FREE BOOK: CRAFT BREWED JESUS

Don't take him up on this offer if you don't like questioning things that you have considered fundamental to your faith and practice as a Christian. Michael Camp is offering a pdf version of his book entitled Craft Brewed Jesus, on the condition that you write a review, good or bad, on the Canadian Amazon site for the book, or the U.S. site for the book. 

The reason I stated the proviso at the beginning is because Camp describes his book this way:  

What if the modern American church has its Christian history wrong? According to ex-evangelical Michael Camp, most American believers fail Christian History 101. Drawing on his own historical research and missionary experience, he discovers that most popular Christian views of the Bible, church, sin, salvation, judgment, the kingdom of God, the "end times" and the afterlife--pretty much all religious sacred cows--don't align with the beliefs of the original Jesus movement. Some of them not even close. Camp's Craft Brewed Jesus paves a fascinating journey of a group of disillusioned evangelicals and Catholics. When they decide to meet regularly over craft beers to study the historic foundations of their faith, their findings both rock their world and resolve ancient mysteries. They examine well-documented narratives of the early Jesus saga, Eastern streams of a lost Christianity, and the roots of our modern religious assumptions, all while striving to steer clear of either a conservative or liberal bias. What they uncover is a vital, refreshing spiritual paradigm no longer at odds with reality. Grab your brew of choice and trace this transformational journey based on a true story that will encourage you in your walk of life and faith.

It's smart to know what people are thinking, and how thinking is shaped, and how certain you are of your own belief points if you can handle the exercise.

CRAFT BREWED JESUS

Michael Camp is not the first person to make a theological shift as pronounced as his self-described journey has been. It will be interesting to hear what has changed in his mind and in his views. It may shock and worry some of you. It may intrigue others. He says he's a husband, father, author, amateur historian, Rotarian, global development practitioner, marketing director, ex-evangelical, former missionary to Africa, and pub theologian. He has written books, writes a blog, carries on conversations designed to give other theological migrants a means to question their own beliefs, shave off the assumptions and settle upon evidential truths.

His latest book is called Craft Brewed Jesus, in which he describes a captivating excursion of a group of disillusioned evangelicals and Catholics, who decide to meet regularly over craft beers to study the historic foundations of their faith. They learn that their findings rock their world and resolve some ancient mysteries. It's not fiction. What Camp discovers is that in his view, most popular Christian views of the Bible, church, sin, salvation, judgment, the kingdom of God, the “end times,” and the afterlife, all of which are sacred to believers, do not align with the beliefs of the original Jesus Movement. That's the outcome for him at least.

I will spend a bit of time these next days exploring some of his blog writings. I am fascinated that he describes himself as an ex-evangelical for one thing, and that he served as a missionary in Africa for seven years and arrives at this place.