Beyond Cheap Grace: A Call to Radical Discipleship, Incarnation, and Justice

by Eldin Villafańe

Foreword by Howard John Loewen As our lives become complex with the demands of our affluent and accelerating society, do we hear the gospel's timeless and insistent call to live the "obedience of faith"? In these three "sermonic essays" Eldin Villafañe takes on the task of awakening true obedience of faith through the themes of discipleship, incarnation, and justice. Beginning with discipleship, Villafañe draws on the "Christ hymn" of Philippians 2 to challenge Christians to choose the costly Christ-life. He then offers six contrarian perspectives on the incarnation from the early church as correctives to our current, culturally conditioned theological emphases. Finally, taking the book of Amos as a touchstone, Villafañe issues a call for just leadership among the nations. Adding interest and depth to this work are an insightful foreword by Dean Loewen and thoughtful responses by Richard Peace, Juan Francisco Martinez, and Veli-Mattí Kärkkäinen. Villafañe's Beyond Cheap Grace incisively extends Christ's call to discipleship, incarnation, and justice to the church, the academy, and Christian leaders of all traditions.

Genres: Theology

Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

Eldin Villafañe (Ph. D., Boston Univeristy) is an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God and professor of Christian social ethics at Gordon-conwell Theological Seminary, Boston. Villafañe, together with Harvey Cox, offered the first course on Pentecostalism at Harvard Divinity School in 1992. Within his books one finds a spirit of liberation, faith, and spirituality with justice.

Reviews

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a quick read, and is an interesting dialogue between Eldin Villafane and some of Fuller Theological Seminary's most widely recognized scholars. As a Fuller student, I can testify that the organization has moved on, and with the utmost of respect perhaps you had to be there to see the context into which these scholars speak (or be a member of the evangelical American church, which I am not).

Regardless, it is a very interesting snapshot of the life of an institution committed to dialogue, engaging Pentecostal voices.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is thought provoking if not new. It discusses discipleship and theological eduction in relationship to the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, kenosis found in Phillipians 2 and sets it all against the backdrop of urban ministry and the poor in our city. This book is made up of a series of lectures Villfane originally gave at Fuller Theological Seminary and has Fuller faculty responding. It is not the most profound book but it is thought provoking.