Publisher's Weekly
Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for the Church in Exile
The author of Velvet Elvis and Sex God teams up with fellow pastor Golden to write a manifesto that packs as much sociopolitical zing as rhetorical punch. If Americans today miss the central message of the Bible, say the authors, the reason is that the United States is an empire like those described in Scripture that build powerful armies and seek to protect what they accumulate rather than promote justice and mercy. Chapter titles such as "Swollen-bellied black babies, soccer moms on Prozac, and the mark of the beast" will provoke many readers. Likely to get a bigger rise is the suggestion that when the Bible says enemies will one day worship together, that includes today's enemies, the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The writing is frequently paragraphed into very short chunks of prose. This dramatic book is politically charged but not party-bent, bearing a message evangelicals need: that Jesus didn't come just to save people for heaven someday but to transform his followers and the physical world now. (Oct.)
Review by N.T. Wright
N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham, author of Surprised By Hope
Rob Bell and Don Golden's new book sparkles with bright, energetic wisdom for Christians who have heard God's call to bring the whole gospel into creative engagement with the whole world. Hugely challenging, hugely refreshing.
Review by Walter Brueggemann
Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
Bell and Golden get it!
With their ears they get it about the summons of faith;
With their hearts they get it about the chance for new obedience;
With their minds they get it about the socio-political crisis in our world.
They get the convergence of faith, obedience, and crisis. They invite the reader to get it in ways that will be life-transforming. Here is a summons in plain imaginative language that connects. Get it!