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Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence
The award-winning author of Grateful goes beyond the culture wars to offer a refreshing take on the comprehensive, multi-faceted nature of Jesus, keeping his teachings relevant and alive in our daily lives.
How can you still be a Christian?
This is the most common question Diana Butler Bass is asked today. It is a question that many believers ponder as they wrestle with disappointment and disillusionment in their church and its leadership. But while many Christians have left their churches, they cannot leave their faith behind.
In Freeing Jesus, Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and asks us to instead consider a life where Jesus grows with us and helps us through life’s challenges in several as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence.
Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the religious wars behind and rediscover Jesus in all his many manifestations, to experience Jesus beyond the narrow confines we have built around him. It renews our hope in faith and worship at a time when we need it most.
How can you still be a Christian?
This is the most common question Diana Butler Bass is asked today. It is a question that many believers ponder as they wrestle with disappointment and disillusionment in their church and its leadership. But while many Christians have left their churches, they cannot leave their faith behind.
In Freeing Jesus, Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and asks us to instead consider a life where Jesus grows with us and helps us through life’s challenges in several as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence.
Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the religious wars behind and rediscover Jesus in all his many manifestations, to experience Jesus beyond the narrow confines we have built around him. It renews our hope in faith and worship at a time when we need it most.
325 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 30, 2021
656 people are currently reading
1863 people want to read
About the author
Diana Butler Bass
33 books252 followersDiana Butler Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a PhD in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books, including the bestselling Christianity for the Rest of Us, released by HarperOne in 2006. It was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA Today. Her much-anticipated next book, A People's History of Christianity, will be released in March 2009 from HarperOne. She is currently Senior Fellow at the Cathedral College of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Bass regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues.
Bass blogs at Progressive Revival on Beliefnet and Sojourners' God's Politics. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA Today, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995 to 2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations.
From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality—a project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Bass also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society.
She has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies.
Bass and her husband, Richard, live with their family in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.
Bass blogs at Progressive Revival on Beliefnet and Sojourners' God's Politics. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA Today, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995 to 2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations.
From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality—a project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Bass also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society.
She has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies.
Bass and her husband, Richard, live with their family in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.
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March 25, 2021
Who is Jesus? There are many different answers to that question. Some people emphasize his humanity and others focus on the church's confession of his divinity. He might be a figure of history who is of academic interest or he might be a friend who walks with us in life. How we answer depends on our theology and faith commitments. While there are some who deny his existence, they are few in number. It's true that there is much we do not know, but that he lived in the first century in what is now Israel/Palestine is a recognized fact. So, the question ultimately has to do with who he is to each of us. That is especially true for anyone who is a Christian.
Diana Butler Bass is a Christian historian who has written widely on issues relating to the church and its place in the modern context. She's written a People's History of Christianity. She's even written a memoir. In this most book, Diana does theology, more specifically Christology. The form this work of theology takes is one of memoir. That is, she approaches this task using her own life story as the medium.
The title is intriguing. In what way does Jesus need to be set free? She begins in her introduction by telling a story about the day she was praying in a side chapel in the National Cathedral. As she prayed, she asked, "where are you, God?" As she prayed, looking intently at the icon of Jesus that was in front of her, she heard a voice say, "Get me out of here." The one who spoke, in her mind, was Jesus. From this spiritual encounter comes this book, a story of encounters with Jesus, or at least different concepts about Jesus learned experienced over time. While Diana has made forays into theology, this is the most focused of those forays. In many ways the most enlightening.
Knowing her journey as a Christian, I wasn't sure where she would take this. Progressive Christians have focused on the human Jesus and have struggled with the confessional side of things. But, Diana is an Episcopalian, so she recites the creeds in worship. So, I was curious about where things would go. I was provided an uncorrected proof of the book by the publisher, so I dove in and found myself drawn into the story. There are some parts of her personal story I was familiar with both from reading her earlier memoir and from my personal conversations with her.
So, in this book, she shares how she rediscovered Jesus in terms of six images -- friend, teacher, savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. She acknowledges there are other possible images, but these are the ones she has encountered in her life. She notes that she encountered these Jesus' at different points in her life, but not that she has completed her sixth decade of life (Diana is a year younger than me, so I have had similar experiences with Jesus along the way). The Jesus she met earliest in life was that of Jesus as a friend. It was the Jesus she met in the Methodist Sunday school. Over time she encountered different Jesus' appropriate to that point in her life. Now, having arrived at this point in life she can say that each of these images of Jesus are still part of her life. While this is an exercise in memory, it is also a way of taking stock of the memories and seeking to understand how they influence the present.
These are the Jesuses that have spoken to her life, and she acknowledges that we may have encountered other Jesuses or have encountered the same Jesuses but in different orders. The point here is not to nail down a particular definition of Jesus but to free Jesus from the constraints of our theologies and institutions. I personally found this to be compelling. If you are looking for theological precision you might need to look elsewhere. Remember this is theology done through memoir. So, we walk with Diana through her life. We see Jesus as friend early in her life. Then a little later Jesus the teacher appears. After all, to children, teachers can be heroes. So, so she lifts up ways in which Jesus was a teacher. After all, that's what he did in his earthly life.
As she grew into adolescence and moved from Maryland to Arizona, she found herself at a conservative evangelical church in Scottsdale. That's where she encountered Jesus the Savior. Though she wasn't sure exactly what sins she had committed, she came to understand her need to be saved. So, she was born again. Perhaps, like me, you had a similar experience as did Diana. While it was in this context that she encountered Jesus the savior, she uses this chapter to also expand the definition of Jesus as savior beyond what she originally learned. After learning about Jesus as the savior, when she got to college she encounters Jesus who is Lord. She discovered that Jesus was more than her savior from sin and death, but that Jesus had made claim on her life. So she found herself engaged in deep conversations about theology and ministry and began to discern that Jesus didn't just save sinners but was concerned about the world itself. In other words, she encountered a more radical Jesus.
In some ways, the next stage was a rather difficult one. After college, she chose to go to seminary at Gordon-Conwell rather than Fuller (where I was a student). This was a period of transition, first embracing a more conservative and narrowly focused path in large part because she got caught up in the turmoil of the seminary that was taking a more conservative turn. She sort of lost her way in this period, finding herself embracing a more narrow Calvinism, different from what she experienced in college. In this moment Jesus sort of disappeared. But in time she discovered Jesus as the way. It took time and difficult challenges including a marriage that died and a discovery that the college she taught at weren't the right fit. Nevertheless, she discovered that the way of Jesus was the way of love. To get to this point, she had to let go of certainty. This leads us to the final Jesus, the presence. She tells the story of being confronted by a clergyperson (male) at a conference who complained that she hadn't mentioned Jesus. Where Jesus he asked? Her answer was that she assumed Jesus was present with them, even if not named. She notes that she had focused on history not theology in her presentations. So, in this final chapter, she shares how she discovered the ways in which Jesus is present, even in the ordinary, like parenthood. She also shares here the fact that the presence of God is itself a mystery. In fact, Jesus is a mystery.
The conclusion is titled The Universal Jesus. It is an attempt to draw together the images she had explored, while also affirming that Jesus more these images and that Jesus might be encountered outside the traditional confines of the church. This was reinforced as she completed the book during the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down churches. So, who is Jesus, and where might be found? That is the question of this book of "memoir theology." Might we take a journey with Diana Butler Bass to encounter the many ways in which Jesus can be encountered?
Diana Butler Bass is a Christian historian who has written widely on issues relating to the church and its place in the modern context. She's written a People's History of Christianity. She's even written a memoir. In this most book, Diana does theology, more specifically Christology. The form this work of theology takes is one of memoir. That is, she approaches this task using her own life story as the medium.
The title is intriguing. In what way does Jesus need to be set free? She begins in her introduction by telling a story about the day she was praying in a side chapel in the National Cathedral. As she prayed, she asked, "where are you, God?" As she prayed, looking intently at the icon of Jesus that was in front of her, she heard a voice say, "Get me out of here." The one who spoke, in her mind, was Jesus. From this spiritual encounter comes this book, a story of encounters with Jesus, or at least different concepts about Jesus learned experienced over time. While Diana has made forays into theology, this is the most focused of those forays. In many ways the most enlightening.
Knowing her journey as a Christian, I wasn't sure where she would take this. Progressive Christians have focused on the human Jesus and have struggled with the confessional side of things. But, Diana is an Episcopalian, so she recites the creeds in worship. So, I was curious about where things would go. I was provided an uncorrected proof of the book by the publisher, so I dove in and found myself drawn into the story. There are some parts of her personal story I was familiar with both from reading her earlier memoir and from my personal conversations with her.
So, in this book, she shares how she rediscovered Jesus in terms of six images -- friend, teacher, savior, Lord, Way, and Presence. She acknowledges there are other possible images, but these are the ones she has encountered in her life. She notes that she encountered these Jesus' at different points in her life, but not that she has completed her sixth decade of life (Diana is a year younger than me, so I have had similar experiences with Jesus along the way). The Jesus she met earliest in life was that of Jesus as a friend. It was the Jesus she met in the Methodist Sunday school. Over time she encountered different Jesus' appropriate to that point in her life. Now, having arrived at this point in life she can say that each of these images of Jesus are still part of her life. While this is an exercise in memory, it is also a way of taking stock of the memories and seeking to understand how they influence the present.
These are the Jesuses that have spoken to her life, and she acknowledges that we may have encountered other Jesuses or have encountered the same Jesuses but in different orders. The point here is not to nail down a particular definition of Jesus but to free Jesus from the constraints of our theologies and institutions. I personally found this to be compelling. If you are looking for theological precision you might need to look elsewhere. Remember this is theology done through memoir. So, we walk with Diana through her life. We see Jesus as friend early in her life. Then a little later Jesus the teacher appears. After all, to children, teachers can be heroes. So, so she lifts up ways in which Jesus was a teacher. After all, that's what he did in his earthly life.
As she grew into adolescence and moved from Maryland to Arizona, she found herself at a conservative evangelical church in Scottsdale. That's where she encountered Jesus the Savior. Though she wasn't sure exactly what sins she had committed, she came to understand her need to be saved. So, she was born again. Perhaps, like me, you had a similar experience as did Diana. While it was in this context that she encountered Jesus the savior, she uses this chapter to also expand the definition of Jesus as savior beyond what she originally learned. After learning about Jesus as the savior, when she got to college she encounters Jesus who is Lord. She discovered that Jesus was more than her savior from sin and death, but that Jesus had made claim on her life. So she found herself engaged in deep conversations about theology and ministry and began to discern that Jesus didn't just save sinners but was concerned about the world itself. In other words, she encountered a more radical Jesus.
In some ways, the next stage was a rather difficult one. After college, she chose to go to seminary at Gordon-Conwell rather than Fuller (where I was a student). This was a period of transition, first embracing a more conservative and narrowly focused path in large part because she got caught up in the turmoil of the seminary that was taking a more conservative turn. She sort of lost her way in this period, finding herself embracing a more narrow Calvinism, different from what she experienced in college. In this moment Jesus sort of disappeared. But in time she discovered Jesus as the way. It took time and difficult challenges including a marriage that died and a discovery that the college she taught at weren't the right fit. Nevertheless, she discovered that the way of Jesus was the way of love. To get to this point, she had to let go of certainty. This leads us to the final Jesus, the presence. She tells the story of being confronted by a clergyperson (male) at a conference who complained that she hadn't mentioned Jesus. Where Jesus he asked? Her answer was that she assumed Jesus was present with them, even if not named. She notes that she had focused on history not theology in her presentations. So, in this final chapter, she shares how she discovered the ways in which Jesus is present, even in the ordinary, like parenthood. She also shares here the fact that the presence of God is itself a mystery. In fact, Jesus is a mystery.
The conclusion is titled The Universal Jesus. It is an attempt to draw together the images she had explored, while also affirming that Jesus more these images and that Jesus might be encountered outside the traditional confines of the church. This was reinforced as she completed the book during the COVID 19 pandemic that shut down churches. So, who is Jesus, and where might be found? That is the question of this book of "memoir theology." Might we take a journey with Diana Butler Bass to encounter the many ways in which Jesus can be encountered?
May 16, 2021
This is a beautiful memoir about one woman's relationship with Jesus over time and the complex, multidimensional theology that relationship has encompassed. Diana Butler Bass in fact calls the genre of this book "memoir theology", which is an apt description because this is a book about how her (our) theology and understanding of Jesus arises out of her (our) lived experiences and the myriad ways that Jesus shows up in our life, both the miraculous and the ordinary. I found both the memoir and theological elements of this book moving and fascinating in equal measure, and while I'd particularly recommend this book to Christians exploring their own ever evolving relationship with Jesus, I think anyone with an interest in religion would find it informative. Although I read it as an ARC, I plan to purchase it once it's released, there is much I want to go back and reread, underline, and think about more deeply.
April 10, 2021
This was my Easter gift to myself, and it is a gift indeed. I first discovered Bass when I got hold of a copy of her Strength for the Journey many years ago now (yikes), and I have read just about everything of hers I can get my hands on. I met her briefly once, in the mountains of Georgia. She doesn't know that she feels to me a soul sister. There is so much of her journey that matches up with mine.
She claims she is a historian, not really a theologian, but this book is theology through and through. And by the end, she admits that herself.
I don't know what I'm getting at. I haven't even mentioned Jesus. oh yeah, this book is about Jesus. It is worth reading. Especially the chapter called "Way". That's where I am now in life, and I needed that.
And the beautiful tribute to her mother somewhere in the middle.
If you like this, go read Strength for the Journey. And then Grounded. And then everything else.
She claims she is a historian, not really a theologian, but this book is theology through and through. And by the end, she admits that herself.
I don't know what I'm getting at. I haven't even mentioned Jesus. oh yeah, this book is about Jesus. It is worth reading. Especially the chapter called "Way". That's where I am now in life, and I needed that.
And the beautiful tribute to her mother somewhere in the middle.
If you like this, go read Strength for the Journey. And then Grounded. And then everything else.
December 13, 2021
While I am the son and grandson of Lutheran pastors and was a regular church-goer before the pandemic, I am not that attracted to religious books usually. So many of them are written from the personal salvation perspective and miss out on how Christians can deal with the issues of the day. This is the second of Diana Butler Bass' books that I have read and they resonate more with me than most religious writing. She is a theologian and in this book, she looks at all the metaphors about Jesus that have influenced her life at different times in what she calls a "memoir theology." Most of the Christian writing follows the evangelical narrative of Jesus as Savior and for some years that was how she lived her life. For those of us in more mainline denominations, the metaphors of Jesus as Friend or Teacher have influenced our lives. This is a very interesting exploration of all the ways Christians can see Jesus and God told through her own life and explorations.
September 30, 2023
I learned so much from this book. This book is so much more than it seems because the author is a full historian STEEPED in theological training. You don’t have to agree w all of her beliefs to get so much out of this read. This book brings to life the way our experiences and religious traditions shape our understanding of God
April 23, 2021
Stellar. Highly recommend. Will shape my summer sporadical sermon series! Read it, reflect on it...rediscover Jesus!
August 21, 2024
Well-written, just not my favorite style. Some claims that strike me as unwise or maybe untrue, but I try to take them in good faith and see the author’s love for Jesus. I definitely enjoyed the many citations
September 8, 2021
The most pondering question of the new day; how can you still be a Christian? I’ve asked myself that honest question? The answer: Jesus. Freeing Jesus is an invitation to explore that very question.
Freeing Jesus gives a brief but solid account of church history, through Bass’ personal experiences, that led to a growing move towards Christian Nationalism starting with the Jesus movement of the 60s, the moral majority of the 70s and 80s, the purity movement of the 90s and 2000s to where we are now.
Diana Butler Bass helps her readers rediscover the Jesus of their childhood as a friend, a teacher as adolescent, the savior in emerging adulthood, Lord as we mature and finally way and presence in every season.
Bass helps her readers to explore a Jesus not confined by human constructs. Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the culture and denominational wars behind and rediscover a Jesus that is multifaceted and layered, one that is wild, fierce, kind, and gentle. A Jesus that doesn’t exclude but seeks to build a longer and wider table to make room for more. That’s the Jesus I know and want to know.
Freeing Jesus gives a brief but solid account of church history, through Bass’ personal experiences, that led to a growing move towards Christian Nationalism starting with the Jesus movement of the 60s, the moral majority of the 70s and 80s, the purity movement of the 90s and 2000s to where we are now.
Diana Butler Bass helps her readers rediscover the Jesus of their childhood as a friend, a teacher as adolescent, the savior in emerging adulthood, Lord as we mature and finally way and presence in every season.
Bass helps her readers to explore a Jesus not confined by human constructs. Freeing Jesus is an invitation to leave the culture and denominational wars behind and rediscover a Jesus that is multifaceted and layered, one that is wild, fierce, kind, and gentle. A Jesus that doesn’t exclude but seeks to build a longer and wider table to make room for more. That’s the Jesus I know and want to know.
July 9, 2021
Diana Butler Bass' "memoir theology" discusses the various ways and forms in which Jesus has accompanied her in life: friend, teacher, savior, lord, way, and presence. She hints at other roles Jesus has played for her and others: lover, word, silence, wisdom, sustenance, and more. This is a work of memoir - Bass traces her life into and out of evangelicalism; in rich and painful relationships; as disciple, as scholar, as mother, and more. It is also a work of theology, reminding us of the well of depth in the life and teaching of Jesus, and even more of the many ways Jesus continues to image God to us as God's Spirit works through tradition and Word and testimony into our experience.
March 21, 2023
not for me but i get it
September 26, 2022
Some heart-lifting ideas here and there, but claims by the author range from simply incorrect (ex: saying scripture only records Jesus crying once) to problematic (ex: preferring poetic definitions of atonement to scriptural basis). I agree with her that we should not cherry pick verses to make the Lord fit our negative agendas, but I also think we shouldn’t follow her lead in cherry picking to fit our personal vision of the Lord, no matter how wholesome. God is, as she says, a person and not a concept, and we cannot build another’s true character in our imagination. We must view God wholly, and our perspective is but a fragment.
Atop that, she leans on stereotypes/strawmen to make her counter points, painting opposing theologies in overly simplistic sketches that land far from their actual nuanced views.
Other times she employs personal anecdotes to make broad, tall claims that at times misrepresent wider views. She’ll say a person in her childhood said something very specific, quoting word for word, then will build a heavy argument on the foundation of that decades-old memory alone. I don’t doubt these moments occurred, but I do wonder if it’s wise to cast wide nets like this; if she got the specific wording wrong, some of the counters to her old rivals fall apart. This wouldn’t be a problem in memoir, but I do feel it’s a problem in theologizing, ethics, and broader social critique. (I admittedly might be cautious simply because Bass was called out in a recent conference for misrepresenting a scholar’s findings, and she made the defense that she relies on her memory rather than notes in her teaching, and that this method can be faulty. We all have fractured memories, and this is why I don’t feel we should use memory alone in doing the careful work of wide-scale argument.)
I appreciate the archetypes for Jesus she chose, her writing style, and the message that we must enter a fresh intimacy with Jesus, but I can’t say I’m a fan of this book.
Atop that, she leans on stereotypes/strawmen to make her counter points, painting opposing theologies in overly simplistic sketches that land far from their actual nuanced views.
Other times she employs personal anecdotes to make broad, tall claims that at times misrepresent wider views. She’ll say a person in her childhood said something very specific, quoting word for word, then will build a heavy argument on the foundation of that decades-old memory alone. I don’t doubt these moments occurred, but I do wonder if it’s wise to cast wide nets like this; if she got the specific wording wrong, some of the counters to her old rivals fall apart. This wouldn’t be a problem in memoir, but I do feel it’s a problem in theologizing, ethics, and broader social critique. (I admittedly might be cautious simply because Bass was called out in a recent conference for misrepresenting a scholar’s findings, and she made the defense that she relies on her memory rather than notes in her teaching, and that this method can be faulty. We all have fractured memories, and this is why I don’t feel we should use memory alone in doing the careful work of wide-scale argument.)
I appreciate the archetypes for Jesus she chose, her writing style, and the message that we must enter a fresh intimacy with Jesus, but I can’t say I’m a fan of this book.
December 31, 2024
Normally when I review a book I think about its construction and craft more than its content. This is the kind of book I read--or in this case listen to--more for what the writer has to say to me, personally, than for how she constructed the book or for the beauty of her prose. That said, I really liked the way Butler Bass put the book together. And the writing is really good.
I love the idea, new to me as a concept, but recognized immediately as a deeply held if previously unarticulated belief, that experience is theology. There is much here that I will reflect on for some time to come, and in a little while I'll have to come back and read it, or at least some of what were its key passages for me, again.
The audiobook is excellent. I'm usually a bit skeptical of authors who read their own work but this is an instance where I believe that made the reading richer.
I love the idea, new to me as a concept, but recognized immediately as a deeply held if previously unarticulated belief, that experience is theology. There is much here that I will reflect on for some time to come, and in a little while I'll have to come back and read it, or at least some of what were its key passages for me, again.
The audiobook is excellent. I'm usually a bit skeptical of authors who read their own work but this is an instance where I believe that made the reading richer.
December 30, 2021
I've read Butler Bass in essay and article form before, but had never attempted any of her books. I'm glad I did.
It was, as Presbyterians say by way of compliment, thought-provoking. Her writing, warm and witty and personal, a bright honest reflection of her own convoluted journey through American Christianity. More importantly, as I can say as someone who inhabits the fading oldline, it speaks to one of our primary failings: we don't really seem quite as intense about the Jesus thing as we might be. It's, er, kinda mission-critical, and often gets lost in our endless committee work and earnest efforts to be addressing the Issue-Du-Jour.
Is it a book of Christology? No, not at all, thank you Jesus. Instead, the book very personally leads us through each of the ways of understanding Jesus highlighted in the subtitle, as they've played out through the author's own spiritual journey. Her appreciation for tradition, her scholarship, and her warm spirit are evident throughout...as is her love for Jesus, in the way that she best understands his nature, teachings, and Way.
Did I agree with it all? No, because it's her witness, dagflabbit, not a dry soulless treatise pontificating about some presuppositional apologetic arcana. Sure, the word "kin-dom" still makes me roll my eyes. I also wrestled, as I do more often of late, with the progressive idea that what people want in faith is just to be told, hey, yeah, everything's a mess, whatcha gonna do? Be real, sure, but if the image of Jesus as Rock makes you think of crashing boulders, I'm not sure you and I understand that parable about building on the rock quite the same way.
But so what? Again, it's her story, and she tells it charmingly.
A three point seven five.
It was, as Presbyterians say by way of compliment, thought-provoking. Her writing, warm and witty and personal, a bright honest reflection of her own convoluted journey through American Christianity. More importantly, as I can say as someone who inhabits the fading oldline, it speaks to one of our primary failings: we don't really seem quite as intense about the Jesus thing as we might be. It's, er, kinda mission-critical, and often gets lost in our endless committee work and earnest efforts to be addressing the Issue-Du-Jour.
Is it a book of Christology? No, not at all, thank you Jesus. Instead, the book very personally leads us through each of the ways of understanding Jesus highlighted in the subtitle, as they've played out through the author's own spiritual journey. Her appreciation for tradition, her scholarship, and her warm spirit are evident throughout...as is her love for Jesus, in the way that she best understands his nature, teachings, and Way.
Did I agree with it all? No, because it's her witness, dagflabbit, not a dry soulless treatise pontificating about some presuppositional apologetic arcana. Sure, the word "kin-dom" still makes me roll my eyes. I also wrestled, as I do more often of late, with the progressive idea that what people want in faith is just to be told, hey, yeah, everything's a mess, whatcha gonna do? Be real, sure, but if the image of Jesus as Rock makes you think of crashing boulders, I'm not sure you and I understand that parable about building on the rock quite the same way.
But so what? Again, it's her story, and she tells it charmingly.
A three point seven five.
October 14, 2021
Finding what you seek
Ms. Bass begins with an audacious thought - that Jesus is telling her to “get me out of here” - a church, the place most likely to host him; through her journey from earliest days of faith to her continuing growth, she shows the reader that while Jesus may be in a church, Jesus is also in our hearts, journey, and world. She illustrates the freedom in recognizing that our understanding of God grows as we ourselves grow, revising our childhood images and wrestling with the times we’ve been deeply disillusioned or disappointed, yet the one we seek is with us through it all.
Ms. Bass begins with an audacious thought - that Jesus is telling her to “get me out of here” - a church, the place most likely to host him; through her journey from earliest days of faith to her continuing growth, she shows the reader that while Jesus may be in a church, Jesus is also in our hearts, journey, and world. She illustrates the freedom in recognizing that our understanding of God grows as we ourselves grow, revising our childhood images and wrestling with the times we’ve been deeply disillusioned or disappointed, yet the one we seek is with us through it all.
July 9, 2022
This book fed my whole heart. Bass beautifully wrote of her own pain, encounters with God, and her spiritual journey while also offering an invitation for readers to reflect on their own experiences with Jesus and allow for a future established in His freedom and divine love. She takes an honest look at what faith is outside of correct doctrine and beliefs, traditional interpretations, and adherence to institutions and looks at what it truly means to follow Jesus. I could not speak more highly of this book.
May 7, 2021
I'm not sure how it escaped my notice, but I didn't realize this was a memoir. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. Diana Butler Bass weaves a rich tapestry of theology and lived experience. In the end, her journey mirrored much of mine. Honest, wise, mysterious—I will read it again. I will also gift it to friends who are looking for a truer version of Jesus than the one they've perhaps been taught to follow.
January 11, 2022
I don’t get the vibe that this author is a radical deconstructionist. But this book helped me radically deconstruct. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in here, i will be chewing on this for a long time to come. I loved her anecdotes, and sometimes in faith expositions like this they are terrible. But hers make sense and add layers and humor. The first portion of the book had me laughing out loud, but then it turns quite serious. I really recommend this!
February 18, 2022
I have read almost all of DBB’s books and I follow her blog. At first I had trouble with the first chapter or two, as I felt the theology was too simplistic; maybe too much memoir and lack of theology. None of DBB’s other books were like this, in my opinion. However, once I got past the beginning, I was hooked, deeply engaged, and found the book well worth the reading. I’m going to an on-line seminar with the author about this book for Lent.
August 4, 2022
If I could give this book 6, 7, 8 stars I would. Such a beautiful conversation about searching for, finding and understanding all the ways Jesus was and is and could be in one's life and in the world. Diana Butler Bass makes room for all of us to find and commune with the Jesus we individually need instead of the Jesus of tradition and patriarchy. I loved it and this will be a book I return to again and again.
February 14, 2022
The was a very well written and researched book that addressed many of the concerns I have felt myself in the current state of "the church". I could have done with more theological exploration and look forward to seeking out some of the concepts introduced in this book for a deeper study. I didn't love all the personal anecdotes in the book, it came across a bit like "this is my experience so it is correct". But I get that it's a theological memoir so a certain amount of that is to be expected.
April 4, 2021
A thoughtful and thought-provoking book that found me examining my experience of Jesus as Diana explained hers. So full of history, theology, and personal experience, expertly woven into memoir theology.
November 8, 2022
This book blew me away! Her depth of spiritual insight is astounding. Her words both inspired and challenged me, at times leaving me speechless, at times cheering, at times in tears. This book touched me deeply and helped draw me closer to Jesus. Highly, highly recommended!
June 23, 2024
Excellent and well researched read. Bass uses what she calls memoir theology to challenge beliefs and our interpretations of Jesus. This book is worth the investment of time and the reflection caused by reading. Well done.
February 4, 2022
I was meant to read this book right now 💛
August 12, 2022
Memoir theology, and a really great illustration of the stages of faith development. I love the way she writes, a blend of good storytelling, wisdom, and interesting scholarship.
August 17, 2022
I bought this book AGES ago and never sat down to read it until last week. Once I got past the I introduction, I was really hooked in. This book put a lot of things I’ve felt but didn’t know how to articulate into words and gave me an odd sense of validation. Really glad I finally read it.
September 7, 2022
Beautiful “memoir theology” that I really connected with.
February 15, 2023
I honestly struggled to connect with this book despite agreeing with many of its messages. It wasn’t until I read the conclusion that I felt its resonance. If nothing else, read the conclusion.
May 1, 2024
I know I'm silly but I typically give memoirs 4-5 stars because who am I to judge someone's lived experience, memories and thought processes? This memoir theology was beautiful. I'm grateful to have read Diana's journey, it really made me contemplate my own.
August 21, 2025
I think this book healed many things in me. 🤍
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