Book Review Wednesday? How Jesus Saves the World From Us by Morgan Guyton

How Jesus Saves the World From Us :
12 Antidotes to Toxic Christianity 
by Morgan Guyton
 
Review by Julie Carpenter
 
I have been a long time reader of Morgan Guyton’s blog, Mercy Not Sacrifice. I grew up in the Southern US in an evangelical setting (though I find it difficult to find a foothold in the current evangelical culture or belief system) and I always find his viewpoints interesting and refreshing.  So when he said he was publishing a book, I was eager to read and review it.  From the very beginning of the book, I knew I was not going to be disappointed.
           
Guyton begins with an anecdote about G.K. Chesterton.  When a newspaper asked its readers to share what they thought was wrong with the world, Chesterton replied, “I am.”  Guyton then goes on to explain the premise of the book.
 
This is a book for Christians who are troubled by what we’ve become and want Jesus to save the world from us.  It’s also a book for anyone else who wants to eavesdrop and see whether Jesus might have something better to say than what you’ve heard from Christians before.
 
The book is both an indictment of all of us who have called ourselves Christians who have been part of the “salvation industrial complex” as he so astutely calls it and a call to return to what Christianity could and should be – becoming like Jesus.  
           
The book covers quite a few different topics from how to love people (hint: it’s not by hitting them over the head with a Bible either metaphorically or literally - as I once did to a little boy at church camp, lucky for him it was only a small leatherbound King James, by the next year I had a hardbound Oxford annotated) – to conflict resolution and reading the Bible as poetry.  While I think this book might be easily used by a small church group to discuss the toxicity of modern Christianity and their own reaction to it, it might also be interesting to readers who are not familiar with any Christianity other than that represented by the news media.  If you find that you’re becoming more and more afraid of Christians or confused or put off by the current Christian culture this might be a good antidote.
            The book will be released on April 18.  Buy it here:

             How Jesus Saves the World From Us

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