Jesus the Fool

The Mission of the Unconventional Christ

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"One who is strengthened by God professes himself to be an utter fool by human standards, because he despises the wisdom men strive for."--Thomas Aquinas

"Go and do likewise. . . ."--Luke 10:37

Missiologist Michael Frost is looking for the real Jesus--the man who didn't care what people thought, worked on the Sabbath, touched the unclean, ate with sinners, and generally contradicted what was acceptable to the leadership of his day. He's searching for the Jesus who embodies all the characteristics of the ancient tradition of the holy foolish paradigm as described and commended by Paul, the church fathers, and the medieval saints. And he finds him. . . .

Saintly fools prefer life out in the open in the secular world, intentionally make themselves conspicuous, and consistently defy rules set by society. Frost directs our minds and hearts to the greater story of Jesus. He reminds us that following the Savior is rarely safe--and that Christ will continue to redraw our blueprint of what's right and what's righteous; and will persist in calling us to take the alternative, dangerous, ridiculous road walked by wise fools down through the centuries of the church.

A much-needed and longed-for challenge to emergent, contemporary, and traditional gatherings and churches alike.

The Author

  1. Michael Frost

    Michael Frost

    Michael Frost is the founding director of the Tinsley Institute, a mission study center at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is the author of more than a dozen books including Exiles and The Road to Missional. He lives in Sydney.

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Reviews

"Frost (Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture), a Baptist seminary director in Sydney, Australia, here seeks to reclaim Jesus's wildness from fossilizing traditions. His "foolish" Jesus is the man who worked on the Sabbath, befriended tax collectors, and antagonized the authorities. Frost finds Jesus's spiritual heirs in the likes of Francis of Assisi, Simone Weil, Henri Nouwen, and Shane Claiborne. This is far from the first effort to revitalize Jesus, but Frost writes with ease and peppers his book with apt images from contemporary life, including film. VERDICT This entertaining book will speak to the young, to church planters, preachers, and open-minded Christians. For all strong theological or missions collections."--LibraryJournal.com