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Jonathan K. Dodson

Autore di Gospel-Centered Discipleship (Re:Lit)

12 opere 825 membri 4 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv, ThM) is the founding pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas, and founder of Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He is the author of several books, including The Unbelievable Gospel, Raised?, and Here in Spirit.

Comprende il nome: Jonathan Dodson

Opere di Jonathan K. Dodson

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Summary: Underlying the various crises of our culture is a moral crisis, a crisis of good into which the virtues of the Beatitudes can speak, leading to moral flourishing.

Sexual assault and other misdeeds. Financial misdealing. Political divisiveness. Consumerism that is consuming the planet. Jonathan K. Dodson contends that underlying all of these crises is a moral crisis. A crisis of good. Dodson speaks from experience. He grabs our attention in the opening words of this book:

I picked up the phone and said hello.

"Jonathan, this is Amy." I hadn't spoken to my old girlfriend since she'd moved to Alaska a decade ago.

"Well, okay. I've been meaning to call you for a long time. I need to tell you something. When we were dating, I got pregnant and had an abortion. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it. I just felt like it would send you on a different path, away from ministry, so I kept it to myself."

Our crisis of good reflects that we live in a context where we no longer clearly know what is the good, nor are learning the virtues that lead to virtue, to acting with integrity in personal and public settings. For Dodson, the Beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, offer a pathway to grow in the virtues that lead to goodness and foster our moral flourishing.

Dodson devotes a chapter to each of the beatitudes. In an age of self, "the big me," poverty of spirit grasps our bankruptcy before God, how desperately we fall short of his righteousness, that brings us into the kingdom and a humility that becomes a gift to others. We live in an age of distraction that diverts us from the mourning that brings real comfort and not mere diversion. Meekness calls us out of a culture of comparing with others how big of piece of the world's pie of glory we are getting. Instead, the meek inherit God and all that is in Him. We move in a culture of expedient values rather than being rooted in the righteousness of God that pursues justice for all and not just ourselves.

Dodson goes on in succeeding chapters to discuss mercy in an age of tolerance, purity in an age of self-expression, peacemaking in an age of outrage, and persecution in an age of comfort. One thing I thought he nailed with regard to peacemaking, was how often we are either more concerned about being right than making peace or more concerned about keeping a superficial peace to tell the truth about grievances that are coming between us.

Dodson weaves three helpful elements through his discussions: astute cultural analysis that relates to each of the Beatitudes, elaboration of the meaning of the Beatitude, and helpful practical examples of how the moral goodness of each of these Beatitudes might be expressed in our lives. Each chapter concludes with several reflection questions.

We are in an age of moral outrage coupled with a lack of moral compass. Even in the church, we mobilize around moral crusades while an onlooking world is disgusted with our moral hypocrisy. Dodson both diagnoses our moral crisis, and offers the Beatitudes as our course of treatment.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
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Segnalato
BobonBooks | Feb 9, 2020 |
One of my passions and interests is to help people grow as disciples of Christ. I also really like the gospel. So when I saw a book called Gospel Centered Discipleship coming down the pike, I just knew I had to review it. Jonathan Dodson, pastor of Austin City Life Church (located conveniently in Austin) has written a thought provoking book addressing what discipleship properly centered on the gospel is. In part 1 he defines discipleship, in part 2 he addresses the motivation and power behind discipleship, and part 3 he addresses practical aspects of how we live it out.

Sharing vulnerably about his own steps and missteps as a disciple, Dodson demonstrates the ways that our discipleship models sometimes miss the point. Some disciples emphasize piety at the expense of mission (spiritual disciplines, instead of social justice or Evangelism). Others emphasize missional activism but fail to help people grow in holiness. The desire to provide accountability, sometimes gives way to legalism, while other discipleship groups err on the side of cheap grace by providing license for believers to sin. Dodson doesn’t want you to emphasize piety at the expense of grace or vise-versa; both vertical and horizontal dimensions of discipleship are important. What he wants us to live into the reality that Jesus is Lord and follow him in his mission and piety.

Along the way, he invites us to experience confession and community, stoke our religious affections and commune with the Holy Spirit to help us mature as disciples. His focus on the ‘three conversions’ (conversion to Christ as Lord and Savior, conversion to the Body of Christ, and Conversion to Christ’s mission) ensures that his own model of discipleship is fairly holistic and communal. His model is rooted in church practice rather than individual disciplines.

The last section of the book, talks about how we can practically live out this model of discipleship. Dodson writes about ‘fight clubs’ which are his name for a three person small group where participants meet to encourage one another to fight the good fight in living for Jesus (fighting sin in our lives, fighting to keep Christ at the center of our heart, fighting to extend his mission). Admittedly, I find the name is cheesy and a little gimmicky, but I like the concept. At any rate, Dodson’s description of fight clubs can be modified. This is just one example of how you can live out gospel-centered discipleship.

There is so much I like about this book. I really appreciated the way Dodson critiques some versions of discipleship which I have found unhelpful (i.e. how accountability groups can promote legalism). His model of discipleship is Biblically and theologically informed (mostly from a Reformed Evangelical bent). While I may disagree in minor points of emphasis, on the whole this seemed like a helpful and thoughtful book. I really appreciated the richness of sources he cited.

The part of the book that I found most aggravating, does not reflect on Dodson so much as his editor. In the print edition, a general Index and Scripture Index covering various topics, authors and Bible passages quoted in the text. Unfortunately both of these seem to be for a different book (they cover topics Dodson does not and direct you to page numbers he doesn’t have). If you choose to read this book electronically, then the indexes are superfluous, but I found their ineffectiveness irritating.

But as a whole I would recommend this book to someone looking for an accessible guide to discipleship for those who want the truth of the gospel and Jesus’ Lordship (his kingship and leadership) to penetrate every part of our lives.

Thank you to Crossway books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for this fair and rather friendly review.
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Segnalato
Jamichuk | 2 altre recensioni | May 22, 2017 |
Few things send a shudder down a book reviewer’s spine more than reading a book penned by a friend. So when I began reading Jonathan Dodson’s Gospel Centered Discipleship, I was thrilled to see that his wisdom and experience as a theologian and as a church planter came through the pages.

I remember being taken aback by the theological depth of Dodson when we met in Austin several years ago. He was one of the first (though thank God, not the last) church planter I had met whose primary pursuit was biblical fidelity, rather than merely building a growing church. Reading his book left me with the same impression.

In Dodson, we see a pastor deliberately working through a biblical model of discipleship which requires, “not only ‘sharing our faith,’ but also sharing our lives – failures, successes, disobedience and obedience” (15). The entire second half of the book brings its focus to what Dodson terms, “Fight Clubs” – intentionally small, and deliberate discipleship groups that bring the focus of each member back to the gospel on a regular basis.

Any pastor seeking to establish a more intentional discipleship program should invest in his church by reading this book. Even if one does not put the entire practice into effect, Dodson’s book will provide much needed insight into another potential direction for making disciples.

I highly recommend this book.
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Segnalato
David_Norman | 2 altre recensioni | Mar 8, 2013 |
Checked out to Natalie Rice 8/7/15
 
Segnalato
dham | 2 altre recensioni | Aug 7, 2015 |

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Statistiche

Opere
12
Utenti
825
Popolarità
#30,925
Voto
½ 3.6
Recensioni
4
ISBN
24

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