The Other Jesus: An Overview

April 05, 2011 by Westminster John Knox Press Publishers

According to recent surveys, many Americans associate the label "Christian" with judgmental attitudes, hypocrisy, fear of hell, and a commitment to right-wing politics. In The Other Jesus: Rejecting a Religion of Fear for the God of Love, author Greg Garrett suggests another way, arguing that a faith that focuses solely on personal morality and the afterlife misses much of the point of Jesus' message. This other way of following Christ is not concerned with an array of commandments or with holding the "right" beliefs. Rather it is centered on loving each other and loving God, or as Garrett puts it, "love, where the rubber meets the road, where faith meets the world."

Personal and moving, the book relates the author's experience of growing up in—and leaving—a disapproving conservative church and then finding his way back into a different kind of Christian community, which is communal, missional, just, and loving. Garrett draws on popular culture to illustrate his spiritual points, showing how authentic Christian truth can be found in unlikely places.

About the Author

Greg Garrett is the author of the nonfiction books We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2,The Gospel according to Hollywood, The Gospel Reloaded (with Chris Seay), Holy Superheroes, Stories from the Edge: A Theology of Grief; andOne Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter; ofthe critically-acclaimed novels Cycling, Shame, andFree Bird(named by Publishers Weekly and the Denver Rocky Mountain News as one of the best first novels of 2002); and of the memoirs Crossing Myself and No Idea. Greg is also the writer of Mark, Hebrews, 1 and 2 Samuel, Amos, and other books of the Bible for The Voice scripture project; The Voice of Mark and The Voice of Hebrews have been published as stand-alone books.

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