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Book Review: Keeping Christianity Weird

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From the Back Cover:

Jesus is different. Go and do likewise.
Many Christians have become comfortable with letting the world mold them instead of being set apart by God. And many churches have traded in their biblical roots for complacent conventionality. But Jesus and the church are anything but conventional. The hallmark of our faith is that it sees the world differently than the world sees itself.

We are called to be eccentric–off center, unique, different—not conformed to the patterns of the world but transformed by the renewing of our minds. By God’s grace, we are not only dissatisfied by sin but also increasingly uncompelled by conventionality.

So resist the allure of acceptability. Get back to the unsafe roots of our faith. Be equipped to surprise the world with the Good News it didn’t even know it was waiting for. Challenge the way things are by living a life that has been truly set free by Christ.

My Review:

This book was hard for me to get into but I soon found this book to be insightful and packed full of stories and examples of how Christianity should be different from the world. This book has seven chapters with many subchapters. There is an introduction in the front and a note section in the back with references listed.  Each chapter has “For Your Consideration” section where four questions are listed to further think about each chapter. In chapter one, the author describes in length what an eccentric Christian is and why it is so important. Chapter two is about the Weird Cities Movement. I love the story of the Euclid Square shopping mall in Cleveland.  Chapter three has quite a bit of Scripture explaining how “Jesus was the Original Weirdo” Chapter four explains the history of Christianity and how it differs from today. Chapter five is about how to stay weird as a Christian. Chapter six talks about making it normal to be weird. Chapter seven closes the book with a recap of the book.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in Christianity as a whole or Christians who need encouragement to live our Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the Tyndale Blog Network. http://www.tyndaleblognetwork.com/ I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”