The Message on the Mountain: A New, Secular Reading of the Sermon on the Mount

by Chris Highland

The Message on the Mountain, commonly known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” was more a lecture than a sermon. Tradition tells us it was spoken by Jesus of Nazareth to his disciples as presented in the gospels of Matthew and Luke (possibly alluded to in Mark). Among the most famous passages in Christian history, it may be the least taken to heart by those who call themselves his students (“followers”). If these ancient instructions that have inspired social reformers for centuries, were indeed taken seriously and practiced today, it is possible that the Church as we know it would look profoundly different and perhaps cease to exist.Chris Highland, a former minister and chaplain, approaches this famous text through the eyes of a freethinker who is not anti-religious. In fact, with his re-framing of the biblical narrative the intention is to bridge the "wide divide" between theists and atheists through a fresh reading and radical re-interpretation of a day in the life of the heretical mountain-climber. This is a simple book with potentially powerful and profound implications for secular and spiritually-sensitive people.

42 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2021

About the author

Author of Broken Bridges (2020), A Freethinker's Gospel (2018) as well as six natural meditation books beginning with Meditations of John Muir (2001); also Life After Faith (2010), My Address is a River (2010), the novel Jesus and John Muir (2010), Nature is Enough (2013) and other web-published works including poetry, essays and a childrens' book.

A former minister and chaplain in the SF Bay Area, he is now a freethinking humanist celebrant who teaches and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

Chris writes the weekly "Highland Views" column for the Citizen-Times and blogs at www.chighland.com.