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St. Augustine's Press, 2008
In the midst of a modernized, western protestant Christianity that often reduces Jesus to nothing more than the purveyor of a "warm and fuzzy, be nice, and help one another" message, it's understandable if people forget that there was nothing warm and fuzzy about Jesus. He was radical— to the point of being shocking. In Jesus-Shock, Peter Kreeft opens our eyes again to the stunning and divisive truth of Christ.Unfortunately, boredom is often what we find in church today. Over the centuries, we've managed to water down Christ into dull milk toast. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Kreeft says, "...if your Jesus is boring, your Jesus is not the right Jesus."
After an introductory section highlighted by quizzes and surveys that explain who needs to read Jesus-Shock and why, this small book jumps right to the facts: an overview of the available data that illustrates the Jesus-Shock phenomena, followed by example after example of Jesus' shocking words and deeds from the Gospels. The final third of the book deals with the greatest shock, the one that has caused the most controversy over the years: the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
The pace is quick and engaging. Kreeft's style is like that of the consummate boxer: he throws sharp and precise jabs one after another instead of one, big hay-maker. The result is an effective and enduring demolition of any resistance the reader might have to the concept of Jesus-Shock.
While Kreeft succeeds in demonstrating Jesus never was and never will be boring, the same can be said of Kreeft. To borrow one of his own turns of phrase, if the Peter Kreeft book you're reading is boring, then your Kreeft book is not a real Kreeft book.
