Brian Zahnd - Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News

With the heart of a pastor and the skill of a poet, Brian Zahnd cuts through all the fear and fundamentalism to reveal a gospel that is indeed good news. Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God is a beautifully written, pointed, and prophetic tribute to the love of God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. As Zahnd shows us, this love is not weak; its not a safe, feel-good cop-out. Rather, its the very revelation of God, the force that changes the world.

R ACHEL H ELD E VANS, author of Searching for Sunday

The same attributes that make Brian Zahnd a great pastor make him a gifted author: hes honest, humble, willing to change his mind, and unfailingly centered on Christ. For him to reconsider his view of God took study and prayer, and we benefit. Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God will be an extraordinary gift to many, for it clearly and compellingly teaches Gods love. This is the book that the evangelical church needs.

T ONY J ONES , author of Did God Kill Jesus?

Brian Zahnd walks boldly into the violent propensity of so much Christian theology and preaching that has wounded so many people, a propensity in which he himself has participated. He not only shows what bad, irresponsible theology this is, pervasive as it continues to be; he exposes the hackneyed trope of dispensationalism that feeds so much worldly violence and that authorizes so much wounding. But more than that, in his poetic mode, Zahnd invites to an alternative that is grounded not in Biblicism but in the reality of Jesus who embodies the inexplicable love of God that passes all human understanding. Zahnd writes as one emancipated to evangelical joy. He invites his readers to walk with him into such a God-given vocation that honors the God of love and that loves the neighbor.

W ALTER B RUEGGEMANN , Columbia Theological Seminary

I know were a bit too quick to say things like This will change your life! these days, but seriously: this book will change your life. For too long, too many of us have wondered if God is angry or disappointed or frustrated or disgusted with us: you dont need to wonder anymore. Brians new book is one of the most beautiful, truthful, and compelling visions of God as revealed by Jesus I have ever read. I cant shut up about this glorious, necessary, healing book: it is a must-read for every Christian.

S ARAH B ESSEY , author of Jesus Feminist and Out of Sorts: Making Peace with an Evolving Faith

I cant count the times I felt like standing and cheering while reading this book. Brian Zahnd knows his material extremely well. He speaks from a blend of study and experience, with the authority of a theologian, the care of a shepherd, and the inspiring beauty of a poet. From Genesis to Revelation, Brian helps us identify, expose, and oppose the weaponization of Scripture and instead embrace Jesus as the Bibles central theme and Gods ultimate self-disclosure. If you read one book about Jesus this yearbuy mine. But if you read two, this one will do just nicely.

B RUXY C AVEY , teaching pastor at the Meeting House, and author of The End of Religion and (re)union: the Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners

With too many American Christian leaders echoing the angry, arrogant, vindictive, and violent rhetoric of our political culture, its hard to imagine a book more relevant and needed than Brian Zahnds Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God. Zahnd rightly helps us see that for better or worse, we reflect the image of the God we believe in. Zahnds insights into Scripture are rich and deep, making clear that if we want a less violent future, we need a vision of a nonviolent God.

B RIAN D . M C L AREN , author of The Great Spiritual Migration

I have come to love Brian Zahnd and his writings. They are deep, reflective, authentic, and inspiring. Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God is a brilliant and important book that every Christian should read. If youve ever struggled with the violence attributed to God in Scripture, or the angry and vengeful images of God sometimes taught in Christian circles, this book will speak to you.

A DAM H AMILTON , pastor and author of Making Sense of the Bible

Without overstatement, I believe we are living in the midst of a seismic, apocalyptic shift in how we understand the character of God. There is a widescreen revelation of Gods heart unfolding, shaking the very foundations of the Church. This revelation of the tenderness of God is so vast and pervasive that all kinds of former assumptions must be called into questiondemanding that violent texts of terror, in Phyllis Tribles phrase, be revisited. Brian Zahnd is the most lucid, crisp, prophetic articulator of this revelation/revolution, and Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God is him at his incisive best. It is masterfully written, illuminating both the Jesus of Scripture and the violence of the world that rejected him. At the intersection of John the Baptist and Bob Dylan, Brian Zahnd prepares the way for us to behold and see that the God we heard was a lion, was actually a lamb all along. This is startling, revelatory reading.

J ONATHAN M ARTIN, author of How to Survive a Shipwreck and Prototype