Product Description

Jesus came preaching, but the church wound up preaching Jesus. Why does the church insist upon making Jesus the object of its attention rather than heeding his message? Esteemed Harvard minister Peter J. Gomes believes that excessive focus on the Bible and doctrines about Jesus have led the Christian church astray. "What did Jesus preach?" asks Gomes. To recover the transformative power of the gospel—"the good news"—Gomes says we must go beyond the Bible and rediscover how to live out Jesus' original revolutionary message of hope:

"Dietrich Bonhoeffer once warned against cheap grace, and I warn now against cheap hope. Hope is not merely the optimistic view that somehow everything will turn out all right in the end if everyone just does as we do. Hope is the more rugged, the more muscular view that even if things don't turn out all right and aren't all right, we endure through and beyond the times that disappoint or threaten to destroy us."

This gospel is offensive and always overturns the status quo, Gomes tells us. It's not good news for those who wish not to be disturbed, and today our churches resound with shrill speeches of fear and exclusivity or tepid retellings of a health-and-wealth gospel. With his unique blend of eloquence and insight, Gomes invites us to hear anew the radical nature of Jesus' message of hope and change. Using examples from ancient times as well as from modern pop culture, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus shows us why the good news is every bit as relevant today as when it was first preached.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #415531 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Released on: 2007-11-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060000738
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. As minister of Harvard University's Memorial Church, Gomes was a popular preacher well before The Good Book became a bestseller in 1996. Several subsequent books were, or read like, first-rate sermon collections, but this is an incisive original aimed at cautious defenders of conventional wisdom. Asserting that we are meant to go beyond the Bible in order to discover the gospel, Gomes points away from the past toward a future in which promise and fulfillment meet. Meanwhile, we must manage to live in the world as it is—a world steeped in hostility, suffering and injustice. If we take the gospel seriously, then like Jesus we will risk all, and might even lose all. Still, we hang on to a muscular hope that is not mere nostalgia for what never was, but an earnest expectation of what is to be. A born storyteller, Gomes knows how to spin an aphorism: The opposite of fear is not courage but compassion. And indeed his tone is compassionate even when he chides those who fear conflict and change, but especially when he extols God's provision for the healing and care of all his creation, and not simply our little part of it. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
"An incisive original... [Gomes is] a born storyteller." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Review
"An incisive original... [Gomes is] a born storyteller." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

Customer Reviews

Jesus as the ultimate "change agent" ...
"Change agent" is a phrase that we hear a lot in business. On the 2008 Presidential campaign trail, all candidates proclaim their fealty to change. Harvard's Peter Gomes argues persuasively that Jesus was an ardent change agent who rarely - if ever - supported the status quo.

It has been said that the mission of the Christian church and faith is to "Comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." Gomes makes a compelling case that Jesus was the ultimate subversive - in a good sense - but that his aim was to change, force new ways of thinking, include the marginalized and to break some crockery. I would summarize the book's thesis with one quote (p. 240), "When Jesus came preaching, it was to disturb the status quo."

Instead of asking ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" Gomes argues we should reframe the question, asking the tougher query -- "What would Jesus have US do?" The answer is perhaps never going to comfort us but, instead, invariably push us out of our comfort zones.

Among the interesting sideline arguments, Gomes tackles the problems that the modern church has with homosexuality, suggesting that Jesus would have embraced this group and that the church's obsession on the issue is a waste of time, especially when, say, divorce is a bigger problem and threat to family life.

Gomes' thoughtful book is a radical wake-up call for the ministry of church, all churches and individuals who see themselves as followers of Christ. The arguments are clear, articulate, never patronizing. He sprinkles his discussion with real-life examples. The guy can flat-out write and his skill and passion in this book have prompted me to go back and locate his prior writings.

This is a book that will likely "afflict the comfortable"!

the scandalous gospel of jesus
I made a Christmas gift to myself of Dr. Gomes' trilogy: The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart; The Good Life: Truths That Lasts in Troubled Times (?); and The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good About The Good News? In addition I own Sermons and Strength for the Journey. For ANY Christian who is serious about his/her walk, these are the books to read, study and DIGEST. At 72, having been born into the AME faith,converted to Baptist as an adult, and a PK, I have never in all my years known TRUTH as Dr. Gomes speaks it. These readings are to the point, candid, inspiring and NOT for the faint-of-heart!!!

The real good news!
This book is fantastically written, intelligently thought-out, and presented with grace. Gomes truly does have a bead on what Jesus was trying to convey, the truth about loving our neighbors, the truth about dogma and religious doctrine, and the truth about what it means to actually ask, "what would Jesus do?" I have longed for a book that would discuss the teachings of JESUS, and this book is my answer. Thank you, Mr. Gomes, for bringing a light to my part of the world.