would not start my doctorate for several months and I thought it was a good time to really pour myself into something that was not directly related to my "church responsibilities." I know far too many ministers and professors who make church/theology their life. If you don't have things outside of your particular call to sustain you, it's easy to dry up and lose your energy. Some of us, in short, need to get a life.

Several drafts later . . . after much painful editing . . . cutting at least five chapters and almost 100 pages . . . I submitted the final draft of my first book to the publishers this past week. I wanted to tell my small group that it felt like I'd given birth to a baby and now I was being asked to give it away. But, when I thought about the fact that two women in our small group have just recently given actual birth and that Kara was only a few months away herself, I elected to go with a different metaphor.

This weekend will be the first time I get to present material from my book. I'm doing a leaders retreat for Sycamore View Church (where my close friend Josh Ross preaches) Friday and Saturday.


When we give away what is most sacred to us, we give God power to do what he wants to do. Preservation cannot give us the peace of mind it promises for giving away what is most sacred to us is the path to finding real connection with those God has placed in our midst. "The glory of God is a person come fully alive."

Jesus Feast

In the coming months, this blog will be changing names from joshgraves.blogspot.com to Jesus Feast (www.jesusfeast.org). The reason: My first book will be published in 2009 under the previously mentioned name. Stay tuned for more samplings.

Here's a quick overview . . .

According to Christian scholar, Alister McGrath, almost two-thirds of all Christians lived in the West in 1900. And now, only one-third were still recognized as “Western” by 2000. In the last fifty years, Christianity shifted to the far corners of the world: China, South America, and Africa. Scholars now note there are more Anglicans in Africa, for instance, than in all of Great Britain. In fact, it seems there are more Christians living in China and Africa than in the United States—a statistic unimaginable even fifty years ago.

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.

In virtually every part of America (including the Bible Belt), Christianity is dying a slow death. Out of these ashes exists the opportunity to continue to dream about God’s activity and the potential for the story of Jesus to receive a fresh hearing.

Part autobiography, social justice manifesto, historical reflection, treatise on grace, journal from the urban/suburban world, and narrative reading of Jesus’ life—Jesus Feast is a book seeking to bridge the world of reflection and practice. The chasm of belief and practice (a product of the Enlightenment and its quest for facts and objective truth) is evident even in many of today’s “post” modern writings. Jesus Feast is one attempt to do reflection and practice in a harmonious dance.