Gracious Christianity: Living the Love We Profess

The gospel, or good news, of Christianity is a gracious one - yet many believe otherwise. Jacobsen and Sawatsky offer a brief but comprehensive overview of Christian theology, while trying to persuade believers about the importance of relationship and community. "Graciousness does not preclude debate," they write. "What graciousness requires is respect for the other person and a genuine willingness to listen to what the other person is saying." A thoughtful book for those who truly want to model Christian love.

At last, here is a book for those of us who love C. S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity" and wish Lewis was around to update his classic. My bet is that Lewis would write differently about some things now - especially his views about women - but his main points would stay the same. That's what this book is about - the main story of Christianity, unchanging through the ages and not political. While the book covers many of the same theological topics as Mere Christianity, it uses language and examples that make sense to contemporary readers. All thoughtful Christians would benefit from reading this book - my guess is that even teenagers would like it. Without dumbing things down, the authors simply and powerfully describe basic Christian doctrine on everything from creation to salvation to judgment day. There are questions for discussion scattered throughout the chapters (and more on the book's website), and I'm planning to give copies of the book to some friends so we can hash out what we think. There is so much good stuff here that some chapters should have been longer, but then again the book's strength is that it is short and is easy to read.

Concise and clear, this book explains all the foundational beliefs of Christianity in a way that would be okay with my Catholic friends as well as my fellow Protestants. It is an amazingly balanced and helpful introduction to the basics of Christianity. As far as I can tell, there really is no hidden agenda. I've looked for a long time for a simple book that explains historic Christian beliefs, and this is undoubtedly the best I've found. I'm going to recommend it for the adult Sunday School class at my church, and I wish the high school class would use it too. So many of them know next to nothing about what their church stands for... Reading this book would provide a helpful education for any Christian!