Imaginary Jesus: A Not-Quite-True Story
Matt Mikalatos
Barna Books, 2010, 240 pp., $14.99, Tyndale.com/BarnaBooks
Don’t settle for “Jesus.” It’s one of the most important things we can teach students—not to erect a false version of Christ accidentally or on purpose. Yet, as hard as we try to impart that challenge, we often need a sideline assist to help teens understand their blind spots.
Enter a not-so-quite true story of one man’s realization that he’s been hanging out with a more convenient “Jesus” than the real One. Read as a first-person memoir, the reader is taken on a somewhat over-the-top journey that never loses practicality.
Undoubtedly, this angle will offend some people, but it will offend them in all the right ways. I’ve found my new favorite book, not only for the insights it offered me but for the conversation it’s afforded my church. Mikalatos packages honesty with humor that allows us to ask questions we’d rather not ask, but absolutely should.
