As a worship leader, I am convinced that to worship Christ fully we must know him truly. JARED WILSON is an immensely POPULAR BLOGGER, missional church planter/pastor, with impeccable theology, and a decent sense of humor to boot. His book, YOUR JESUS IS TOO SAFE, is an excellent correction to the man-made Jesus’s of our imagination, pointing clearly to the Christ of revelation. The style reminds me of Mark Driscoll’s personality, N.T. Wright’s historical insight, and the basic doctrinal leanings of Timothy Keller, all put in a blender. That is just to say, that this book would serve as an excellent corrective for us worship leaders to all the false-Christ’s we tend to pursue. You see, for being the most popular – or at least most well-known – person in all of history, we have a hard time at agreeing on who Jesus is, even within the church. Jared spends most of this book debunking each of our own Jesus myth’s – some of which may surprise you – and replacing them with a full-orbed, Biblical portrait of Christ. The highlight of the book is Jared’s excellent overview of the life of Christ, which is both easy to understand, yet nuanced enough to take into account the complexity of modern historical research. It really brings the gospels to life, and gives fresh insight into those books, without having to read the academically dense work of N.T. Wright. I had a minor squabble with his critique of the modern prophecy (quote: “…a prophet isn’t someone who has a special spiritual sense, or who, in our feel-good vernacular, ‘feels led’…), as my personal walk with Christ has been informed by both the reformed, and charismatic camps, but in all honesty, it doesn’t hinder the overall thrust of his message whatsoever. Overall, Your Jesus… is probably my favorite book so far on ’09. A well recommended read, indeed.
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Heat and Light 