Customer Reviews

Between Noon and Three: Romance, Law, and the Outrage of Grace

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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If you thought you knew about the scandal of God's Grace, then read this book and it will turn it all upside-down (as it should be!) Written and published in three separate parts in the 70s, this book is timeless. Its depth and daring surpass anything I have read in recent memory. Capon deliberately uses the parable of a love affair between two already married people just to push you a bit closer to the edge of discomfort. Actually, I think he pushed me over that edge. This book makes you want to raise your finger and say, "Yeah, but..." - then it silences you because you know that he is laying bare the scandal of God's love and grace, resurrecting us from the death of sin. Not "because of..." or "as long as...." not "only if you...."; there are no conditions, no promises of a changed life, no cost to ourselves and even no choice for us to make. Capon is clear that God's grace is entirely "In Spite Of"; no, perhaps thats too weak because you don't resurrect someone "in spite of death"...you just do it and give them life. God gives life out of Love...sin just doesn't come into play beyond the fact that it brought death in the first place. God just doesn't see it anymore. As Capon says, he only sees, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Wow. There are few books that have made me want to shout to everyone the truth about Grace, the scandal of God's radical Liberation, Resurrection and Love. It is so radical as to be offensive. Yes, this book offends; may I be so offended more often by God's irrational Love for us!

If you thought you knew about the scandal of God's Grace, then read this book and it will turn it all upside-down (as it should be!) Written and published in three separate parts in the 70s, this book is timeless. Its depth and daring surpass anything I have read in recent memory. Capon deliberately uses the parable of a love affair between two already married people just to push you a bit closer to the edge of discomfort. Actually, I think he pushed me over that edge. This book makes you want to raise your finger and say, "Yeah, but..." - then it silences you because you know that he is laying bare the scandal of God's love and grace, resurrecting us from the death of sin. Not "because of..." or "as long as...." not "only if you...."; there are no conditions, no promises of a changed life, no cost to ourselves and even no choice for us to make. Capon is clear that God's grace is entirely "In Spite Of"; no, perhaps thats too weak because you don't resurrect someone "in spite of death"...you just do it and give them life. God gives life out of Love...sin just doesn't come into play beyond the fact that it brought death in the first place. God just doesn't see it anymore. As Capon says, he only sees, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus." Wow. There are few books that have made me want to shout to everyone the truth about Grace, the scandal of God's radical Liberation, Resurrection and Love. It is so radical as to be offensive. Yes, this book offends; may I be so offended more often by God's irrational Love for us!

Capon continues to tantalise, entice and stimulate with this revised edition of Between Noon and Three. Capon captures the incredibly lavish Grace of God through a combination of wit, exegesis, and a carefully crafted story. This book is a real shock to the "grace-fearing spoilsport in every one of us". Capon confronts the menacing ugliness of legalism and drags it screaming into the light of the lavish Grace and Love of God. Capon expounds the Grace of God in such a way that one can't help salivating at the beauty of God made complete in his glorious Son. Throughout the novel one is continuously shouting AMEN (I Love you) to the Father who so loves his children that he does not give grace so that they will feel "much obliged" but rather extends totally free, unconditional, absolutely radical, all encompassing Grace. This is the grace for Dead people, and as Capon eloquently describes: all that is required of a dead body is to stink. I Love my God who makes the little, least, lost, last, losers and the DEAD - ALIVE! FREE and all this is GRATIS!

We have clear conceptions of important abstractions that we have heard named, but not defined, since we were children. We live with misconceptions born while we wait to understand when we are able. Unfortunately, these images take on a life of their own, and crowd out any possibility of there ever being any real understanding.

Grace is one of those concepts. We hear the word repeated in sermon and song, we use it ourselves in characature. The image of what we think Grace is limits our access to its reality in our lives.

Enter this annoying book. Capon twists and tweaks and disturbs our sense of what is right and wrong. OUR sense.
Only when the shocking first section is trumped by the final section do we realize what is happening to us. Even though he warns us repeatedly along the way, and taunts us into dialogue.

I admit the central section merely annoyed me without enlightening me ... yet. Maybe I will get it later. Sacred adultary, a mafia hit, and a coffee hour give-and-take seem unlikely parables to expain Grace. It works. With style and grace. Anyone who has tried to live a life of faith honestly in the midst of the contradictions of life will feel this book resonate within their soul.

No wonder it is subtitled "Romance, Law, and the OUTRAGE of Grace."

This was my first Capon book and it made me fall in love with his writing and the way he uses stories and dialogue to expound the meaning of grace.

I think almost all of his books are on grace and that's because he has been captivated by the grace of God.

This novel, like most of his other books, may not be that simple a read but once you get what he's getting at, then you start to stand in awe of the amazingness of God's grace.

Capon is pretty lutheran in his view on law and gospel and it shows clearly in his books.

This particular novel is interesting in the way he tries to convey God's grace to us. It's about two people who are married but carries on with an affair together. This story is meant to outrage us, but Capon uses this storyline to show us that God's grace is like that. Despite the sins we do, He still loves us and accepts us in Christ.

Has Capon gone a bit far in illustrating grace to us? Well, i don't know. All i can say is that he's at least half right! A good book to read and ponder about God's grace

I borrowed this book from the library, and after I read it, I knew I had to buy it. There were so many rich illustrations which made plain how caught we are in legalism, and how wild and wonderful the grace of God truly is. This is a book that I have read twice, and will need to read again and again just to remind myself how small I really am, how my smallness doesn't even matter, and how big God's grace is.

Some may find the allegory comparing God's grace to an illicit love affair too much to take. A few stalwarts may take offense, but it helps jolt the reader out of the typical Christian mindset. Capon intentionally sets out to offend us because grace offends us. Although we want mercy for ourselves, we are quick to require justice to the n-th degree for anyone else who screws up, and especially those screw-ups that have affected us.

This book is not a light read, especially the chapter which uses English like the KJV (only worse) and plays upon the works of John Donne. The rest of the book is sprinkled with humor and insight, so any trudging through the heavier parts is worth the effort.

This book is shocking with its description of God's grace. After reading it once, i wanted to immediately read it again to look for the many subtle nuances and meaningful truths.

This was the first book I read by Robert Capon. It literally changed my life. With a pleasant and readable style Capon sets out the folly of a judgmental, intolerant, and self condemning Christian theology. He then wonderfully and masterfully details the more appropriate and legitimate truth of Christ's life and teaching.

Challenging the reader to refute the language and theology of judgment and accept the "outrage of Grace", this book brings fresh light on theology and the scriptures. This is a must read for any serious Christian . . .

This was my first Capon book and it made me fall in love with his writing and the way he uses stories and dialogue to expound the meaning of grace.

I think almost all of his books are on grace and that's because he has been captivated by the grace of God.

This novel, like most of his other books, may not be that simple a read but once you get what he's getting at, then you start to stand in awe of the amazingness of God's grace.

Capon is pretty lutheran in his view on law and gospel and it shows clearly in his books.

This particular novel is interesting in the way he tries to convey God's grace to us. It's about two people who are married but carries on with an affair together. This story is meant to outrage us, but Capon uses this storyline to show us that God's grace is like that. Despite the sins we do, He still loves us and accepts us in Christ.

Has Capon gone a bit far in illustrating grace to us? Well, i don't know. All i can say is that he's at least half right! A good book to read and ponder about God's grace

This is required reading for anyone who wants to get closer to the mystery of God. Because He's a mystery none of us will ever get there this side of heaven, but Capon brings you incredibly close in understanding a God's-eye view of how He sees us. You will not hear a Christian voice more bold and authentic than Capon. He's not afraid to offend or to be off-putting, but he's never doing it for its own sake, either. The best part about this book is that Capon tells you he's deliberately working on manifesting the insane, even, as he puts it, immoral, grace of God to the exclusion of expounding on what is an "appropriate" and "proper" response to God's grace. He says he does this because he suspects the lot of us of being closet moralists, and he is right. He says the other side of the street gets worked often enough, that being the side that tells us how to live straight and fly right, so he's going to spend an inordinate amount of time working the grace side of the street. And he's right to do it. And we all need it. It is basically impossible not to slip into a moralistic worldview unless you are constantly drenching yourself in the reality of God's grace for you and for the world. It's a great book to soak in, one that merits many happy returns.