Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

Accessible, challenging, funny, and one of the best reads on how to love others in any situation.

Love and hospitality can change the way you see the world and others. That's exactly what modern-day theologian, Richard Beck, experienced when he first led a Bible study at a local maximum security prison. Beck believed the promise of Matthew 25 that states when we visit the prisoner, we encounter Jesus. Sure enough, God met Beck in prison.

With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us when we entertain the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck's own life illustrate this truth -- God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly.

Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to appreciate those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to "widen the circle of our affection." In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.

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Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

Accessible, challenging, funny, and one of the best reads on how to love others in any situation.

Love and hospitality can change the way you see the world and others. That's exactly what modern-day theologian, Richard Beck, experienced when he first led a Bible study at a local maximum security prison. Beck believed the promise of Matthew 25 that states when we visit the prisoner, we encounter Jesus. Sure enough, God met Beck in prison.

With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us when we entertain the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck's own life illustrate this truth -- God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly.

Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to appreciate those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to "widen the circle of our affection." In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.

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Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

by Richard Beck
Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

Stranger God: Meeting Jesus in Disguise

by Richard Beck

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$17.99 

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Overview

Accessible, challenging, funny, and one of the best reads on how to love others in any situation.

Love and hospitality can change the way you see the world and others. That's exactly what modern-day theologian, Richard Beck, experienced when he first led a Bible study at a local maximum security prison. Beck believed the promise of Matthew 25 that states when we visit the prisoner, we encounter Jesus. Sure enough, God met Beck in prison.

With his signature combination of biblical reflection, theological reasoning, and psychological insight, Beck shows how God always meets us when we entertain the marginalized, the oppressed, and the refugee. Stories from Beck's own life illustrate this truth -- God comes to him in the poor, the crippled, the smelly.

Psychological experiments show how we are predisposed to appreciate those who are similar to us and avoid those who are unlike us. The call of the gospel, however, is to override those impulses with compassion, to "widen the circle of our affection." In the end, Beck turns to the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux for guidance in doing even the smallest acts with kindness, and he lays out a path that any of us can follow.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781506438412
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date: 11/01/2017
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 256
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Richard Beck is professor of psychology at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where he also lives. He is a popular blogger and speaker and the author of several books, most recently Hunting Magic Eels: Recovering an Enchanted Faith in a Skeptical Age. His published research also covers topics as diverse as the psychology of profanity and why Christian bookstore art is so bad. Beck leads a Bible study each week for inmates at a maximum-security prison.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Welcoming the Stranger God 1

Part I Entertaining Angels

1 Jesus in Disguise 17

2 The Circle of Our Affections 35

3 Yes, And 47

Part II The Emotional Battlefield

4 Hitler's Sweater and Cooties for Grown-Ups 65

5 Our Dirty Little Secret 79

6 The Murderer in Our Heart 95

7 Build That Wall! 103

8 Heart Triggers 113

9 Jesus, You Are Making Me Tired 129

Part III "I shall be Love"

10 Searching for the Science of Love 139

11 The Heart of the Church 151

12 The Elevator to Jesus 163

Part IV Practicing Hospitality

13 Seeing 179

14 Stopping 191

15 Approaching 199

Part V How to Save the World

16 Love Locally 209

17 Blest Be the (Weak) Tie That Binds 221

Conclusion: The Kindness Revolution 237

A Note About the Cover 242

Acknowledgments 243

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