Your Jesus Is too Small

We can make Jesus look very small if we are not careful. Your Jesus Is Too Small explores how a trivialized Jesus contributes to a collapsed Christian moral character. The 2016 election exposed the truth that for many Christians character does not count, or is a very low priority. Eighty-one percent of white evangelicals voted for President Trump, not known as a man of high moral character. This collapse of character is especially troubling since Christians claim to seek after the mind and character of Jesus Christ. What's more, the ingrained and unrelenting cultural values--combined with our inescapable self-centered pursuits--bombard us every moment and blight our character. After noting how we belittle Jesus, this book explores ways we can exalt him, allowing his character traits to inform and then transform our hearts and minds. A credible Jesus also means that more tongues will confess him and more knees bow before him and that more people will desire his compassionate character. Then we will be morally equipped to address the great crises of our day: persistent poverty, the marginalizing of out-groups, raging violence, and our planet's lingering woes.In this book, Doug Miller does the work of a prophet who comes with a sledgehammer to smash the false idols that we have constructed in place of the biblical Jesus. With the insights of an academic, but in the language of a typical layperson, he deconstructs the American Jesus in order to clear the way for us to encounter the true historical Jesus as revealed in Scripture. --Tony Campolo, from the forewordI have just two words in response to this insightful book that alerts us to both the false gods of our culture and the actual Jesus of Scripture: 'Ouch' and 'Thanks.' This is a wonderful mirror for those brave enough to look into it.--Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor of Northland, A Church DistributedIn this much-needed, well-written, highly-readable, important new book, Doug Miller seeks to free us from the false pictures and incorrect understandings of Jesus created through our self-serving personal, social, and political beliefs. Instead he challenges each of us to develop a character based on the real Jesus and his teachings. He calls us to make the true gospel of Jesus come alive in our hearts and minds in order to make a powerful, positive difference in today's troubled world.--William C. Nelsen, Pastor, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Interim President, Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, MassachusettsDoug Miller exposes the false Christianities for what they are: deeply distorted versions of the original message that have been exploited to justify injustice, to suppress the suppressed, and to strengthen the strong. A timely and important work.--Jarmo Tarkki, California Lutheran UniversityDouglas J. Miller was Professor of Christian Social Ethics at Eastern Baptist Seminary (now Palmer Seminary). He also pastored the First Baptist Church of Santa Barbara, California. He has written Jesus Goes to Washington (Wipf & Stock, 2013) and contributed to the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (2001). His work also appears in Christianity Today and the American Baptist Journal.