Three on Jesus …

Frank Viola and Len Sweet have released The Jesus Manifesto and it’s getting a huge amount of attention. I greatly appreciate that Len and Frank are steering people toward devotion to Christ – not simply ideas about Christ or ideologies that employ Christian vocabulary. My sense is that Frank and Len will be especially well received in the Evangelical context – I’ve often thought of Evangelical pillars like A. W. Tozer and Leonard Ravenill as I’ve been reading their book.
Across the pond, John Pritchard, the Anglican bishop of Oxford, recently released Living Jesus. John’s work will be stretching for more conservative Evangelicals, but will appeal to a wide ecumenical readership. I hope it will become more readily available in the US.
Back here in the USA, Michael Hardin recently released The Jesus-Driven Life. Michael shows special sensitivity to the social and ethical implications of Jesus’ life and teaching, and he writes with the same passion and commitment to Christ that the previous two books demonstrate.
Michael recently passed on this link to this cartoon:
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These three new books – along with others – suggest why we need to get a fresh vision of Jesus, who can never be contained (or entombed) in man-made boxes.