Radical by David Platt

When I began reading David Platt’s book Radical, I was fully expecting a dry, uninteresting Christian non-fiction book.  Boy, was I wrong.  The author’s premise is that we are redefining Jesus into “a nice, middle-class, American Jesus.  A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have.  A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection.  A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are…A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.”

The author, labeled as “the youngest megachurch pastor in history”, does not condemn, but encourages the reader to take a fresh look at the Jesus of the Bible.  To rediscover what he wanted and demanded from his disciples, which remains the same today.  And to commit for one year to what Platt terms, “The Radical Experiment”.  He invites the reader to “see if radical obedience to the commands of Christ is more meaningful, more fulfilling, and more gratifying than the American dream”. 

This book is one that you will want to “highlight up” and then go back and read again.

I received this book for free from Water Brook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.