cover image If God Is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World

If God Is Love: Rediscovering Grace in an Ungracious World

Philip Gulley, James Mulholland, Jim Mulholland. HarperOne, $22.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-06-057841-1

Gulley and Mulholland's first book, If Grace Is True , outlined their belief that hell and Satan do not exist. Every person will come to salvation because of God's love for all. This, their second book together, is their answer to one question: ""What could our world look like if we took seriously God's love for all people?"" The two Quaker ministers present a brief apologetic for their belief in universal salvation, then focus on how to live with this belief. They suggest ""a new world order,"" a phrase they acknowledge will startle many. That new order is one of grace in life, love, religion, giving, forgiveness, politics and justice. Those who posit that Scripture is inerrant, including its visions of God's wrath and judgment, will find little here to convince them otherwise. What they will find is a new way to live. Christians are called to treat everyone as family members loved by the Father, not to ""save"" them but to point them to God. This translates into a heart of forgiveness, giving generously to the world's needy, a politics of compromise rather than division and an understanding that justice doesn't mean revenge. Satan's existence and humanity's need for salvation aside, this book details well Christ's command to love others and how to live that out. (Dec.)