Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus
John Eldredge
FaithWords, 2011, 240 pp., $22.99

Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love
Mark Scandrette
InterVarsity Press, 2011 192 pp., $15

The only way a book can be truly great is if it confronts an issue that desperately needs addressing and if it approaches that topic in a fresh and esoteric manner. It would be hard to find two more fantastically common subjects in Christian non-fiction than Jesus and following Jesus, yet these are the subjects Eldredge and Scandrette (respectively) tackle in their valiant efforts to offer something fresh and profound to the existing conversations.

Beautiful Outlaw is born out of a belief of Eldredge’s that many have a skewed view of the personality of Christ. Elderedge is dissatisfied with a portrayal of Christ that is anything less than real and emotional. He believes that since religion has “inoculated” us to the real Christ, many “do not know the comfort of his actual presence.” In Beautiful Outlaw you will find the writings of man who whole heartedly believes in a real personal Messiah with a real personality.

Practicing the Way of Jesus stems from Scandrette’s discontentment with the methods traditionally taught as the only ways to follow Christ. Scandrette is a huge proponent of experimenting with finding creative and practical ways to follow Christ in shared communal practices. While the book is highly applicable, his desire in not to change the way you do things, but rather that you be changed into the kind of person who does things differently, as would Jesus.

If you’ve always seen Christ as a flat character in the Bible or if your experience with following Jesus historically has operated within a rigid system of religious disciplines, these books should broaden your understandings of the Christian faith.