New Book Discussion Begins Monday, June 3
You still have time to purchase (digital book by download) Us for Them: Seeking Higher Ground in the Cultural Holy Wars by Austin Fischer, lead pastor of The Vista church in Temple, Texas and author of two important previous books including Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed (which I have reviewed here before).
The first chapter is Justice + Friendship: An Invitation to Middle (crossed out) Higher Ground (pp. 1-19). I assure you this is whole book is an enjoyable read. I earlier posted here an excerpt from the book. If you want to “taste” the book before you buy it, you can download a sample on Amazon to your Kindle app. Or find that earlier post about the book.
Austin is a pastor-theologian. He may not have a Ph.D but he is very well-read, intelligent, insightful and an excellent writer.
You might wonder if this book contains anything controversial. I say it does. It’s prophetic in the truest sense of that word. It’s a message from God to the American churches. I believe its message is also applicable and relevant to other socio-political-religious contexts.
Personally, I found the message hard to swallow as I have struggled to be friends with people at the far end of the political spectrum from my “place” on the political spectrum.
Woven into the book is a lot of wisdom from major Christian writers. Also many stories from Austin’s own life and ministry.
I urge you to read the book with us. Read chapter 1 for Monday, June 3 when I will post my thoughts about chapter 1 and invite readers of the book to interact with the book and with me. Non-readers of the book will be welcome to ask questions. I do not know if Austin will answer questions. He is an extremely busy man. Probably working on another book in addition to all his other tasks.
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