The virtue of obedience is seen as outdated today, if not downright toxic – and yet, are we any freer than our forebears? In this provocative work, Jacob Phillips argues not. Many feel unable to speak freely, their opinions policed by the implicit or explicit threat of coercion. Impending ecological disaster is the ultimate threat to our freedoms and wellbeing, and living in a disenchanted cosmos leaves people enslaved to nihilistic whim. Phillips shows that the antiquated notion of obedience to the moral law contains forgotten dimensions, which can be a source of freedom from these contemporary fetters. These dimensions of obedience – such as loyalty, discipline and order – protect people from falling prey to the subtle forms of coercion, control and domination of twenty-first-century life. Fusing literary insight with philosophical discussion and cultural critique, Phillips demonstrates that in obedience lies the path to true freedom.

An astute, outspoken lay theologian talks to Christians about how they can today find freedom in obedience to Christ's gospel and about the urgent necessity of trying to live this kind of freedom now. He insists that his readers look realistically and relentlessly at their own condition, at the condition of the church -- and that they see how these relate and compare to Christ's gospel. His book, based on certain passages from Hebrews, thus becomes a call to freedom and a call to revolutionary Christianity. William Stringfellow begins by spelling out, in impressive and telling detail, how the church has become mired in secular idolatries and ideologies, both economic and political. Then, in constrast to this situation, he examines Christ's resistance to the temptations of worldly power. Stringfellow ends his book by emphasizing the meaning of the resurrection as the exercise of the freedom of God and sets forth the victory over death and bondage given in Christ. Only in that gift is the Christian free to offer his own life to the world. Only thus is he free in obedience.

When, on the first night of our arrival in the "savage" Aucas village, they gave us houses to live in, food and water and wood and fire, things were not so simple for me. My categories began to crumble. I had thought I knew what a savage was like. I had thought I knew exactly how the Gospel would change him. As weeks passed, I began to realize that not only had I been mistaken about these things, but very likely I was just as mistaken about some other categories which had seemed clear before. How readily I had seen Christian virtues in those I called Christians in my own country, and the "works of the flesh" in those who did not bear the Christian label. What was I now to do with the apparent manifestation of virtue -- peace, longsuffering, kindness -- in those who had never heard of Christ? Things were not as I had thought.

Wise Sheep Among the Wolves All Christian disciples have one thing in common: as they carry the gospel across the ocean and across the street, persecution will become the norm for those who choose to follow Jesus. How believers respond in the face of persecution reveals everything about their level of faith and obedience. The Insanity of Obedience is a bold challenge to global discipleship. Nik Ripken exposes the danger of safe Christianity and calls readers to something greater. The Insanity of Obedience challenges Christians in the same, provocative way that Jesus did. This book dares you—and prepares you—to cross the street and the oceans with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Some of Jesus’ instructions sound uncomfortable and are potentially dangerous. We may be initially encouraged by His declaration, “I am sending you out.” But how are we to respond when He then tells us that He is sending us out “like sheep among wolves"? In light of the words of Jesus, how can modern day believers rest comfortably in the status quo? How can we embrace casual faith in light of the radical commands of Jesus which are anything but casual? Ripken brings decades of ministry experience in some of the most persecuted areas of the world to bear on our understanding of faith in Jesus. The Insanity of Obedience is a call to roll up your sleeves . . . and to follow and partner with Jesus in the toughest places on this planet. "We have the high privilege of answering Jesus’ call to go," Ripken says. "But let us be clear about this: we go on His terms, not ours. If we go at all, we go as sheep among wolves." Jesus gives us Himself. And He gives us the tools necessary for those who dare to journey with Him.

Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." For the Christian, obedience to Christ is axiomatic, it goes without saying. But what many do not understand is that godly obedience is the way to a life characterized by a peace, joy , and freedom that the world cannot know. We don't obey God to gain our salvation. Salvation is God's free gift through faith in the work of Jesus Christ in His life, death, and resurrection. But once saved, a Christian is given a deep desire to love God and want to obey. This book is a study of the way to do that very thing.

The Christian ethic...is an ethic that cannot be assimilated into the moral consensus of the wider community.... The way of the cross cannot be reconciled with the way of the world, just as the gospel cannot be conjoined with the laws that gave stability to social order... The thesis of this book is that human justice can never be a substitute for divine justification...but it can be a sign and witness to the justifying grace of God in Jesus Christ. Humanitarian works can never reach the heights of deeds of sacrificial love and mercy, but they can point to this higher righteousness and awaken a thirst for it... We must always be on guard against two perils: the Scylla of legalism and rigorism and Charybdis of antinomianism. An ethics of the divine commandment, by uniting law and grace, the imperative and the indicative, shows how we can live the authentic Christian life in obedience to the highest, which is not a law but a person, not an ideal but the reality of the New Being, the power of crucified love, as we see this in Jesus Christ.Ó - (from Freedom for Obedience)