Being Jesus in Nashville: Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (Whoever and Wherever You Are) [Paperback]

Jim Palmer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2012

Author and former pastor Jim Palmer should be dead. Over the course of a year that included two near-death experiences, as Palmer set out to disentangle Jesus from the religious machinery of Christianity, he discovered a profound and unexpected answer to the question on his mind: "What would Jesus do? " Exploring what it really means to "be Jesus" in his hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, Palmer learns that Jesus was special not because he was more divine than the rest of us, but because he was courageously more human than most. Unfortunately, this realization crystallized for him while he was hanging upside down in his overturned car, expecting to die. When Palmer was miraculously pulled from the wreckage alive, he emerged with a new courage to embrace his life as never before. In Being Jesus in Nashville, Palmer shares his personal stories, ideas, concepts, and an innovative approach to humanity as he learns that being Jesus means seeing people as they truly are; letting it happen, not making it happen; being at peace, whatever happens; putting no limitations on God; living without separation from God; following your own path; living as everyone's neighbor. With spiritual insight and refreshing theological glimpses, Palmer shares how he traded in his Christianity for Jesus and how this brought him closer to God.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Palmer was a successful senior pastor before he walked out on institutional church and organized religion. Since 2006, he has chronicled his journey, beginning with Divine Nobodies and then Wide Open Spaces. Palmer lives in Nashville with his wife and daughter. Visit him online at www.divinenobodies.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (March 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1469758334
• ISBN-13: 978-1469758336
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 5.4 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jim Palmer's new book Being Jesus in Nashville: Finding the Courage to Live Your Life (whoever and wherever you are) is now available. He is the author of Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you), and Wide Open Spaces: Beyond paint-by-Number Christianity. He encourages the freedom to imagine, dialogue, live, and express new possibilities for being an authentic Christian. His background includes inner-city service and international human rights work. He has an M.Div. from Trinity Divinity School in Chicago. Through writing, blogging, speaking, conversation and friendship Jim offers a unique voice in dialogue about knowing God and spirituality. Jim enjoys being with his daughter, ultrarunning, eating pizza, and has a dog named Jack. You can find Jim at divinenobodies.com, Twitter, and Facebook.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Being Jesus? May 3, 2012

By William Colburn

Format:Paperback

Let's cut to the chase. Jim Palmer is in trouble. Trouble beyond divorce, two near death accidents, bankruptcy, and being rejected by his publisher. Palmer is in trouble just being Palmer, er...'being Jesus'.

Jim speaks openly and honestly about his life. In this book he invites us into the web of his life - into both the joys and the agonies. The stories are captivating. His pain palpable. What he learns through each incident is aggravatingly provocative. Some will resonate. Others will, of course, conclude that Jim has totally slipped off the proverbial slippery slope - the one he's been flirting with for many years. Yet, Jim Palmer just keeps on moving ahead, evolving.

Would you have developed similar insights having endured the same trials and tribulations? Can you, at least, understand why he sees life as he currently does? Could you have survived as many losses? Actually, none of those questions capture the point of his book. For me, the salient truth is in the question, 'would I be willing to pursue truth wherever it led me, regardless of the results?' Where might Jesus lead me if I truly took the time to directly ask Him? That would be 'the way of Palmer'.

'Being Jesus means...' is the launching pad for each chapter. This is a measurably different approach from asking, 'what would Jesus do?' and settling for the usual institutional Christian answers. Jim, wisely, decided to ask Jesus, God, Himself. 'What does it mean to be You, right now...' Isn't that pretty much how Jesus lived each moment? Didn't he claim that he didn't say or do anything except as the Father gave him direction? Wouldn't we, in one sense, 'be' Jesus if we invited Him to speak and act through us? Huh? Not so novel, right? Yet, so decidedly not orthodox.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Former WWCG member gives this book all five stars... June 4, 2012

By Michael K Hamilton

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I finished reading this book the other night and WOW! What I mean by wow is that this book has given to me what I have so desperately needed for some time now. I found myself during and now afterwards at PEACE with the way I have been and am living my life after leaving organized religion. I was in a Christian church for 26 years and left it in 2000. Ever since then it has been an ongoing battle to weed out all of the "legalism" within my life and I found myself constantly feeling guilty because of myself not doing or I should say keeping all of those "church rules", etc. that I was taught was required of us to please GOD.
My spiritual relationship with GOD has always had restrictions placed upon it, by my previous church and myself because of this. I would find myself still trying to "pay GOD back" out of guilt for the blessing of what he has done for me through Jesus even though in that time of my life I had never met Jesus nor understood what he stood for. I always saw Jesus as a type of super-hero with awesome powers that everyone wanted to be like but because of this book I now see Jesus from a different angle, a human angle. I see now that he was just another human being, yes GOD also, but he never performed all of those miracles to show us how much greater he was than we are. He did miracles out of love and compassion towards others.
It is definitely one of the most special books that I have ever read. If you are part of a religious organization and want to read this book you need to be willing to accept change within your religious life and have an open mind to new things or this will not bring any new truths to you. I saw so many friends of mine, when my previous church came into the new covenant and left the old behind, refuse to accept change, didn't like their boat being rocked, was just fine with their rules and laws to keep and that the new covenant was just too broad for them with not a list of requirements for them to have to keep in order to be saved. They totally missed the point or just plain didn't get it because of not wanting to accept something new as possibly being correct. Just please prove this book to yourself and don't allow someone else to make this decision for you...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Wait May 8, 2012

By Randall D. Surls

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a must read for anyone that is serious about living like Jesus. This book could not have come at a better time on my journey for truth. After deconstructing my faith with the help of Divine Nobodies and Wide Open Spaces I struggled with the question now what? This question is answered head on through stories and word pictures. Once I began to read I could not put this book down. Jim writes from his gut, honest and raw, causing the reader to be fully engaged. Buy this book, you will not be disappointed, but you will be changed.