Beyond Cheap Grace

Book excerpt: 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.