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The growing movement of post-evangelicalism highlights an opportunity to elevate and center the moral teachings of Jesus.
So many of those who identify as Christian intuitively know that their old version of faith is no longer working, and they feel a theological vacuum. David P. Gushee has been a leader in recent years for those ready to move on to a more examined and robust faith. Now, in The Moral Teachings of Jesus, Gushee examines forty teachings of Jesus, drawn from all four New Testament Gospels, to clarify exactly what Jesus said about the moral life.
Gushee claims, Jesus offered radical instruction in the moral will of God. This book takes the reader inside that instruction, offering a bracing, inviting vision of Jesus himself.
“I can’t wait for this book to get in the hands of folks at our church. It is a game-changer.”
—ZACH W. LAMBERT, lead pastor, Restore Austin
Also see the free, 100-page Study Guide for The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God written by Jeremy Hall. It's an essential companion for those seeking a deeper understanding of Jesus’ moral teachings. For small group discussions or individual study, it provides insights into forty of Jesus’ moral teachings. Each chapter includes summaries, discussion questions, homework assignments, and prayers, aiming to facilitate meaningful engagement with the text.
Conversations about Religion and Politics on the Eve of the 2024 Election Season
Bradley Onishi
Bradley Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, writer, teacher, coach, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. He often speaks about topics related to the radical conservatism and extremist religions that shape our world, some of it right in our own neighborhoods. Join in the conversation about where and when some of the far right religious conservatism began, and how it's reacted poorly to the kind of change that actually makes democracy stronger.
Andrew Whitehead
Andrew Whitehead is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a Project Director at the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI, and a co-Director of the Association of Religion Data Archives (theARDA.com), the world's largest online religion data archive. Join in the conversation about how there are unexamined aspects related to privilege in our religion that how we can learn to be more inclusive in democratic society.
Robert P. Jones
Robert P. Jones, President of the Public Religion Research Institute, joins David Gushee to discuss both their books including Jones's new book, The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: and the Path to a Shared American Future. Join in this rich conversation about how religion becomes entangled with politics and how Christians can sometimes abandon their democratic ideals.
Other Recent Books by David Gushee
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Illiberal America Has Won Many Times Before
As I write, it is four weeks until the election. The polls on reputable sites like Fivethirtyeight.com are giving the Harris-Walz ticket a very slight advantage, with the results coming down to one or two states. Those of us who lean left in politics frequently find ourselves in ultimately fruitless conversations in which one or the other of […]
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Apalachee High School: The Questions that Haunt Me at Night
I am writing this post very early in the morning of Friday, Sept. 6. It is less than 48 hours after 14-year-old Colt Gray decided to start his freshman year at Apalachee High School, 40 minutes north of me, by murdering his classmates and teachers, four of whom are dead, nine of whom are injured. I […]
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Regarding Election 2024: Eight Things I See
After a tumultuous and fascinating two months in American politics, here are some things I see as this election year moves into its final stretch. After the June presidential debate, Joe Biden’s candidacy was doomed. He was right to drop out. There was no unseeing the feebleness we all saw. Afterward, the polls were showing Biden […]
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The Dark Shadows over July 4
The 248th birthday of our country will be celebrated this year under dark shadows. Personally, I will not be doing much celebrating. Let’s review our situation, shall we? Former President Donald Trump already was leading in the presidential election polls before the June 27 debate between him and President Joe Biden. In that debate, this is […]
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My New Book: The Moral Teachings of Jesus
My newest book, The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God, will be out from Wipf and Stock Publishers (Cascade Books) on September 10. Pre-orders are now available. What I do in this book is dig into forty moral teachings of Jesus as presented in the Gospels. Each of these teachings is addressed […]
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Trump Is Leading: What Does This Say about Us?
Donald Trump appears to be leading in most meaningful election polling. According to the authoritative Real Clear Politics, Trump leads slightly in overall polling and in every single swing state. Betting averages have him up on Biden 50% to 38%. We all must prepare ourselves for the possibility that Donald Trump will become president again. For anyone […]
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The Post-Evangelicals Take Their Next Step Forward
History may well record that April 16-17, 2024, marked a breakthrough moment in the emergence of an organized post-evangelical Christian movement in the United States. It certainly felt like a breakthrough to this participant-observer, as I had the privilege of attending the third and by far the largest national gathering of the Post-Evangelical Collective last week. Stuffing 300 […]
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At the Cross: What I See
The Lenten season has been especially intense for me this year on a spiritual level. I have sought to follow its rhythms, demands and opportunities from Ash Wednesday until now, Holy Week. Each day I have read the Mass readings and experienced their impact. My sense that the Christian life is best undertaken within the rhythm […]
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Broken-Hearted Patriotism
I have a weekly prayer cycle I try to practice in my morning devotional time. On Mondays, I pray for myself, my discipleship, health, calling and responsibilities. On Tuesdays, I pray for each family member. On Wednesdays, I pray for my friends. And on Thursdays, I pray for the church and the various institutions and churches […]
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Thinking Biblically about Government in an Election Year
I begin by saying the obvious: We enter an election year in a time of great political and cultural division in our country. That could have been said every four years since 1968. But today we also can add that we enter an election year with very high levels of social mistrust, loss of confidence in […]
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Racism’s Absurdity in Light of the Gospel
We’ve just celebrated Martin Luther King weekend. The great Baptist preacher, scholar and activist would have been 95 years old. We rightly honor him. The Civil Rights Movement led by King was not that long ago. We still live with the reverberations of that era. Indeed, I would suggest our own miserably divided politics still reflect […]
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We Face a Cultural Crisis, Not Just a Political One
As Jeanie and I danced the night away in Atlanta on New Year’s Eve — yes, we actually did that, although I admit I ended up with a twisted knee, a sadly predictable outcome for a man of my rapidly advancing years — I was aware that the spirit of revelry in the room was not […]
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Devouring Beasts: Advent and the 2024 election
In the Christian calendar, the new year begins with the first Sunday of Advent. That is the Sunday just past. Happy Christian New Year, everyone! If one is thinking in terms of the Christian calendar, then, the new year began on Dec. 3, 2023, and will end on Nov. 30, 2024. That means before the next […]
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City of the Living, City of the Dead: From Vilnius to Israel/Palestine
I spent the last weekend of October exploring the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. I was in that grand 700-year-old city for speaking appearances and to visit friends. My dear wife, Jeanie, came with me. Tuesday, Oct. 31, was free, and Jeanie and I decided on different itineraries. She went exploring in Lithuania’s many historic Catholic […]
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My argument in Defending Democracy from Its Christian Enemies
This week, my new book, Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies, officially releases. I am told that even before its release, it exceeded the publisher’s sales expectations for one full year. I am grateful for the high interest in the book. In this post, I want to review its main arguments. My thesis is that many […]
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An Ethicist Tackles the Issues
Dr. Gushee speaks to a wide range of audiences and organizations, including churches, universities, special forums, podcasts and the media. He often speaks on evangelicalism, LGBTQ+ inclusion, politics, and other issues of the day by offering a principled and everyday level perspective that informs and inspires.
David Gushee’s work in [Changing Our Mind] stands to be of pivotal importance in reframing the LGBTQ dialogue in the church, and in reclaiming the church’s moral authority for a new generation.
—Matthew Vines, author of God and the Gay Christian
“Kingdom Ethics is arguably the most significant and comprehensive Christian ethics textbook of our time.”
— Michelle A. Clifton-Soderstrom, North Park Theological Seminary
“Anyone who wants to know what a Christian ethicist is and does can begin [with Still Christian], with the compelling account of how one man makes life-bending decisions about things that matter, without ever losing faith in the tender Jesus who has hold of his soul.”
–Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Leaving Church and Learning to Walk in the Dark
"David Gushee is one of the best Christian ethicists alive today. "
—Shane Claiborne, speaker, activist, and author of Executing Grace
"Thinking about Christianity after evangelicalism is neither trendy, alarmist, nor faithless, but rather it carves out a needed path forward for those millions of exvangelicals who have found the movement that birthed them to be irrelevant, traumatic, and even abhorrent and are seeking a place to land. Few have earned the right to speak to this topic with such prophetic clarity and practical insight, not to mention approachable writing style, as David Gushee."
–Peter Enns, author of How the Bible Actually Works