AN EVANGELICAL SOCIAL GOSPEL?

Jesus taught that love for others is the path to God, that you cant love God if you dont love your neighbor. In An Evangelical Social Gospel?, Tim Suttle shows how the exaggerated individualism of American culture distorts the gospel and weakens the church. He reaches back a full century to the writings of the great Baptist pastor Walter Rauschenbusch and offers an imaginative vision for how evangelicals can once again impact the world. Bypassing the culture wars and liberal/conservative squabbling, Suttle offers a way in which the corporate nature of Christianity can be held alongside the evangelical belief in personal salvation. In so doing, Suttle provides valuable theological rationale for the moves many are making toward social justice and helps us rediscover why the nexus of personal and corporate faith is where we find the power to transform lives and cultures alike. His approach to corporate sin and salvation, the kingdom of God, and missional theology are deeply rooted in the life of a pastor, yet informed by a rich theological mind. There is a dreadful pattern evident in church history where we continually overcompensate where our Christianity has become imbalanced. We exaggerate the truth that has been neglected, and we keep ending up with a lopsided faith . . . then we wind up with Jesus-lovers that forget justice and justice-lovers that forget Jesus. It is my hope that this book helps cure our bifurcated either/or mentality that keeps separating things that must be held together-loving God and loving people, the great commandment and the great commission, a God that is personal and a God that is social . . . may the pages of this book remind us that Jesus and Justice must kiss, and that loving God and loving people are like the blades of scissors-theyve got to stick together. -Shane Claiborne author of The Irresistible Revolution