When Michael Card first started attending an African American church, he was struck by how the congregation worshiped Jesus as "Master." He soon learned that during slavery, calling Jesus "Master" was a subtle way of saying that their earthly masters were not their true Master. This insight led Card on a journey of discovery, as he wondered, "What did it mean for African American slaves to acknowledge Jesus as Master? What did Paul, Peter, Jude and James mean when they acknowledged themselves as Christ's slaves? What would it mean for you and me to take upon ourselves the title 'slave of Christ'?" A Better Freedom explores the biblical imagery of slavery as a metaphor for Christian discipleship. Michael Card shows how the early church saw Greco-Roman slavery as a window into understanding Jesus both as the Savior who took on the form of a slave, but also the true Lord and Master who sets us free from our own slavery to sin. Come, let yourself be captured by the Master. And discover how you can be truly set free.
A Better Freedom: Finding Life as Slaves of Christ
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"When I read any book by Michael Card, I know the ideas have been thoroughly wrested, personally, academically, biblically and poetically from every source. Like many of the contextual references in the Bible, slavery can be difficult for me to understand as having anything to do with my Christianity. But for Paul it was the metaphor of choice to describe his new freedom. A Better Freedom explores this kingdom mystery of what it means to be truly free." (Sara Groves, singer/songwriter )
"I am thrilled that Michael Card has taken on the challenge of writing about the slave-master relationship as it relates to us (Christians) as slaves and Christ our Master. Historically from the African American perspective, being slaves has had a negative connotation. Michael's book deals with that, but at the same time points us to a biblical reality: if we saw ourselves as slaves to Christ our Master, how much more we could do as members of his body! What a wonderful body of Christ we would be if each of us saw Christ as our Master. It is time to trade in our old paradigms and accept the wonderful reality that we are all slaves to Christ and he is our Master! All those who read Michael's book will be challenged to rethink who we are in Christ!" (Dr. Dolphus Weary, president, R.E.A.L. Christian Foundation; president emeritus, Mission Mississippi; former president, The Mendenhall Ministries; and author of I Ain't Comin' Back )
"This is an unusual, rigorous but conversational Bible study tuned to a vivid presentation of Roman and African American slavery. Its storybook character, under Michael Card's genial historical insight and gentle spirit, issues a compelling picture of our calling to be faithful slaves today of the merciful Master, Jesus Christ." (Calvin Seerveld, emeritus, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto )
"This is Mike Card at his best. Through his prophetic voice as an artist he has once again done a great service. In a world filled with confining, imprisoning self-indulgence, Card recaptures and challenges us to hear the biblical word for servant as it should be. To be a servant is to be Christ's slave. It is simple and complex--easy to say, profound to follow. It, the gospel, is a better freedom." (Rev. Scott Roley, senior pastor, Christ Community Church, Franklin, Tennessee, coauthor, God's Neighborhood )
"Michael's impression on my life came early and has lasted long. I commend his words, faith, joy and wisdom." (Max Lucado, pastor and bestselling author )
"Michael Card is both a wonderful artist and a serious scholar. Such a marriage of two souls with one pen in his delicate but honest hand is glorious. Every sentence in A Better Freedom is a learning experience and an act of worship. At the end of every paragraph one runs into an altar and a gallery. Christ is both honored and reverenced. I read and reflected, I contemplated my own freedom, and realized that only when I pursue spiritual submission do I secure my place in God's affirmation. 'Well done, thou good and perfect slave' is the sign posted above the shortest way to glory." (Calvin Miller, Beeson Divinity School, author of The Singer and The Path of Celtic Prayer )
"I am thrilled that Michael Card has taken on the challenge of writing about the slave-master relationship as it relates to us (Christians) as slaves and Christ our Master. Historically from the African American perspective, being slaves has had a negative connotation. Michael's book deals with that, but at the same time points us to a biblical reality: if we saw ourselves as slaves to Christ our Master, how much more we could do as members of his body! What a wonderful body of Christ we would be if each of us saw Christ as our Master. It is time to trade in our old paradigms and accept the wonderful reality that we are all slaves to Christ and he is our Master! All those who read Michael's book will be challenged to rethink who we are in Christ!" (Dr. Dolphus Weary, president, R.E.A.L. Christian Foundation; president emeritus, Mission Mississippi; former president, The Mendenhall Ministries; and author of I Ain't Comin' Back )
"This is an unusual, rigorous but conversational Bible study tuned to a vivid presentation of Roman and African American slavery. Its storybook character, under Michael Card's genial historical insight and gentle spirit, issues a compelling picture of our calling to be faithful slaves today of the merciful Master, Jesus Christ." (Calvin Seerveld, emeritus, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto )
"This is Mike Card at his best. Through his prophetic voice as an artist he has once again done a great service. In a world filled with confining, imprisoning self-indulgence, Card recaptures and challenges us to hear the biblical word for servant as it should be. To be a servant is to be Christ's slave. It is simple and complex--easy to say, profound to follow. It, the gospel, is a better freedom." (Rev. Scott Roley, senior pastor, Christ Community Church, Franklin, Tennessee, coauthor, God's Neighborhood )
"Michael's impression on my life came early and has lasted long. I commend his words, faith, joy and wisdom." (Max Lucado, pastor and bestselling author )
"Michael Card is both a wonderful artist and a serious scholar. Such a marriage of two souls with one pen in his delicate but honest hand is glorious. Every sentence in A Better Freedom is a learning experience and an act of worship. At the end of every paragraph one runs into an altar and a gallery. Christ is both honored and reverenced. I read and reflected, I contemplated my own freedom, and realized that only when I pursue spiritual submission do I secure my place in God's affirmation. 'Well done, thou good and perfect slave' is the sign posted above the shortest way to glory." (Calvin Miller, Beeson Divinity School, author of The Singer and The Path of Celtic Prayer )
Review
"Michael's impression on my life came early and has lasted long. I commend his words, faith, joy and wisdom."
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Epiphany,
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This review is from: A Better Freedom: Finding Life as Slaves of Christ (Paperback)
Once every few years a book comes along that questions everything we know about ourselves, God, reality, work and life. When we read these books we are confronted with the heady elixir of unchartered territory and the sweet familiarity that this rings true.
Michael Card's new book 'A Better Freedom' is truly Biblical orthodoxy, and is empirically verifiable in our lives. There is little that we could question in this volume, but it stirs the pot and gives us a breadth of perspective that either provokes old defenses to action or lays our contentions to rest. For me this has been the latest in a series of epiphanies that have confronted old dragons and slayed them with the Truth. The marvelous aspect of this has been that the words of this book appeal not only to my desire for Biblical, logical, linguistic and historical accuracy, but it blunts the non-arguments that the 'St Paul versus Jesus' school of thought has been putting forward. In contemporary American experience, prejudice is a dark, sinister motif to be avoided at all costs. When we hear about Michelle Obama's ancestry which includes a great great grandmother who was a former slave girl (even in her childhood) and gave birth to a mixed race boy, we cringe- rightly so- but we heave a sigh of relief and self-congratulation that it is the progeny of this former slave that now graces the White House as First Lady. Yes- that is indeed beautiful and we need to feel the pride of the moment. But the Bible's references to slavery often ring against our ears and hearts with annoying vagueness. Paul in his writings has pieces of advice for both slaves and masters, but we do not see a William Wilberforce in Paul rousing slaves to action against their masters, Christian or not- and we feel the irony. Didn't Christ come to set us free from the yoke of all bondage? Michael Card's look at slavery is instantly sensitive and affirming of Jesus' call for us to be slaves of righteousness or slaves of Christ. His insistence that those of us who are in situations of slavery are indeed in a dark place but those who are not owned by Christ are in worse slavery is a transforming truth. This theme resonates through his illustrations of Christ's parables, over 60 percent of which have to do with the theme of slavehood, often translated "servant-hood" in English versions. It brings up people who identified themselves as slaves- Paul, Mary ("handmaiden" in the KJV actually makes the word milder than it should be), Stephen, John and others who also exemplified with their lives what it meant to be owned. He also illustrates through Jesus' life and specific actions that our Lord himself considered his life as a slave's life. He, the Master, came as a slave and died a slave's death, served us so that we who are in bondage might be freed to become his slaves. The Master becomes the slave to be the Master. The slaves die to be free to be slaves to the Master. What struck me most was the parable of the prodigal son which Card talks about. Perhaps this should be called the parable of the Legalistic Son, as it is as much about the 'good son' as it is about the prodigal. Consider the setting. Jesus is talking to a motley group of sinners and lawyers. He tells three parables- the parable of the sheep that was lost and is found, the parable of the woman who searched for and found the lost silver coin, and finally the parable in question- that order. The first two end with a feast, a celebration because the lost has now been found. The final parable ends with a celebration to which the 'good son' is invited, but we are left with the father's invitation and no answer from the son. There is no closure. The explanation is clear enough. Card says, with Jesus nothing is as it seems. While the prodigal speaks to the wretch that was lost and now is found, the good son is the archetype of the Pharisees and lawyers who are invited and need to respond to Jesus' call. The prodigal prepares a lame speech that he will deliver to his dad on returning home, but he never gets a chance to say it all. He says, "'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." But he also wanted to say, "make me like one of your hired men." He never gets the chance because the father showers him with kisses, covers him with the best robe, puts a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. He then throws a big party- and as Card points out parables with this extravagant celebration and kindness (and there are several that Jesus told) are clear indications of our Father's attitude towards repentant sinners. The prodigal hoped to be a slave to the father, but he becomes as a prince. The 'good son' says, "All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends." Card asks us, Who was the slave between the brothers? Those who would be slaves in humility and brokenness find that true freedom comes from slavery to Christ. Those that think they are free are in reality slaves. The reason why I give this book four stars instead of five is my preference for taxonomy of concepts, neatly organized into two or three related "parent ideas" breaking down clearly into "child ideas" that solidifies into a coherent, cohesive concept. Card's writing is very personal- and this is a good thing- but it also means that the ideas come in a stream of consciousness manner. I think others may find this a helpful way to understand the ideas. Just my bent of mind...
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Master Jesus Brings Real Freedom,
This review is from: A Better Freedom: Finding Life as Slaves of Christ (Paperback)
Michael Card is the thinking man's moderate evangelical as he displays his thought and Christian commitment in his poignant music and now in a new book, "A Better Freedom: Finding Life as slaves of Christ." Singer song-writer Card was discipled in a predominately African-American congregation and it taught him numerous wonderful truths that are not often emphasized in many majority-Caucasian churches. One of the foremost lessons Card embraced was the notion that Jesus Christ is the "Master," since Jesus Redeems Christians, He owns us and is our Master.
In this short but dynamic volume the reader learns: - The background of Old Testament, Greco-Roman, New Testament, and American views/practice of slavery - How the book of Philemon relates to the issue of slavery - How Jesus delivers the believer out of bondage and provides real hope and freedom. Michael Card presents a volume that will help you evaluate and reflect on neglected aspects of the Christian faith within the lens of a moderate evangelical approach. There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies
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