Matthew Carriker Giving Christianity Back to Agape Love

Annotation

How could a church that has been plagued by anti-Semitism, the killing of the Crusades, and the violence of the Inquisition (to name a few) be redeemed of these evils? Quite simply, it has always returned to Jesus. When you return to Jesus, you return to the heart of his message: agape. Agape is a Greek word in the New Testament referring to a love that is without limits and beyond conditions. Agape is the love that God has for us, and that we are called to have towards one another. This book centers around this one assumption: God loves us unconditionally. Our task- individually and as communities- is to be instruments of that love. This book reenvisions traditional Christian beliefs- including sin, the Bible, salvation, homosexuality, pluralism, Jesus, and atonement theology- through the lens of agape love. What would the Christian life look like if we embodied the good news in community as contemplatives in action?In a time when churches are dying and failing, giving Christianity back to agape love has the power to bring life into a religion that feels old, worn out, and over-institutionalized. To return Christianity to Jesus is to give the church universal back to a love that is boundless, free, and unconditional; to a love that finds its heart in service, peacemaking, and radical transformation; to a love that will set the world on fire.