Description
Book SynopsisHow close do we dare to get to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount? It's widely considered the key to understanding who Jesus was and what mission he strove to fulfill. For two millennia, countless people have wrestled to apply it, from Augustine to Luther to Tolstoy to Gandhi. Alongside much wisdom, there has been much evasion, prompting Jewish theologian Pinchas Lapide's tart comment: The history of the impact of the Sermon on the Mount can largely be described in terms of an attempt to domesticate everything in it that is shocking, demanding, and uncompromising, and render it harmless. There's good reason for this: Jesus' teaching is deeply disruptive. It demands a top-to-bottom reordering of life, work, and social relations,?starting with radical economic sharing, nonresistance and love of enemies, lifelong marriage, and unconditional forgiveness.
This issue of Plough Quarterly focuses on people willing to get their hands dirty living out the Sermon on the Mount
