Freeing Jesus Rediscovering Jesus as friend, teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence

Diana Butler Bass, 1959-

Book - 2021

Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and asks us to instead consider a life where Jesus grows with us and helps us through life's challenges in several capacities: as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the religious wars behind and rediscover Jesus in all his many manifestations, to experience Jesus beyond the narrow confines we have built around him. It renews our hope in faith and worship at a time when we need it most.

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Subjects
Genres
Informational works
Published
New York, NY : Harper One, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Diana Butler Bass, 1959- (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xxvii, 285 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-285).
ISBN
9780062659521
9780062659538
  • Introduction: Liberate Jesus
  • Friend
  • Teacher
  • Savior
  • Lord
  • Way
  • Presence
  • Conclusion: The universal Jesus.
Review by Booklist Review

Bass (Grateful, 2018) writes that a friend once asked her, of Jesus, "Who is he really?" In this illuminating work of memoir and theology, Bass offers a variety of answers by identifying six persons of Jesus: Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. She addresses them chronologically in the context of her own life; thus, her explication of Jesus as friend appears when Bass was a little girl, singing "Jesus loves me / This I know." Jesus as teacher finds her aging from Sunday School to confirmation, and so forth as Bass grows up to attend a religious college, a seminary, and, finally, Duke University, where she receives her Doctorate. Along the way, she offers a good deal about herself and her personal experiences of theology, humanizing what might otherwise be arcane material. Not to worry, however, for her writing is always lucid and a model of clarity. Freeing Jesus, she concludes, means finding him along the way. Thanks to her enlightened commentary, many readers will be enabled to make that discovery.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.