No figure in history has received more attention, and been less understood, than Jesus of Nazareth. Much of what has been written recently portrays Jesus as a vaguely kind and friendly person whose message sometimes pleases but never challenges believers. People might even be tempted to ask "Why all the fuss? What here is worth devoting my life to?" Very little about that Jesus is worth it, says Will Willimon. Yet there is another Jesus, the mysterious preacher from Nazareth who continues to invite men and women to claim the true meaning of their lives by giving their lives away in service to God and others. This Jesus continues to fascinate and compel us, in spite of all the attempts to domesticate his message and put distance between us and the call to follow. In his radical teachings, his self-sacrificial death, and his liberating life beyond death, this Jesus teaches and shows us the true meaning and purpose of our own lives.

When Anne Robertson asked a bunch of people on the street what came to mind when they heard the word Bible, she was met with a flood of mixed responses-words like wisdom, lies, faith, rules, ancient history, bigotry, poison, and many more. What she realized was that we all read the Bible through filtered lenses, according to our varied expectations of what the Bible is or should be. But, says Robertson, the Bible as a whole is primarily God's story-a story of relationship, community, and love. Robertson's New Vision for an Old Story gives readers the right lenses to see beyond the printed page to the God who encounters us in dynamic relationship and transforms our lives. The very nature and message of Scripture are rooted in incarnation. When we need to navigate community, truth, fear, and suffering, the Bible- God's own story-can guide us through it all.

Election is a strange word when used in theology. It brings to mind old debates about what God might or might not have done before the foundation of the world. But viewed apart from that historical baggage, the word election is about a central gospel idea: that in Jesus not only does God choose to be God for us but chooses us to be for God. The calling of the disciples in the gospels is a story of election, of how God chooses to transform the world by choosing us to be messengers and agents of that transformation. So it is, says William Willimon, that election becomes not just the content of our preaching but the means as well. God chooses preachers. How unlikelyhow oddis it that God should entrust the proclamation of the gospel to, well, us? This unpredictable, electing God reaches out to save the world and then leaves it in the hands of preachers to get the word out? Through us, through our stammering tongues and faltering hearts, the preached word becomes the Word of God. If you wonder why you drag yourself into the pulpit every Sunday, if you worry that your sermons aren't reaching past the front pew, then read this book and be encouraged. God chooses; God chooses preachers; God chooses you.

Jesus defies simplistic, effortless, undemanding explications. To be sure, Jesus often communicated his truth in simple, homely, direct ways, but his truth was anything but apparent and undemanding in the living. Common people heard Jesus gladly, not all, but enough to keep the government nervous, only to find that the simple truth Jesus taught, the life he lived, and the death he died complicated their settled and secure ideas about reality. The gospels are full of folk who confidently knew what was what until they met Jesus. Jesus provoked an intellectual crisis in just about everybody. Their response was not, "Wow, I've just seen the Son of God," but rather, "Who is this?" -from the Introduction The church uses the concept of Incarnation, (from the Latin word for in the flesh ) to help us understandthat Jesus Christ is both divine and human. The Incarnation is the grand crescendo of our reflection upon the mystery that Christ is the full revelation of God; not only one who talks about God but the one who speaks for and acts as God, one who is God. About the Series: Belief Matters is a series of easy-to-understand books designed to show that by thinking more clearly about faith, persons can love God more fully, live with confidence, and change the world. Conversational in tone, these books are reflections on major theological topics and are suitable for individual or group study."

Only when the Church enacts its scandalous Jesus-centered tradition will it truly be the body of Christ and transform the world. Twenty-five years after its first appearance, Resident Aliens remains a prophetic vision of how the Church can regain its vitality, battle its malaise, reclaim its capacity to nourish souls, and stand firmly against the illusions, pretensions, and eroding values of today's world.

Resident Aliens discusses the nature of the church and its relationship to surrounding culture. It argues that churches should focus on developing Christian life and community rather than attempting to reform secular culture. Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon reject the idea that America is a Christian nation; instead, Christians should see themselves as "resident aliens" in a foreign land. According to Hauerwas and Willimon, the role of Christians is not totransform government but tolive lives that model the love of Christ. Rather than try to convince others to change their ethics, Christians should model a new set of ethics that are grounded in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ."

The seven deadly sins are a well-known topic, but, surprisingly, not much has been written about them in recent years from a serious theological viewpoint. Will Willimon's engaging book, which takes an unflinching look at the meaning and substance of sin, will be of great interest to Christians. Study questions by the author are included. The "felt need" is an increasing dissatisfaction with shallow, feel-good Christianity which does not attempt to grapple with our propensity, visible around us and in our own lives, to do evil. This edition includes a new introduction by the author. A recent study by the Pulpit and Pew Research Center found that Will Willimon is one of the most widely read authors among mainline Protestant pastors, and an international survey conducted by Baylor University named him one of the Twelve Most Effective Preachers in the English-speaking world. With over a million copies of more than sixty books sold, his popularity is undeniable."

As a church leader, it s easy to make the wrong move and find yourself in a bad position.

What to teach; How to teach; What to do, were the three questions Wesley employed at his first conferences. In sixty previous books Will Willimon has worked the first two. This book is of the What to do? genre.

Many believe the long decline of The United Methodist Church is a crisis of effective leadership. Willimon takes this problem on. As an improbable bishop, for the last eight years he has laid hands on heads, made ordinands promise to go where he sends them, overseen their ministries, and acted as if this were normal. Here is his account of what he has learned and more important what The United Methodist Church must do to have a future as a viable movement of the Holy Spirit. "

"Every time people sit down to eat and drink together, there is the possibility that community will grow and people will be reconciled to one another. This is good news for a fractured and polarized world, and a strong sign of the importance of being a welcoming congregation that embraces all people with God's love and grace." from the introduction

This practical book by pastor and writer Henry G. Brinton studies the biblical basis for Christian hospitality and how it is practiced in congregations today. While recognizing the challenges for embracing all people in the life of the church, Brinton offers a helpful guide for creating a hospitable congregation and welcoming others through spiritual formation, reconciliation, and outreach. He includes discussion questions and an action plan in each chapter.

He s been called a contrarian, a provocateur, and a few other things we can t say in print. He s also been called one of the twelve most effective proclaimers of the gospel in the English-speaking world. He s been a pastor, a chaplain, and a bishop. But ask William H. Willimon how he sees himself, and he ll tell you it s as a preacher and a truth-teller. He has pursued that passion for preaching the truth of God in over sixty books.

Gathered in this volume are Willimon s best writings on what it means to be a faithful Christian, and a faithful preacher of the Christian gospel, in today s world. All the themes that so enliven his writings the gospel s refusal to be co-opted by the culture, the strangeness of Christian faith, the centrality of the preached word of God are present here. Whether you re a long time Willimon reader or are encountering him for the first time, you will find inspiration and much food for thought from this, one of God s most peculiar prophets. "