Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk & True Flourishing

Crouch (Culture Making and Playing God), executive editor of Christianity Today, follows his previous studies with an eloquent and accessible study on the meaning of human flourishing. From a Christian point of view, he asks "What does it mean for human beings to be fully alive?" For Crouch, the answer lies in "the paradox of flourishing," the idea that being fully alive%E2%80%94and, indeed, fully human%E2%80%94depends upon our being able to hold together the apparently opposed qualities of strength and weakness as well as authority and vulnerability, which, he demonstrates, are all exemplified in the life of Christ. Timely, well-chosen stories%E2%80%94incidents of racism, tales of a family's suffering, thoughts on the phenomenon of faux vulnerability%E2%80%94 illustrate his thesis. This brief book examines how vulnerability without authority and authority without vulnerability limit and distort human flourishing and connection, and offers both sophisticated theory and practical thoughts on ways that individual Christians can live spiritually balanced lives by embracing both strength and weakness. Agent: Kathryn Helmers, Creative Trust. (Mar.)