Review of Your Jesus is Too Safe

Jared Wilson has asked me to be part of the blog tour for his new book. So here goes.

He had me before I saw the first page. Pictured on the front cover of Jared Wilson’s new book, Your Jesus is too Safe: Outgrowing a Drive-Through, Feel-Good Savior, is a faux-ivory statue of our Lord amid a platoon of kitschy plastic statutes of every imaginable variety. In that visual concatenation of cheap and colorful baubles, Jesus, it appears, is positioned only slightly above Elvis and James Brown. And so the cover photo, at a glance, depicts the idea Jared’s book sets out to demolish: that the contemporary view of Jesus in U.S. culture is for the most part as cheap and unreal as the little statues collecting dust on a hard-to-reach knick-knack shelf behind the teevee.

Actually, he had me before I ever saw his book. For years I’ve respected Jared’s writing at The Thinklings, The Gospel-Driven Church and, in years past, Shizuka Blog. Even more than I’ve enjoyed Jared’s wry humor and craftmanship with words, I’ve come to appreciate and learn from his razor-sharp focus on the centrality of Jesus Christ and his gospel in every and all aspects of Christian discipleship.

It is that Christ-centered focus that makes Too Safe such a worthwhile book for Christians. Jared confronts contemporary, impoverished images of Jesus not simply by exposing and criticizing these errors and distortions, but by holding up Christ in his many-faceted splendor. The heart of Too Safe is twelve chapters, each exploring from Scripture a different quality of who Jesus really is. The result is to show the glorious, over-arching splendor of Jesus and why knowing him is central not only for the life of the church but, quite simply, for life.

Jared’s stated purpose for writing Too Safe is “to remind us, for the glory of God and the hope of the world, of the original message of the historical person of Jesus Christ who was, in fact, God in the flesh” (15). Assuming “us” to be Christian disciples, Jared succeeds in his effort. His book, I think, will be most helpful in aiding Christians already possessing the basic elements of biblical knowledge to grow in seeing the big picture of what God’s interaction with humanity is really about. That big picture clearly infuses all of Jared’s writings, and he is gifted at helping others see it, too. He’s certainly helped me over the past few years to begin seeing not only the trees of God’s Word, but the forest.

I also like Jared’s style and narrative voice: somehow he’s able to successfully combine phrases like “exegetical illumination” with “no duh,” and he’s the only author I’ve ever read to compare—successfully—the death and resurrection of Jesus to an em-dash. Jared also has a gift for the pithy turn of phrase (several of which I plan to post here over the next few weeks).

I predict, however, that some Christians (dare I say, those whose Jesus is too safe?) will take issue with what may come across as flippancy or irreverence in Jared’s occasional choice of words (for example, his references in a couple of places to Jesus as a “wannabe Messiah” could give you heartburn if you’re not reading carefully and sympathetically). If you’re one of those Christians who’s easily offended by what appears to be “modern” talk or references, I recommend you bite your lip and read the book anyway. Jared’s work is full of spiritual treasure, and his chapter on Jesus as King is worth the price of the whole book (Full disclosure: I got a free copy in exchange for this review, and I also told Jared I'd review his book if he'd review mine when it comes out. All such deal-making and self-interest aside, I think Jared's book is worth buying if you can afford it.).

There’s a lot more I could say, but I don’t want to write a review so long no one will read it. Bottom line: I recommend you read the book yourself.