Sacrilege (Shapevine)

Hugh Halter

Description

It is safe to say most Christians do not live like Jesus did, have the same influence on people he had, or draw even the slightest curiosity from the on-looking world. Jesus's ability to woo people to him and win their hearts was directly related to how he challenged their assumptions about religion. He not only gave them a unique, personal way to follow him but also showed them how to participate with him in his mission.Sacrilege helps readers rethink what it really means to become like Jesus. It exposes the patterns of thinking that have held the church hostage for years and inspires readers to rethink the way they understand Scripture, family, spiritual formation, conversion, church, sin, and more.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441237460
• Langue: English

Extrait

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© 2011 by Hugh Halter
Published by Baker Books
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3746-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled AMP are from the Amplified® Bible, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled Message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NCV are from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible , New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Any internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided only as a resource; Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
“ Sacrilege is a refreshing book for those of us who want to know Jesus and who want to make Jesus known. Hugh Halter lives this out himself, and in this book he shares with us how to remove the barriers of religion and let people meet Jesus in us. Sacrilege is a handbook for living more than a missional life, but a truly incarnational life. I recommend this book for every Christ follower.”
—Dave Ferguson, lead pastor, Community Christian Church; spiritual entrepreneur, NewThing
“I can’t say anything as clever or thought-provoking as this book that I’m trying to endorse. All I can say is that Hugh, in his fabulously engaging way, accomplishes the release of Christian theology from its church-centric focus back onto the streets—where it got its start and where it belongs. It’s like opening a window in a musty room to let in some fresh air.”
—Reggie McNeal, missional leadership specialist, The Leadership Network
“Hugh Halter has written a carefully constructed theological Molotov cocktail, which explodes false myths while it fires up the Christian imagination for truth, beauty, and goodness.”
—Leonard Sweet, bestselling author and professor at Drew University and George Fox University
“This book is Hugh Halter the man: irreligious, forthright, honest, fun, insightful, creative, adventurous, and compassionate. And so it is an insightful, practical, missional guide to the sacrilegious life of those who want to follow Jesus in the way he wants to be followed—sacrilegiously.”
—from the foreword by Alan Hirsch, author of various books including Untamed ; Right Here, Right Now ; and The Faith of Leap
“I know Hugh Halter. He is a nonconformist, a dissenter, an iconoclast, and a rabble-rouser. He’s also a deeply compassionate man who has opened his home, his life, and his heart to the lost, the lonely, the disillusioned, and the infuriated. Here is a book about the sacrilegious Jesus written by a humble man who knows him, really knows him, and who has sought to emulate his work in our broken world. He must be listened to.”
—Michael Frost, author or coauthor of ReJesus , The Faith of Leap , and The Road to Missional
“I love Hugh Halter’s sense of adventure and living in the moment. That is exactly what Sacrilege is about—living in the moment, following Jesus, letting our relationship with Jesus push the boundaries out. Hugh is not an ivory tower writer but a trekker out on the range who goes from descending into the hot, sweaty, dense jungle to climbing high in the dry cold to summit mountains. It’s time to shake up our notions about what a disciple is and what it really means to follow Jesus. Hugh is one of the few who does just that.”
—Bob Roberts, pastor and author of Transformation and Glocalization
“Yet again, Hugh tips the sacred cows that need tipping and ruffles the feathers that need ruffling. This isn’t done through hyperbole or distortion but through a genuine examination of Jesus’s life. Some will decide this is a controversial book, but in fact, Jesus was a controversial Savior. This is simply an honest retelling of Jesus’s unruly story with a simple call to be like him in a world where most prefer their cows untipped and their feathers unruffled.”
—Jen Hatmaker , speaker and author of nine books, including Interrupted and Seven
“Every once in a while someone comes along who seems to speak your personal language. They give words to things you have struggled to articulate yourself. My friend Hugh Halter is one of those people, and Sacrilege is one of those books that makes you want to read one more chapter though the clock says it’s time to go to bed. If you think you have heard all that Hugh has to say to the body of Christ, you are wrong. This is another gutsy and entertaining book by a genuine Jesus guy.”
—Lance Ford, coauthor of Right Here, Right Now
“Halter’s done it with Sacrilege . He’s somehow managed to write a book that brings everything into alignment for those who are trying to follow Jesus without all the mess. This riveting book will give you a fresh vision for your life and the world.”
—Carl Medearis, author of Muslims, Christians, and Jesus ; Tea with Hezbollah ; and Speaking of Jesus
“In Sacrilege , Hugh Halter attacks our spiritual sensibilities with a jarringly honest appraisal of the church. He also (to use even more street slang) ‘takes us to church’—specifically the church Jesus would attend. Halter is a missional apostle cut out of the same cloth as Saint Patrick. He is wild about Jesus, bullish about outsiders, and, despite numerous misgivings, still willing to stay connected with the church. Given Hugh’s low expectations (he only needs to convince three of us in order to feel successful), he only needs two more of you to sign up.”
—Jim Henderson, author of Jim and Casper Go to Church and coauthor of The Outsider Interviews
“Every generation God compels a handful of courageous leaders—prophets—to call the church back to its Jesus movement essence. Hugh Halter is such a leader. In Sacrilege , Hugh compels the church to ask a very dangerous question behind everything it does: ‘Why?’ For the sake of Christ and all those he lived and died and lived again to save, I dare you to step into that space, read the book, and do as God and his Scriptures lead—nothing more, nothing less.”
—Jim Mellado, Willow Creek Association
“Raise a glass! Here’s to shaking away any and all ‘religion’ and setting Jesus free to be who he is, the One who loves and pursues us relentlessly! Finally a book that speaks to the radical and countercultural way of Jesus in a way that is true, honest, and compelling to my friends who have given up on faith and to my friends who are desperate to find it.”
— Brad Corrigan , member of the band Dispatch
To Alli and McKenna,
that you may find the Jesus I found
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Endorsements
Dedication
About the Shapevine Missional Series
Series Editor’s Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction : A Tiny Portal into a New Jesus
1. Sacrilegious Jesus
Breaking Images for the First and Last Time
2. Why Jesus Doesn’t Want Any More Followers
From Disciple to Apprentice
3. Interlude into a New World
Seeing Jesus in 3-D
4. Open Your Mind, Enter the Kingdom
Becoming an Unbiased Learner
5. The Problem with Family Values
Why Jesus Will Ask You to Open Your Home
6. The Art of Subtle Wooing
Winning the World through Meekness
7. God on the Go
Spiritual Formation between the Rubber and the Road
8. Sin in the Periphery
Leaving Judgmentalism in the Rearview Mirror
9. Jesus on a John Deere
Bulldozing Boundaries to Daddy’s Dinner
10. Bringing Heaven to Earth
The No-Spin Zone for the Sabbath and Sabbath Giving
11. Of Xboxes and Burning Bushes
Rediscovering the Church Jesus Wants to Build
12. Parting Shots from a Sacrilegious Mentor
It’s Time to Make a Decision
Appendix : A Brief History of Communion
Notes
About the Author
The Shapevine Missional Series
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About the Shapevine Missional Series
T he key purpose of Shapevine the organization is to bring the various elements of missional Christianity namely, church planting movements, urban mission, the emerging church, the missional church movement, the organic/simple church, and marketplace ministries into meaningful dialogue around the truly big ideas of our time. Consistent with this purpose, the Shapevine Missional Series in partnership with Baker Books seeks to bring innovative thinking to the missional issues of church planting, mission, evangelism, social justice, and anything in between.
We seek to publish both established authors as well as others who have significant things to contribute but have operated largely under the radar.
The series will focus on three distinctive areas: Living Prac