BOOK REVIEW

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

FALL TO GRACE
A Revolution of God, Self and Society
By Jay Bakker with Martin Edlund
 

OVERVIEW: In this book Bakker explores the true nature of grace and what it means in everyday life. With disarming humility, poignant observations, and spot-on-theology, Bakker both challenges Christians to reassess their understanding of salvation and entices non-Christians to give Jesus a chance.

AUTHOR: Jay Bakker is the son of disgraced televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. At the age of eleven his parents' PTL ministry was caught in a high-profile accounting fraud scandal, and his family was devastated by his father's affair and his parents' subsequent divorce. A disillusioned Bakker turned to drugs and alcohol and left his childhood beliefs behind. But along the way an interesting thing happened: Bakker came to understand, through all his pain, what God's grace was really all about. Jay was assisted in writing by writer, Martin Edlund.

MY REVIEW: The best thing about this book is the subject―grace. Jay Bakker had been around churches his whole life, yet he didn't discover grace―true grace―revolutionary grace―until he was twenty years old. Even then, he said it took him fourteen years to really get his head around it and begin to understand its implications. When I read his words I thought to myself, "that's about how long it takes most of us, if not longer."

I can remember seeing Jay or Jamie as he was called as a child, on television and feeling sorry for him. As a child and as a man Jay has endured and lived through a lot of crud. It's not my place in this review to dredge up the past. The life he and his parents lived is an interesting story and one that helps understand Jay's discovery of grace. He tells enough of that story in his book to help you understand his "fall to grace." 

So, if you are interested in the life of the Bakker family, the PTL ministry, and their rise and fall, you will appreciate this book. As with most books and views on theology, I found a few things to disagree with. You may also but this is a good book and one I hope you will read.