THE GOSPEL YOU'VE NEVER HEARD

A Christian’s call for a renewed emphasis on understanding the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Like many disillusioned Christians, Daigneau had a midlife crisis of faith in which he found that he was spiritually “exhausted” with “the Christian façade” as various churches were beset by various scandals. Although he served on the governing board of a church that was free of such scandal, he still “found ego…and the need for personal control” among his peers, “the likes of which I had never seen in any secular board room.” It was only after making a sincere effort to reprioritize, truly understand, and actually live out the Gospel, or the “Good News,” that he was able to restore his faith. The book’s approachable writing style blends experiences from the author’s personal life, such as his involvement with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes while he was a quarterback at Northwestern University, with astute analysis of Christian philosophy and the Bible, including the New Testament’s original Greek. In addition to drawing life lessons from the stories of biblical figures such as Job and Paul, the author also challenges Christians to reevaluate clichés that dominate, and limit, dialogue. On the topic of salvation, for instance, he notes that many Christians reduce Jesus to “an eternal life insurance salesman” whose policies will be collected upon entry into heaven. This book is designed for personal reflection as well as group study, and the author concludes each chapter with a “Deliberations” section that assigns additional research and asks probing questions. Daigneau should be particularly commended for his respectful, nuanced engagement with the work of high-profile atheist critics of religion, such as Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris. Rather than dismissing their arguments outright, he carefully considers and even occasionally agrees with their perspectives, and he provides an admirable model for constructive disagreement. The book’s array of references to Christian philosophers and theologians, however, is mostly limited to evangelical and Protestant perspectives, so Catholic and Orthodox readers may find themselves shut out of a book that prioritizes the Bible as its “Primary Source.”

An accessible and learned approach to Christianity.