ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church (Paperback)

by Michael Frost (Author), Alan Hirsch (Author)
Key Phrases: existential monotheism, radical traditionalism, Missional Jesus, New Testament, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
For anyone in the missional conversation in even the slightest way, this book addresses what is by far the most important thing about it theologically and practically. -- Dan Kimball, pastor and author, They Like Jesus but Not the Church

Review
Frost and Hirsch tear away false characterizations about Jesus and reveal a wild and radical revolutionary . . . anything but boring. This book is a huge leap in the right direction.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (December 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598562282
• ISBN-13: 978-1598562286
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,255 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #70 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Jesus > Christology
  #76 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Evangelism > Missions & Missionary Work

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I needed to read this, December 14, 2008

By	Drew Sams (Westlake Village, CA) - See all my reviews

Amidst all the latest fads and "movements" within contemporary Christianity in the West, Frost and Hirsch's "ReJesus" is a clarion call to recalibrate our lives to the one that gathered us together and sent us out in the first place - Jesus.

In their own words, "this book is dedicated to the recovery of the absolute centrality of the person of Jesus in defining who we are as well as what we do."

What I appreciate so much about these two authors is that it is clear that the motivation behind their penetrating and sometimes uncomfortable critique of pop-Christianity is stemmed in their deep love for the Church. While this book has a rich bibliography from such theologians as N.T. Wright, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jaqcues Ellul, and Jurgan Moltmann...both Frost and Hirsch have chosen to step out of the ivory tower of academia and into the streets of everyday existence as they paint a vivid picture of what it means for someone's entire life to be re-focused, re-calibrated, and re-centered on Jesus.

While Frost and Hirsch are both excellent writers and engaging to read, I found this book reading me even after I set it down...it really got deep inside of me.

If you are interested in going beyond a mere admiration of Jesus to a pervasive imitation of Jesus in every area of your life - this book is for you.

As a pastor, but more importantly as a follower of Jesus Christ, this book couldn't have come to me at a more pivotal time. When I first became a follower of Jesus 8 years ago, a friend and mentor reminded me to never forget my first love - Jesus.. Over the years, however, my first love has been smothered by the trappings of comfort, success, and maintaining the status quo. I have devoured books on how to be a better pastor, a better leader, and a better Christian through the latest trends and fads...

This book, however, is unlike those. As the authors of "ReJesus" say, "it is time to recalibrate the church around the person of Jesus rather than around marketing ploys developed for a shallow consumeristic age."

Thanks to both Frost and Hirsch for helping me remember my first love and providing a re-invitation to follow Jesus in every area of my life.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read for those trying to live in the ways of Jesus, January 13, 2009

By	Philip Cunningham "Philter" (Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This morning I finished reading ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. To start with, I want to thank Hendrickson Publishers for sending me a copy of this book. It was very kind of you and I pray the best for you and your business.

I figure the best way to do book reviews is to write excerpts from the book that stood out to me. I am not sure what you the reader likes to read, so I will just put parts of this book that I like to read and that caused me to think. The following are excerpts from ReJesus that I hope inspire you to move and to order this book.

"How can we call ourselves Christian unless what we are doing is built squarely on the rock of Jesus and takes it's direct agenda (and direct cues for its organizations and lifestyle) from him." Pg. 65

"Observers should be able to encounter Jesus in and though the life and community of his followers. People observing us aught to be able to discern the elements of Jesus' ways in out ways. If they cannot find authentic signals of the historical Jesus through the life of his people, then as far as we are concerned they have the full right to question out legitimacy." Pg. 79

"Jesus reveals God to us. God does not reveal Jesus to us. We cannot deduce anything about jesus from what we think w know about God; we must deduce everything about Godfrom what we know about Jesus." Pg. 132

"We need to pickle ourselves in the gospels. They must become out primary stories and reference point. There is no truer way to encounter Jesus afresh than prayerfully cycling through the Gospels and asking God to give us fresh insight into the remarkable person we find there. We must give our hearts, minds, souls, to the one around whom history turns." Pg. 162

"To be sure, we do not like gatherings (speaking of church services), of strangers who never meet or know each other outside of Sundays, who sit passively while virtual strangers preach and lead singing, who put up with second rate pseudo-community under the guise of connection with each other, who live different lives from Monday to Saturday than they do on Sunday, whose sole expression of worship is pop-style praise and worship, who rarely laugh together, fight injustice together, eat together, pray together, raise each others Children together, serve the poor together, or share Jesus with those who have not been set free." Pg. 172-173

As you can see, this book is about ReJesusing the church of Christ. It is a challenging look at how we are living out our faith in Jesus in our daily lives. I really liked this book. It is a bit technical, but it will carry you and open your eyes to the Church that Jesus prayed for and died for. I hope you enjoy.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Wrong Subtitle, February 3, 2009

By	Jeremy D. Myers (Otisville, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Like everything by Frost and Hirsch, this is a great book, and well worth reading. However, I didn't give it five stars for one tiny reason - the subtitle was misleading.

Maybe it's just me, but the subtitle of the book "A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church" led me to believe that the book would show the wild side of Jesus in the Gospels, and how we, as followers of Jesus, can live more like Him in our world.

The book did a great job explaining why we should study the gospels and learn to live like Jesus, but didn't do a great job explaining how Jesus was wild, or how we could study the gospels to discover the wild Jesus.

Glimpes of the wild Jesus did come through. On pages 109-110, for example, they retold the story of Jesus confronting the demoniac near Gadara. It got my blood racing as I realized how wild Jesus really was in that situation! This is what I thought the book was going to contain.

Once I realized what the book was really about, I really enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it. The message it contains is sorely needed in Christianity today.

And who knows? Maybe Frost and Hirsch will come out with another volume entitled "ReJesus: reReading the Gospels for a Missional Church."