“So what is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Christianity is not an ideology or a philosophy. Neither is it a new type of morality, social ethic, or worldview. Christianity is the ‘good news’ that beauty, truth, and goodness are found in a person. And true humanity and community are founded on and experienced by connection to that person.” (xvi)

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola partnered to write the Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the supremacy and sovereignty of Jesus Christ. Sweet wants his readers to see Christ not as central to Christianity, but equal to Christianity. The book is written to combat a common Christian problem relayed in a simple story. Christians were touring Leningrad before the fall of the Berlin wall. The tour guide said, “You Christians have a great message, but we Communists will win the world. Christ means something to you. Communism means everything to us.”

I’d rate this book at five stars out of five if Sweet and Viola stuck just to that message. I’ve heard that every age tends to focus on one part of the Trinity. When you focus only on God the father, you end up emphasizing God’s justice and ending up at legalism. If you focus only on Jesus, you tend to end up at the opposite extreme of antinomianism. If you focus on the Spirit alone, you end up…Pentecostal?

Sweet and Viola do well to remind us to re-focus on Christ. We need to hear that call! At the same time, the book would have been more helpful if it had shown us how to do that without the neglect of the rest of the godhead. With that in mind, I give it 4 stars out of 5. It’s a good, quick read that is thought-provoking and should lead you into deeper study and thought about Jesus.

(Oh yeah — I reviewed this through BookSneeze. They gave me a free copy to review — but they don’t get angry if I don’t like their conclusions…)

Captivating (Revised and Expanded Edition) by John and Stasi Eldridge

The subtitle says it all when it comes to this book’s goal: "Unveiling the mystery of a woman’s soul." The book didn’t so much unveil as it did remind. It would be the understatement of the century to say that men and women are different. (Remember Mars and Venus?) Man’s typical understanding of woman is the source of many a comedian’s jokes, but more significantly it’s the root of many of our world’s problems.

John and Stasi remind us men that women think, feel, and process differently. Being cherished isn’t a desire that’s on the top of my radar screen, but the Eldridges remind me that a woman want to be cherished. Remember dress up games and fairy tale endings? Life in the real world hasn’t crushed that innate feminine instinct.

Here’s a great quote that sums up a lot of the authors’ intent: "If we could read the secret histories of our enemies we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostilities."

The book is a great conversation starter. It would be healthy for couples to read this alongside "Wild at Heart" to deepen our understanding of each other. The book is likely guilty of sweeping generalizations at times, but these don’t weaken the spirit of the book. Bottom line: it’s worth the read. Not earth shattering, but if it leads to more open communication between men and women, it could be life changing.

(Disclosure: I received a free reviewer’s copy of the book from BookSneeze.com. I’m allowed to review however I want…I don’t get fired for hating a book!)

“Nobody wants to change until the  pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”

Adapted from Comeback Churches.