A Thicker Jesus

Why have some Christians, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King Jr., been able to speak truth to power at great personal cost, while others readily capitulate to injustice? In this magnum opus, Christian ethicist Glen Stassen argues that such robust Christianity stems from believing in a "thicker" Jesus, who is Lord over the whole of life and not just one compartment of it. Belief in this thicker Jesus results in "incarnational discipleship" and can help Christians deal with the challenges of what Charles Taylor has identified as a secular age. Stassen elegantly weaves the characteristics of incarnational discipleship as correctives to secularism.

A groundbreaking argument for recovering Jesus for Christian ethics.

"Eighteen Christian theologians and ethicists offer a rich engagement with the theological ethics of Glen Stassen (1936-2014)"--

At the tense intersection of biblical interpretation and contemporary politics, this book stands out as an imagined political campaign guide based on a creative deep dive into Luke’s vibrant evangelical account of Jesus’s messianic mission. It seeks to challenge any group that blithely claims Jesus’s endorsement of their partisan agendas today, but especially those trumpeting authoritarian rule. Close attention to Luke’s narrative discloses a distinctive figure who strikingly ill fits standard strongman profiles and straitjacket labels. Warning: If Luke’s Jesus doesn’t change your vote, he might well change your mind, challenge your life, and shake up your politics along the way.

One objective all Christians hold in common is to grow in maturity and faithfulness. Achieving that goal, however, is a constant and difficult challenge. Ethicist Kenneth W. M. Wozniak shows how the author of the epistle to the Hebrews argued that the mature Christian life is a disciplined one lived consistently in the moral realm of human experience. Although the authority for such living traditionally has been the picture of Jesus as found in the Gospels, that picture is only a partial and incomplete one. It does not include Hebrews' essential depiction of the current, living Jesus--both exalted Son and High Priest--who is the focus of worship and whom Christians claim to follow. Wozniak argues that only the often-ignored Jesus of Hebrews, when coupled with the Jesus pictured in the Gospels, is the complete Jesus Christians must obey, emulate, and implant within themselves if they are to live as mature followers of Jesus; it is to this Jesus that they must respond if they are to live faithfully as those who claim "Jesus is Lord!"

The Politics of Jesús is a powerful new biography of Jesus told from the margins. Miguel A. De La Torre argues that we all create Jesus in our own image, reflecting and reinforcing the values of communities—sometimes for better, and often for worse. In light of the increasing economic and social inequality around the world, De La Torre asserts that what the world needs is a Jesus of solidarity who also comes from the underside of global power. The Politics of Jesús is a search for a Jesus that resonates specifically with the Latino/a community, as well as other marginalized groups. The book unabashedly rejects the Eurocentric Jesus for the Hispanic Jesús, whose mission is to give life abundantly, who resonates with the Latino/a experience of disenfranchisement, and who works for real social justice and political change. While Jesus is an admirable figure for Christians, The Politics of Jesús highlights the way the Jesus of dominant culture is oppressive and describes a Jesús from the barrio who chose poverty and disrupted the status quo. Saying “no” to oppression and its symbols, even when one of those symbols is Jesus, is the first step to saying “yes” to the self, to liberation, and symbols of that liberation. For Jesus to connect with the Hispanic quest for liberation, Jesús must be unapologetically Hispanic and compel people to action. The Politics of Jesús provocatively moves the study of Jesús into the global present.

The story of Christ's life and teachings is recounted in 16 full-page illustrations, derived from Biblical sources. Realistic portrayals of the best-known and most inspiring incidents from the Savior's life include scenes from the wedding at Cana, The Sermon on the Mount, The Last Supper, and many other moving vignettes.

This first-of-its-kind collection reveals U.S. Latino/a theological scholarship as a vital terrain of study in the search for better understanding of the varieties of religious experience in the United States. While the insights of Latino/a theologians from Central and South America have gained attention among professional theologians, until now the role of U.S. Latino/a theology in the formation of North American theological identity has been largely unacknowledged. Nonetheless, the four-centuries old Latino/a presence in the United States has been forming a rich, creative, and distinctively North American Latino/a Christology. Exploring both constructive theology and popular religion, this collection of essays from top U.S. Latino/a scholars reveals the varieties of religious experience in the United States and the importance of Latino/a understandings of Christ to both academy and community.