Book: Scandal of Grace

The full text of the book is now on line, for free, right here. I intend to make copies available for Apple’s iBook store, Kindle, and short runs of hard copies, for a minimal price.

I am publishing this based on the Agile software development model – many iterations, publish new editions often. The text as it exists today is a snapshop of a fluid and changing work, and this model gives me room to change things more frequently and to publish new editions whenever I see fit.

I am eager for your comments and questions, my readers are my editors! Your thoughts and ideas are an integral part of this text, including all reasonable dissenting voices. If you are persuasive in your dissent, I may adapt the text of the book in response and it will shortly go into the next edition. If you are reading this, thank you!

• The Scandal of Grace
• • Foreword
  • The Scandal of Grace
  • Why Does Christianity Obsess Over Guilt and Forgiveness?
  • The Central Message
  • The Theology of Grace and Desire
• Stories of Desire
• • The Two Music Students
  • Joy Over It
  • Two Kinds of Good
  • The Struggle Under Grace
  • Temptation, Desire, and Predestination – Oh My!
• Stories of Redemption
• • Fallen Motorcycles
  • Purpose of the Law
  • In This is Love
  • The Idolization of the Changed Life
  • Martin Luther’s Conversion
  • Justification Equation
  • Derrida on Forgiveness
  • John the Baptist and Jesus
  • The Fear of God and the Love of God
• Contesting the Scandal
• • I advocate Evil
  • By the Mercies of God
  • Sermon on the Mount
  • Be Careful what you Ask
  • James vs. Paul
  • Jesus Completes the Law
  • The Deeds of the Flesh
  • Homosexuals and Gossips
  • Detestable Grace
• The God Who Loses Things
• • The God Who Loses Things
  • The Father Who Doesn’t Control
  • The Mindset of the Prodigal
  • The Prodigal Father
  • The Son’s Return
  • The Responsible Son
  • Unapplauded Love
  • God the Impoverished
• Living Under Grace
• • The Door
  • Boldly to the Throne of Grace
  • Repentance Under Grace
  • Let the Boy Win!
  • Discipline and Grace
  • The Grace Which Humbles Us
  • Grace for the Church
  • Echo and Narcissus