CharlieDean

I saw this book on a friends’ end table and he gave me the following teaser: “In the first chapter, Peter punches Jesus in the face.”  I immediately ordered it.  Then my friend Ryan reviewed it favorably.  So, I was excited to read it.

I just finished it – like 3 minutes ago, and I wanted to capture some thoughts while they’re still a little raw, so here goes:

I really loved this book.  I loved the “Screwtape Letters-esque” style.  I’ve told several friends that his book is “trippy.”  It’s like The Shack in that it’s theology presented in story form, except that it makes The Shack seem like a normal experience.  It’s just crazy.  But, behind all the imaginary Jesuses doing crazy, cartoonish things, and talking donkeys and hungry polar bears and a dinner visit from the President of the United States and Houdini Dog is a powerful challenge to reevaluate our own perceptions of Jesus.

Honestly, 3/4 of the way through the book, I was filled with a sense of despair.  It seems that creating an imaginary Jesus (especially one remarkably like me) is inevitable, that I can’t escape my Jesus of the month.  I recognized a lot of my own imaginary Jesuses in this book, “Men’s Retreat Jesus,” “Peacenik Jesus,” “Portland Jesus,” “Baptist Jesus,” “Emerging/Emergent Jesus,” etc.

SPOILER ALERT

In the end, a fuzzy picture of Jesus comes through the Eucharist.  And it’s beautiful, but leaves just enough room for me to fill the space with more imaginary Jesuses.  But maybe, this is the way of following Jesus, that I continually challenge my notions of Jesus and allow the real Jesus to poke through, even if for only brief glimpses.  My hope, is that these glimpses grow longer and longer and crowd out more of my imaginary Jesuses.

I highly recommend.

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