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Dying to Live: Lessons from Mark
Author(s): John Churcher (Author)
- Publisher: Circle Books
- Publication Date: 27 April 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 240 pages
- ISBN-10: 9781846947155
- ISBN-13: 1846947154
Book Description
‘Dying to Live’ is a radical exploration of the life of Jesus through the memories of Peter the Apostle and his translator Mark. It is a journey, not a destination. It is a continuing quest not in search of integrity but to preserve it. This book offers glimpses of a deeper relevant spirituality for today. The starting point is that the ‘Gospel’ of Mark was written as an interpretive biography, not as sacred text. To over-spiritualise the reading of Mark is to miss the real Jesus contained within its pages. To follow Jesus is not so much concerned with ‘right belief’ as it is about how one lives. Jesus accepted people as they were and especially offered the outsider and the rejected dignity and a sense of personal worth. Churches have rightly encouraged charitable giving, especially to the poor and the outcast, but its creeds and doctrines have misrepresented the transformational life and teaching of Jesus, masking the hard cost of discipleship required to address the underlying root causes of violence, hunger and poverty in a world of plenty.
Editorial Reviews
Review
In his latest work, ‘Dying To Live’ John Churcher does well to quote composer John Cage who once stated ‘I don’t know why people are frightened of new ideas. I am frightened of the old ones.’ Writing from the vantage point of a Christian minister living and serving in an increasingly post-church UK, and with the same intellect and fearless scholasticism that hallmarked his previous work, ‘Setting Jesus Free’ John examines the Gospel of Mark with an eye to discover new ideas in the old text or rediscover those ideas long neglected. Notable, however, is that John has succeeded in presenting those ‘new ideas’ without any evidence of contempt for the established understandings, but as beautiful new facet to our unfolding understanding of the Divine. Readers will welcome this richly insightful and engaging commentary as a valued companion on the journey to a fuller walk upon the Jesus Way. –(Roger McClellan, Director, Co-Founder, Progressive Christian Alliance [Anniston AL])
About the Author
John Churcher is a Methodist Church minister offering a radical ‘voice from the edge’, supporting those on the brink of church life and those who have left owing to their rejection of creeds, doctrines and traditions.
