cover image NEW WAY TO BE HUMAN: A Provocative Look at What It Means to Follow Jesus

NEW WAY TO BE HUMAN: A Provocative Look at What It Means to Follow Jesus

Charlie Peacock-Ashworth, . . Shaw, $12.99 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-87788-071-4

A singer-songwriter, record producer and author (At the Crossroads ), Peacock proclaims the "new way to be human" both positively and negatively—to be truly human is to embrace God's kingdom, bringing every area of one's life under divine rule; it also means abandoning the dictates of dead religion. Believers must "step into their role in the ongoing faith story of God's people." Scripture tells this story, but Peacock reminds us that it's also lived by Jesus' followers. Faith withers in those who reduce the story to a formula or ignore its implications: Peacock gently criticizes those who are materialistic or who oversimplify the gospel. The book begins with Peacock recalling a conversation with a college student. That's appropriate, because the next 18 chapters, full of earnestness, rambling and epiphany, resemble a late-night discussion in a dorm. Peacock's fans won't be the only ones fascinated as he tells his own story while urging the reader to become part of God's. In touching on work, relationships, creativity, theology and epistemology, New Way tries to do too much. But taken in small doses, it may refresh life-weary Christians who are asking, "Is this all there is?" (Mar. 16)