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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jesus Brand Spirituality---refreshing & helpful., June 27, 2008
This review is from: Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back (Hardcover)
It seems like just 15 or so years ago, the term "Christian Spirituality" would have been met with some raised eyebrows and perhaps an incredulous stare or two. That Wilson uses three often culturally confusing words in his title: Jesus, Spirituality, & Religion--- is a hint toward the kind of unpacking and clarifying that he does in the pages between the covers of this refreshing and helpful book. Refreshing, because it feels like a breath of fresh air to read a book that takes the corruption of the Jesus brand to task, yet offers gracious understanding for the messiness that it has been these past 2000 or so years since Jesus launched a movement. He says that "Jesus is a presence distinct from the religion that represents him. We are drawn to him (or not) for reasons that deny easy explanation. But being drawn to Jesus doesn't necessarily mean buying the package of faith as defined by those with the biggest bullhorn..."
Wilson writes from the perspective of a self professed non-recovering Jesus Freak from the late 1960's which makes me think that when Ken Wilson says that "Jesus brand spirituality" is the path a pilgrim might take that is earthy, mystical, and curious---I believe him. The believability of his storied life and the storied life of "brand Jesus" as they mingle together with the cultural shifts of the past 30 or so years is refreshing too. In short, it is refreshing to hear a baby boomer admit the difficulties of the American church while at the same time not willing to draw a fresh new bath of water and get a new baby, if I may stretch the metaphor a bit.
Jesus Brand Spirituality is helpful on so many levels but foremost is the helpfulness it will be to my own mother-in-law in sorting out why her postmodern son-in-law wants to pray the daily offices and work for social justice issues while still considering himself (on most days) to be in the evangelical camp. Wilson does a fine job providing an overview of the landscape, noting that American Christianity has formed in the context of four quadrants: liturgical, social justice, evangelical, & renewal. The tug toward the center, where there is a blending and a shaping of us all, is where Wilson sees the movement of God's spirit and the kind of spirituality that Jesus modeled and "branded." Wilson draws from his own experience, the life of his friends and foes, the four quadrants of the spiritual landscape, and the life of Jesus to provide a full picture of what the "identity package" for the Jesus brand really is, humbly noting that this center place where traditions get blended is the place where Jesus gets his religion back, it is "a place we cannot find but is finding us."
Lastly, It seems as though Ken Wilson has been very careful to season his words with the salt of postmodernity---which has brought out the flavor of his thesis ever more so. Ken writes with an understanding of the changes to the epistemological and sociological milleu since he came into the Jesus Movement. And, unlike many who perhaps waded through the same four decades, Wilson has emerged not fighting on the battle-ground for things like "certainty" and "absolutes," but humbled and encouraged that we do in fact see through a glass dimly, in part, and not in full. His friendship with Phyllis Tickle (who writes the foreward) and his pastoral passion are not easy to miss. Not only is this book an explanation of where things are and where they're headed---it's an invitation to jump into the swirling center and get dirty a bit, healing, and getting healed, praying and being prayed for, going some place to find that God is there--- and is there to transform us all.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Bringing clarity, not rigidity, May 30, 2008
This review is from: Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back (Hardcover)
Conservative or liberal, nondenominational or mainline, I think most of us have a sense that the church in North America is in a bit of an identity crisis. And it this point, the jury's still out as to how it will emerge from this time of transition.
Everyone has there opinion as to what the church needs to be and do. In the end, my prayer is that it is books like this one that shape the conversation. For one thing, even as it remains deeply committed to the path of Christ, there's a real spirit of generosity to Wilson's work. He has engaged other Christian traditions, not in attempt to prove where they're wrong, but to learn. And he's learned much.
And, like any good pastor, he demonstrates an ability to present his learning in a way that's accessible and compelling for others. The book in fact enters into heavy duty theological territory. But you hardly know it because of how engagingly and incisively Wilson navigates through it.
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Extraordinary, May 17, 2008
This review is from: Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back (Hardcover)
Just so you know. I think a great deal of this book. I think it's an extraordinary book. I've read it and reread it. And what happens is it grows. It ramifies. It means more each time I read it than the time before. I know God better after reading and rereading this book. I know better what it means to love God each time I read this book.
I underline more stuff each time I read it. I have several colors of ink in there now. I don't know what's important anymore, I have so much ink in there.
Who is God? How do we know him? How can we know her or them? What in the Sam Hill is going on with God? How does God enter in? Where is God? Can I go and visit? What exactly is her address? Do they surf, for example? Is there a surf club I could join?
I don't know about you, but I've got a lot of questions of this kind. The questions I have can fill a book. They can fill twenty good sized books. Shoot. They could fill the world, if I would let them.
When I read Christian literature. And when I talk to people who call themselves Christians. I'm sorry. Often, I get a lot of nothing. Or I get a lot of. Well. Let's just call it refuse.
This book. Jesus Brand Spirituality. Where it takes you is this: The place you always wanted to go when you had questions about God. And about the people of God.
I don't know about you, but the people who call themselves people of God sometimes get on my nerves. They sometimes make me feel like. Well. God doesn't know them and they are hallucinating when they talk about God. I wonder sometimes whether they have actually read the Bible. The New Testament portion of the Bible. The Gospels in particular. Some of them. Or have read God in the world. Where he exists, if we are to believe Jesus. Happy as a clam. Happy as the wind. At large. In the world.
What I get from this book is that this guy has not only read the Bible. He has actually lived in the same house with Jesus. Jesus has lived in a room down the hall. And this guy has had the pleasure and the terror of that. Has had actual meals and conversations with God. Has had his character tested somewhat by that.... Well.... Let's call it an experience, for lack of a better term.
So should you read this book? Oh, I don't know. If you are an angry Christian, this will probably make you angrier. If you are a non-Christian, this might make you curiouser. If you are a confused Christian, this book might help you to find a way forward. Whatever that may possibly mean.
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