HTF?

Following the Jesus way could be transformative for the world. This is a great summation of "Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower" by Tom Krattenmaker. Krattenmaker explores the thoughts and life of Jesus, applying them to a myriad of life's realities. He does this all while seeking to motivate those who call themselves secular or atheist to follow the lifestyle, example, and morals of Jesus while retaining their status as secular or atheist. He does this in a way that would shame how many Christians explore their own discipleship to their Lord.
In looking at issues such as politics (loving your enemy), violence (live by the sword, die by the sword), sexual obsessiveness or sexploitation (if you look at a woman lustfully. . .), imprisonment (I was in prison and you did not look after me), anxiety (do not worry), and other very contemporary issues, Krattenmaker challenges the secularist to follow the ethic of Jesus.
He presents Jesus as a legend or morality tale, which offers us a wonderful model for approaching these issues and all of life. There seems to be a battle in such a presentation though as he seems to struggle between using miracle stories such as the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 who seeks healing for her daughter. Krattenmaker was plenty willing to use the story to make his point about loving those who society looks down upon, yet immediately needed to disregard the miracle. He seems to wrestle with how to view the miraculous when approaching the person and example of Jesus. The legend label certainly helps him to do this, but even he sometimes seems unconvinced. I admit though that this could be skewed by my reading this from my background as a disciple of Jesus Christ, my Savior.
Overall, the book is well written and offers convincing arguments to follow the ethic and example of Jesus. The world would certainly be changed if we could all come and understand the person of Jesus and follow. He asks who do we follow? We all should look to the example of Jesus and follow in order to bring healing to our broken world. In this way we might all discover salvation.
I received this book as a review copy from blogging for books and Penguin/Random House.