Review of :  Remarkable:  Living a Faith Worth Talking About

Brady Boyd.  Howard Books, $26.00 (288p) ISBN 978-1-9821-0137-4

Senior Pastor of New Life Church and cohost of The Essential Church Podcast, Boyd brings Christian readers an approach to living out their faith in the current American climate using the teachings of Paul as a guide.  Boyd likens today’s temptations to sin, including fortune, power, and sexual immorality, to those present in Corinthian society at the time of Paul’s arrival [pp. 1-7].  He examines three ways that Christians have historically responded to the culture in which they live, including becoming integrators (who “slide effortlessly into the surrounding culture so that they are largely indistinguishable from it”), instigators (who adopt an attitude of divisiveness and respond in anger), and isolators (who react out of fear and thus refuse to engage at all) [pp. 19-36].  However, Boyd suggests a fourth approach guided by Paul’s lessons to the Corinthian church, that of adopting a remarkable love [pp. 37-59].  According to Boyd, the characteristics of remarkable love reflect equality, grace, sexual morality, worship, and hope [pp. 61-223].  He urges readers to practice acceptance, kindness, and forgiveness to cultivate grace [pp. 94-110].  To prize purity, Boyd recommends being watchful and choosing to love well, and the practices of prayer, praise, intimacy, and friendship to support healthy marriages [pp. 125-158].  He exhorts the church to come together around the foundations of the Holy Spirit, integrity, and love in order to cultivate diversity, continuity, intentionality, and encouragement.  As Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Christians should develop maturity in Christ [pp. 247-248] and commit to bringing the gospel to those in need [p. 250].  Boyd tends to be repetitive and fails to adequately resolve tensions between engaging others while fundamentally disagreeing with them.  4 stars