In Irresistible-Reclaiming the New that Jesus Unleashed for the World, the reader is invited to embrace the original form of Christianity, the version that turned the world upside down 2,000 years ago. The author, an Atlanta, GA pastor, shows how a shift from faith in the resurrection of Jesus to a Bible-centric faith has left Christians with an anemic version of the faith that is not very interesting to those outside the faith or even inside the faith.

The premise of the book is that the first century Christians, not having any Scriptures other than the Jewish Scriptures spread the faith with their eye witness accounts of the resurrection. Succeeding generations similarly used their zeal over the resurrection event to gain new converts to the faith. It worked. The faith spread like wildfire even though getting caught and having to admit it meant that you would be put to death by the legal authorities. The author wants Christians to regain that zeal for the resurrection that our predecessors in the faith had. He believes that it will transform how outsiders view the church and Jesus himself and bring people to Jesus as well as bring backsliders back into the church.

The author spends a lot of time distinguishing between the old covenant between God and Israel and the new covenant between God and anyone willing to participate in it. He explains that when the church became organized, rules and customs were set that were a blending of the two covenants. The two covenants were never meant to be blended because after the resurrection the old covenant was ended. Here he produces a considerable amount of Scripture and history as proof of his thesis.

He continues that the church today still blends the old covenant with the new covenant with Bible focused preaching and reading requirements. However, today's preachers fail to inform their parishioners that the Old Testament was a means to an end. The author is critical of those who pull passages out of the Old Testament and apply them to themselves when the passages apply to ancient Israel. This is also what he calls blending the two covenants. The final third of the book deals with how Christians should handle themselves with each other and with those outside the church in a new covenant manner, all backed up with Scriptural references.

The topic was well researched. Stanley presented Scriptures from Genesis through the New Testament as well as historical references from ancient Israel and the early church as proof of his interpretation and conclusions. He knows the material well.

The writing style of the author is poor. He writes in the same way that he speaks. Unless you are a member of his congregation and are accustomed to his approach you will find the writing disconcerting. Consequently, I found it difficult to connect the points as I got bogged down in the writing method.

Irresistible is the first book of Stanley's that I have read. I was expecting a serious book given the title and the back cover blurb. The writing style subtracted from the strong ideas that Stanley presented. Having said that, the author did a good job of setting up major points in a dramatic fashion. However, he then fell into his culture-specific speaking style. He should, in the future, realize that his audience reaches far beyond the culture of his own congregation and city and adjust his writing style accordingly. ( )