Review by Twylla -- Following Jesus
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Twylla
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Review by Twylla -- Following Jesus
[Following is a volunteer review of "Following Jesus" by Dr. Mary Theresa Webb.]
Following Jesus by Dr. Mary Theresa Webb is a call to re-examine our spiritual compass in the context of the current political climate in America. Dr. Webb handles a polarizing topic in our current culture with sensitivity, logic, and reason.
The simulated dialogue between CV (the “Collective Voice”) and MT (the author) is very effective in capturing and presenting the issues from different points of view. Each discussion point accurately captures rationalizations people typically make regarding President Trump’s policies that continue to diminish Christian beliefs. For example, immigrants are desperately seeking asylum in the United States from hopelessly dangerous situations in other countries; however, the preferred solution for a broken immigration system is to build a wall to keep immigrants out because they are perceived to be the threat. Dr. Webb suggests that claiming salvation of the soul is not enough. Our actions in the community should reflect the example set by Jesus during his life and ministry. People turn a blind eye to the lies and corruption at the highest levels of government in exchange for political favors for the church. Dr. Webb argues that adhering to the way of life taught by Jesus and reclaiming the importance of absolute truth will inevitably put us in conflict with the current culture, but the path of following Jesus is a narrow one.
I enjoyed reading the history of Christianity in Rome. Dr. Webb suggests that God may have chosen that specific time in history to demonstrate how Jesus’ followers should behave in the political reality of the day. I also enjoyed reading the history surrounding the rise of Hitler in Germany and the heroic stand of Dietrich Bonhoeffer against the Third Reich. We should know our history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Dr. Webb lays out the history that we need to remember in this era of Trump. It would have been interesting to see specific comparisons drawn between the Roman emperors, Adolf Hitler and President Trump.
Dr. Webb uses the spiritual truths in the Beatitudes, the parables that Jesus told and stories of healing in the Bible to turn our focus inward and re-examine our beliefs as we follow Jesus. She uses famous historical figures throughout Christianity to demonstrate what it means to follow Jesus and be good citizens in God’s domain.
I think the key issue that keeps white evangelicals firmly in support of President Trump is racism. Racism was mentioned in the dialogue between CV and MT, but I feel like a full chapter on this topic would have been appropriate. The burning cross of the KKK was a symbol of white Christian supremacy. Then after 9/11, Muslims became the recipients of white Christian hatred. Modern evangelical support for President Trump cannot be separated from their history of racism in this country.
In a time when our representatives in Congress are not able to reach across the aisle and work together to solve problems and compromise, this book will hopefully open lines of communication among voters as we move toward the 2020 election and choose the representatives who will govern us in this next decade.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is well written and addresses an important issue.
I found the following errors:
On page 41, the word ‘early’ should be ‘earthly’.
On page 92 the word ‘comprised’ is highlighted in blue and the sentence contains non-printable characters that look like three squares after the word ‘some’.
These are possible ebook formatting errors (or maybe it is just how it appears on my device).
The following words showed up on my device as over-flowing across two lines without a hyphen:
Page,Word
25,miraculous
44,sun
57,deliverer
60,Colossians
66,themselves
68,uncomfortable
73,establishment
94,followed
96,billion
110,Consultant
***
This book would appeal to born again Christians who are concerned about the future of America.
This book would be incredibly offensive to a fanatical supporter of President Trump, on the extreme end of the spectrum.
******
Following Jesus
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Following Jesus by Dr. Mary Theresa Webb is a call to re-examine our spiritual compass in the context of the current political climate in America. Dr. Webb handles a polarizing topic in our current culture with sensitivity, logic, and reason.
The simulated dialogue between CV (the “Collective Voice”) and MT (the author) is very effective in capturing and presenting the issues from different points of view. Each discussion point accurately captures rationalizations people typically make regarding President Trump’s policies that continue to diminish Christian beliefs. For example, immigrants are desperately seeking asylum in the United States from hopelessly dangerous situations in other countries; however, the preferred solution for a broken immigration system is to build a wall to keep immigrants out because they are perceived to be the threat. Dr. Webb suggests that claiming salvation of the soul is not enough. Our actions in the community should reflect the example set by Jesus during his life and ministry. People turn a blind eye to the lies and corruption at the highest levels of government in exchange for political favors for the church. Dr. Webb argues that adhering to the way of life taught by Jesus and reclaiming the importance of absolute truth will inevitably put us in conflict with the current culture, but the path of following Jesus is a narrow one.
I enjoyed reading the history of Christianity in Rome. Dr. Webb suggests that God may have chosen that specific time in history to demonstrate how Jesus’ followers should behave in the political reality of the day. I also enjoyed reading the history surrounding the rise of Hitler in Germany and the heroic stand of Dietrich Bonhoeffer against the Third Reich. We should know our history so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Dr. Webb lays out the history that we need to remember in this era of Trump. It would have been interesting to see specific comparisons drawn between the Roman emperors, Adolf Hitler and President Trump.
Dr. Webb uses the spiritual truths in the Beatitudes, the parables that Jesus told and stories of healing in the Bible to turn our focus inward and re-examine our beliefs as we follow Jesus. She uses famous historical figures throughout Christianity to demonstrate what it means to follow Jesus and be good citizens in God’s domain.
I think the key issue that keeps white evangelicals firmly in support of President Trump is racism. Racism was mentioned in the dialogue between CV and MT, but I feel like a full chapter on this topic would have been appropriate. The burning cross of the KKK was a symbol of white Christian supremacy. Then after 9/11, Muslims became the recipients of white Christian hatred. Modern evangelical support for President Trump cannot be separated from their history of racism in this country.
In a time when our representatives in Congress are not able to reach across the aisle and work together to solve problems and compromise, this book will hopefully open lines of communication among voters as we move toward the 2020 election and choose the representatives who will govern us in this next decade.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is well written and addresses an important issue.
I found the following errors:
On page 41, the word ‘early’ should be ‘earthly’.
On page 92 the word ‘comprised’ is highlighted in blue and the sentence contains non-printable characters that look like three squares after the word ‘some’.
These are possible ebook formatting errors (or maybe it is just how it appears on my device).
The following words showed up on my device as over-flowing across two lines without a hyphen:
Page,Word
25,miraculous
44,sun
57,deliverer
60,Colossians
66,themselves
68,uncomfortable
73,establishment
94,followed
96,billion
110,Consultant
***
This book would appeal to born again Christians who are concerned about the future of America.
This book would be incredibly offensive to a fanatical supporter of President Trump, on the extreme end of the spectrum.
******
Following Jesus
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Contagion Domination by William Nisol
