by Michael B. Curry
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Upon hearing Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, now retired, speak in 2023 I wrote about how clearly he “echoes a Jesus worldview.”
“I’m here to suggest that Christianity goes astray when it does not look and talk like Jesus of Nazareth,” said Bishop Curry to that ecumenical gathering in Atlanta.
Those echoes resound again and again in this brief but insightful 2013 book from Morehouse Publishing. Curry leans into the Gospel writer Mark’s report (3:19-21) that some of Jesus’ listeners said, “He’s gone out of his mind.”
“Of course, people in the days of Jesus thought he was crazy,” he writes in the preface. “And people who dare to live in the way of Jesus in our time will also be called crazy.”
Indeed it is counter-cultural, even or especially within many circles of Americanized Christianity today, to follow Jesus’ call for self-denial, sacrifice and compassion.
Sadly, much of the Christian witness in the U.S. today is marred by nationalistic allegiances and other ideologies at odds with Jesus’ life, teachings and calling. Greatly needed is a fresh call to follow Jesus.
The chapters of this book are primarily derived from sermons the bishop preached including the first chapter titled, “We need some crazy Christians.”
Bishop Curry calls for a Church that is “crazy enough to love like Jesus, to give like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus, to do justice, mercy, walk humbly with God — like Jesus.”
His challenges to the Episcopal Church are the needed ones for all who claim to follow Jesus. Whether reading for personal inspiration or sermon fodder, this book provides plenty of both.
Review by John D. Pierce, Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative.