Beatitude: Relearning Jesus through Truth, Contradiction, and a Folded Dollar Bill (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Matthew Turner, Billie Joe, Word of God (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mix together personal stories, scripture from The Message version of the Bible, online conversations and short interviews and you'll have this eclectic take on the Beatitudes. He believes we've lost the magic in our faith (thus the reference to the "folded dollar bill" trick in the title), so he focuses on what this magic might look like in people's lives. Those who evince this magic see Christianity as a journey, rather than a destination, and unstintingly offer undeserved grace, unconditional love and mercy to others. Turner, a contributor to Relevant magazine and author of several books (Provocative Faith; The Christian Culture Survival Guide), cites his sometimes difficult years in a fundamentalist church with maturity and a lack of bitterness. Rather than spending time regretting the legalism, he focuses on the people who showed him the love of Jesus through the way they lived. He's not afraid to expose his own shortcomings; he refers to his own past struggles with porn and recounts being fired from the Christian music magazine CCM. His breezy, warm, conversational style should especially endear him to those under 35. Turner is one of Christianity's fresh voices in the tradition of Rob Bell, Brian McLaren and Donald Miller. (Oct.)
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Product Description

Because the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are so frequently heard or read, they are often taken for granted. But these familiar sayings are the core of Jesus' backward message to the world. In Beatitude, Matthew Paul Turner invites readers to rediscover the wonder and magic of Jesus' message. Through astute and witty reflections, Turner pulls the reader into this "relearning" of the Jesus we thought we knew. Beatitude will leave readers thirsting for their own encounters with God and aware of the impressions they leave behind for others.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Revell; illustrated edition edition (October 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800730933
• ISBN-13: 978-0800730932
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,179,099 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read It - Pass It Along, November 11, 2006

By	Rick Stilwell "Coffee, Books, Mini" (Cayce, SC USA) - See all my reviews

If you only read one sentence, let it be this one: buy this book, read this book, and pass it along.

For those of you who like to read a few paragraphs in before skipping to the next comment, let me tell you what book I'm writing about. Matthew Paul Turner's Beatitude is one of those books that just begs to be read slowly and passed along. In sharing his journey as a Christian growing up in a Christian home, going to Christian schools and Christian camps and having Christian jobs and Christian goals and ambitions - and then also finding something mysterious and profound and meaningfully transforming in the midst of it all - it's the story we want to have, the story we hope begins to make sense for us on the Christian hamster wheel running the Christian race.

Accessible through his anecdotes and insights and overall writing style, Turner lays out things he's learned from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. And what I like about it is that he's sharing the twists, those things that aren't obvious, the other side of the coin, the new perspective that fleshes out the truth. Like in the chapter titled "Salt", where he goes beyond the ideas of salt being a preservative and a flavor enhancement:

"... I've learned too much salt overpowers all the other flavors. It takes over. Sometimes I have a tendency to bring my own version of Jesus into a situation, instead of recognizing he is already there. Consequently, instead of my actions enhancing Jesus, my words end up being too much, and it ends up making a potentially sweet piece of cake gross and bitter to the taste buds of others. / Sadly, too often, I'm guilty of being a spiritual salt lick. On so many occasions, I have worn my faith so obtrusively that, when people see it, the idea of following Jesus is gross and unimaginable." (p. 52)

With all due respect - if you think you don't fit into the paragraph above, it means you really do, that you're the salt lick I'm trying to avoid. And if you see yourself all over that "salt lick" reference, welcome to the club. That's what I like about Turner's writing: it's encouraging to read my thoughts somehow coming out through someone else's words. Another chapter that smacked of "wow, been there, lived that" is titled "Truth":

"I so wish doubt were a place - like a retreat center where addicts go to find rehab or therapy. It would be great to have a place where, whenever you felt doubtful about Jesus, you could simply check yourself into the facility... / But I found out quickly that doubt isn't a place. Doubt ended up being more like a companion to me. Just one day out of the blue, doubt suddenly popped into my life unannounced." (p. 125)

When Turner talks about doubt, I read about my own doubts that have prodded me to something deeper, something that's somehow more real to me now than before. Much of what's in this book has been lived out in my life, and I recognize it in the lives of friends around me as well. I think that's why I sync'd with this work so quickly - in sharing his story, Matthew's become a distant friend as well, with the shared experience of just living out the Christ-life as Jesus leads and we follow alongside.

So pick up this book - read it - and pass it along. Maybe you'll find someway to finally explain your own struggles and heart-search. Or at least, you'll find someone who's gone along the narrow road a little bit, too - and you can compare notes.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, February 19, 2007

By	Nick Cerda (Suffolk, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As many books as there are out now about real authentic Christian faith I still never grow tired of reading these stories. I think the reason is that I can find myself on every few pages or so and it's nice to know I'm not the only that has gone through these times; in the end there is something good about our trials and our hard journey. Matthew Turner does a good job of expressing his journey from fundamental, legalistic religion to real loving faith, living out the passions of Jesus to love the others with the same love he loved with.

I was originally drawn to this book by it's cover but I'll purchase other books by this author.