My copy of Jared Wilson's book, Your Jesus is Too Safe arrived in the post late last week. It's near the top of my list of books to read. Being a fan of Jared's blog (he was #3 in my Top 13.5 list of 2008 bloggers), I expect it to be a good book. Michael Spencer's review confirms that expectation;
What millions of evangelicals need is a solid, Biblical, interesting, well-written, compelling, intense and thoroughly balanced revisioning of the Christian faith with Jesus at the center. I thoroughly recommend Jared Wilson’s Your Jesus is Too Safe as the popular level, highly readable re-introduction to Jesus you’ve been looking for, or should have been looking for, all along.
What Jared has produced is a mini-Biblical theology, shaped around the major assertions about Jesus, and using an outstanding mastery of contemporary prose/preaching to take us thematically into the Bible in a quest to discover and appreciate every aspect of Jesus. There is much more to learn in this book than the cover and title would suggest. This isn’t a scholarly book, but it reflects deep, intensive, challenging sermons and teaching. This is real meat, but served up with all the right kinds of seasoning to make you remember this meal long after you’ve forgotten others.
A perfect book for a study of Jesus in any church or small group. A really amazing intro to Jesus that draws from scholarly sources like Wright and Ladd, but makes them accessible and fresh to anyone with an interest in Jesus. Not a wasted page, I assure you. Great preaching. Compelling retelling of the Biblical stories. Forceful application that applies to the sad state of evangelicalism today. [emphasis added]
Buy Jared's book. In fact, buy a few copies and give them to your friends. That will help compensate Jared for my free copy. And Michael's, too. :-) But I would buy it... if I had to. And I probably will, as my books tend to go walkabout.
