FLIPPED

Fans of popular authors Brian McLaren and Rob Bell will welcome this eye-opening exploration of God's unavoidable presence.

Insistently biblical in his writing, pastor/author Doug Pagitt uses the words and thinking of St. Paul, Jesus, and other major biblical figures to help readers live more intentionally and faithfully as they learn to experience God's immediate presence. Respected author and religion commentator Phyllis Tickle has observed that every five hundred years, an unforeseen upheaval transforms Christianity. We are experiencing such a wholesale realignment today, and it is seen in the work and influence of emergence Christianity. Doug Pagitt has helped steer this shift as a teacher, writer, and chief architect of new Christian understandings for the Hubble generation (in contrast to the previous, Galileo-era rationalism). How does the biblical claim that God fills the universe with his presence influence our understanding of God's greatness, his power, and his wisdom for living? Pagitt quotes St. Paul, who in turn quoted Epimenides of Crete, to help readers grasp this revolutionary truth: we live and move in God; our very being is found "in God." Doug Pagitt is widely known as primary cofounder (with Tony Jones) of the emerging church, a movement that responded to stasis in the traditional church. Pagitt and others have been leaders in helping to shift the church's emphasis from internal matters to the questions, conflicts, and needs of people outside the church. He is the author of several books, including A Christianity Worth Believing, Body Prayer, and Evangelism in the Inventive Age.