A Living Alternative Quotes

“Every aspect of Jesus’ life reveals God’s loving character, of course. But it is first and foremost on the cross that we see the fullness of God’s love demonstrated (Rom. 5:8). Indeed, John defines the love that is God’s eternal nature (1 John 4:8) by pointing us to the cross (1 John 3:16).”
― A.O. Green, A Living Alternative: Anabaptist Christianity in a Post-Christendom World

“It is no great hermeneutic feat to recognize that Rome crucified Jesus because of His claim to be king. The charge was posted over His head, after all. What is often overlooked, however, is that it is precisely because of their allegiance to that king Jesus, that Rome persecuted His followers. That the God of the Jews should father a son with magical powers was no more offensive to the Romans than the idea that Zeus should father Hercules. But what was intolerable was the fact that Jesus’ followers did not stop with recognizing Him as divine; they had the audacity to claim He was their actual sovereign. In short, while the Jews preserved their religion by shouting “We have no king but Caesar,” the early Christians sealed their fate by unabashedly declaring “We have no king but Jesus!”
― A.O. Green, A Living Alternative: Anabaptist Christianity in a Post-Christendom World