A Conspiracy of Love: Following Jesus in a Postmodern World

Before there were worshippers of Jesus, there were followers of Jesus. Before there were organized churches with creeds and doctrines, there were small communities of love, equality, and sharing dedicated to the practice of Jesus' teachings and committed to a wholly new way of living.

Today, the churches of the Global North are in decline and younger generations no longer seek meaning there. Traditional "church Christianity" is gradually giving way to some new way of faithful living. From a Nazi prison cell, German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer imagined a future "religionless Christianity" consisting of contemplative prayer and righteous action in the secular world.

A Conspiracy of Love presents the contours of such a faith based on the "way" of Jesus. It calls us to become troublemakers, revolutionaries, seekers of change, and agents of transformation engaged in conspiracies of love to establish justice and peace in a postmodern world. It offers many different people–those who remain in the church, those who have left, and those who have never ventured near–with a life of faith that is meaningful, intelligent, and passionate.

Table of contents:

• preface: losing my religion
• introduction: not just for Christians

the way of Jesus

• following Jesus
• the two gospels
• the kingdom of God
• a conspiracy of love

Jesus and the Christ

• the prophetic Jesus
• the apocalyptic Christ

the path of transformation

• the postmodern world
• the spiritual journey
• cultural nonconformity

a conspiracy of love

• Bonhoeffer's vision
• contemplation and action
• the ethics of love
• agents of love