J.R. Briggs - The Sacred Overlap: Learning to Live Faithfully in the Space Between

In a day where the world, our culture, and the church are marked by a continual default to division and defensiveness, J.R. Briggs offers us a vision of an interconnected, integrated, and incarnated way of being in the world. In the engaging and entertaining both/and character of this book, Briggs helps us to see God and reality in ways that are both deeply inspiring and profoundly uncomfortable, completely biblical and distressingly disruptive, breathtakingly spiritual and shockingly down-to-earth. This book should be read by all those who want to be formed into someone who can personally participate in crossing divides and working for a genuinely restorative common goodand are willing to have their assumptions challenged every step of the way.

T OD B OLSINGER , author of Canoeing the Mountains and Tempered Resilience

In The Sacred Overlap, J.R. explores some of the most complex aspects of discipleship by integrating the idea of paradox at the heart of theological truth, experiencing the world through a both/and frame, seeing the sacred in ordinary things. This is not just well-written book, it is also a very convincing one.

A LAN H IRSCH , award-winning author and founder of Forge Missional Training Network, Movement Leaders Collective, and The 5Q Collective.

If we have any hope of discipling the next generation in the way of Jesus, it's vital we release our fear of mystery and make a home in the sacred overlap. J.R. Briggs writes with thoughtful discernment about how the nuance and complexity of life can find resolution in the peace of Christ, even when we don't have all the answers. I am deeply grateful for this book.

E MILY P. F REEMAN , Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Next Right Thing

We live in a chaotic world where life is often messy, if not paradoxical. Such paradoxes saturate the Scriptures. In The Sacred Overlap, J.R. Briggs helps us to learn to live and thrive in the tension of the paradoxes of the Christian faith.

W INFIELD B EVINS , director of church planting at Asbury Theological Seminary, author of Ever Ancient, Ever New

This is a book I wish I could have written. The invitation to paradoxical mystery in the Christian life is not only something we desperately need to hear about, we couldnt hear it from a better teacher. Briggs has crafted something beautiful here worthy of our attention. Heres to entering the glorious mystery.

D R . A.J. S WOBODA , assistant professor of Bible and theology at Bushnell University and author of After Doubt

One of J.R.s great gifts is his ability to ask unique questions in ways that help us all live more fully into kingdom realities. The Sacred Overlap is another such example. In a deeply divided world of either/or thinking, J.R. helps to chart a course that not only embraces the tensions of life but allows us to see that this is actually a better way. There is rich wisdom for those who desire to live the in between faithfully.

A DAM L. G USTINE , Center for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame and author of Becoming a Just Church

In the early days, it was a core Christian capacity to live in tensionin but not of the world. With agility, J.R. Briggs teaches those first-century Eastern Christian skills to twenty-first-century Western Christians. As we are stretched to hold these seemingly incompatible truths in our small minds and bodies, we, as individuals and a movement, may be transformed!

M ANDY S MITH , pastor and author of The Vulnerable Pastor

In a time when our world, the culture, and the church are polarized like never before, J.R. helps us to explore Jesus in the both/and. Not a middle-of-the-road faith that lacks conviction, but a bold, fresh way of seeing the brilliance of Jesus displayed in the tension of the opposites. Steeped in Scripture, classic thinkers, and storyful metaphors, The Sacred Overlap is a much-needed perspective and spiritual life reboot.

P AUL B ALOCHE , songwriter and pastor, LeadWorship.com

The Sacred Overlap is a winsome push beyond the either/or to the both/ and, a disturbing nudge that moves us beyond the tribal, an inspiring prod to the way of God at work in the world in Jesus Christ. I hope youll read this book, written so well by an engaged mind, and let it challenge your imagination to become the kind of Christian our world is so desperate for.

D R . D AVID F ITCH , BR Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary and author of Faithful Presence

The Sacred Overlap calls us out of a formulaic faith lacking fruit and vibrancy, and calls us to the experience and practice of a faith that is rooted in truth, intriguingly mysterious, authentically joyful, and abundantly practical. J.R.s words will be humbly inviting and challenging for believer and seeker alike as he reintroduces the person of Jesus and the life of his followers.

T HE R EV . C ANON D R . D AN A LGER , Canon for Church Planting, Anglican Church in North America

How is it possible that a book specifically designed to acknowledge the tension-filled space of our faith could bring such a sense of affirmation and peace to the struggle we live in every day? J.R.s work here is a true gift to those of us who have been trying to put our finger on exactly what the kingdom is. He gives language to something that is often so hard to define that we shake it off as untrue. He says, No, look again. That is real.

M ARTY S OLOMON , creator of the BEMA Podcast

Integration. That one word sums this phenomenal work. J.R. refuses to settle for a narrow spirituality. But dont be fooledbecause he doesnt advocate the current clich, syncretistic, abstract heterodoxy either. Instead, he faithfully expands our pursuit of the kingdomthe both/ and reign of God. I highly recommend this creative and historically grounded work.

AJ S HERRILL , lead pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church and author of The Enneagram for Spiritual Formation

The reality of God will always be greater than our knowledge of God. The inclusivity of Jesus and the narrowness of Jesus both stretch us. Somewhere at the center of it all, the living truth of God is revealed to us in Jesus. J.R. Briggs is a wise guide for us here, helping us find the gift that the both/and kingdom of God in Christ is to us.

A LAN F ADLING , president of Unhurried Living, Inc and author of An Unhurried Life

If vibrant, transformative faith is going to thrive in our highly polarized and combative time, it will require robust and nuanced voices. J.R. Briggs is such a voice. His book The Sacred Overlap comes just in time to show us a better way. J.R. invites us into a deeper faith that holds tension, looks for the both/and, keeps balance. This book represents significant research and thought and in it. J.R. offers us a way of thinking and a set of practices that keep our faith fresh and nimble.

S TEVE C USS , pastor and author of Managing Leadership Anxiety

At the very center of our faith is constellation of unfathomable mysteries: Good pastors dont duck or dumb down the mysteries; they dont reduce Christianity to the merely practical. No, they embrace gospel mystery, honor it, and serve as tour guides through its limitless terrain. J.R. Briggs is one of those guides, and The Sacred Overlap is one of those bookschallenging, comforting, and inviting in equal measure. Read it and be changed.

A NDREW A RNDT , pastor of New Life East, Colorado Springs, and author of All Flame: Entering the Life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit