Rating: 
Summary: Stealing Jesus - An Excellent Book
Review: Stealing Jesus- How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity was a revalation to me. Finally, a book that explains the difference between the Christianity that you see on TV and through televangelists- and what is believed by a silent majority of American Christians.He uses the term "legalistic protestantism" to explain that this is the church of law- and contrasts it to the church of love. He says (and presents arguments to explain) that Jesus Christ himself would disagree with much of the far right of Christianity. On page 6 and 7, he explains the major differences between "legalistic" and "non-legalistic" protestantism. For example, "Legalistic Protestantism holds that God loves only the "saved" and that they alone are truly his children; nonlegalistic Protestantism holds that God loves all human beings and that all are his children."
Rating: 
Summary: If you're a fundamentalist Christian you won't like it
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. I happen to agree with the basic premises Bawer introduces, although at times his frustration is a little too evident. It is not as much of a scholarly work as "A Place at the Table", but Bawer does include many quotes and anecdotes which add considerable weight to his assertions. I found Bawer's splitting Christians into two camps, "Legalistic" and "Non-Legalistic" a bit too simplistic (he admits this), but it is useful to make his point. His point is, in my opinion, that in pursuing a legalistic or fundamentalist approach to the Bible, legalistic Christians are missing the biggest Christian teaching of all: love. If you are sympathetic to Bawer's views, you will probably agree with much of the book. If you are a fundamentalist/legalistic Christian, this book will probably be added to your list of "banned" books, and you won't enjoy reading it.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong Theme Sidetracked
Review: Bawer's thesis is that Jesus' still-radical teachings of love, acceptance, and forgiveness, have been subverted by Fundamentalism and replaced with a legalism that Jesus would have eschewed. Clearly, this is a thesis with which few non-Fundamentalist Christians would disagree. However, Bawer sometimes descends into a classist side-showing of Fundamentalist (especially Pentecostal) religious practices. This jeopardizes the appeal of his message, as some might perceive him as motivated by snobbery rather than by any higher calling.
Rating: 
Summary: libelous
Review: As someone who has been both a traditionalist Catholic and a protestant fundamentalist in his life I can tell you that some of what Bawer says is valid. However some of what he writes are just plain lies and it seems that he is more interested in bashing conservative christianity that about educating his readers about Christian love. Among the lies that he writes are the fact the conservative christians are largely uneducated and unthinking folk. This is a very dated stereotype today evangelicals are as likely as anyone else to attend college. Also he accuses conservative chrisitan men of being chauvinist pigs who frequently abuse thier spouses. Growing up Christian Fundamentalist I was taught to revere and protect women, and while it is true that the man has a position of leadership in the family that does not mean that he has a license to do what he pleases and contrary to what Bawer says, thier is a lot that is expected of christian men as to how they treat thier families. Finally the vicious personal attacks that he conducts against the leaders of the conservative christian movement mitigate against calling him an avocate of "love".
Rating:
Summary: Even if you don't agree with him, Bawer is hard not to like.
Review: Although I don't agree with everything that Bawer says, I find that I like his book and his positions enough to find it hard not to like Bawer. As a member of an evangelical Christian Church (Southern Baptist) I think that a number of Bawer's criticisms are valid. Some of his criticims are not valid. I do agree with Bawer that what I mean when I describe myself as a Christian and what some more fundamentalist members of my denomination mean when they ask if a person is "a Christian" can be very different. The book was invaluable for its history of fundamentalism. This book introduced me to the sermons of Harry Emerson Fosdick and it was worth reading just for that.
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Summary: Rebuttal to one reviewer
Review: In an earlier review, someone said: "The Bible claims, in no uncertain terms, to be the Revealed Word of God" Actually, it does no such thing. At no point does the Bible ever claim to be the revealed word of God. Some Christians take it as such, and if they feel it is, that's fine for them. Unfortunately, some of these same Christians also like to pick and choose which biblical passages to believe (not surprisingly, since the Bible often contradicts itself, and different books ascribe different words to Jesus). Some self-professed Christians tend to place far too much emphasis on Old Testament laws and covenants, while ignoring the New Covenant which supercedes the old (see Jeremiah 31:31, Luke 22:20, and especially 2 Corinthians 3:6 to 11). This is why we need books like 'Stealing Jesus' - to guide us back to the real message of love that's in the Bible.
Rating:
Summary: Read this with an open mind!
Review: I first read "Stealing Jesus" at a point in my life when I really needed a book of its type. I had become disillusioned with what I perceived as the painfully exclusive nature of Christianity, and I was at the point of forgetting it all together. This book made me aware of the fact that Christianity does not necessarily have to be that way, which was an awakening and a relief for me at that point in my life. However, as I re-encounter the text now, I am concerned at Bawer's lack of understanding for those he terms fundamentalist Christians. Bawer is more than happy to endorse a Christianity that is all-inclusive of those who have traditionally been excluded from Christianity, but those who have a point of view that he sees as incompatible with Christianity are not treated with the embracing love and understanding that he would otherwise recommend. In fact, they were frequently criticized, leaving little room for understanding of the way in which they were raised or their backgrounds. This is troubling to me, and I think it would also be to other Christians who are trying to live the life of love that Bawer is so quick to endorse.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Important Book For Our Times
Review: It's interesting to read the negative reviews of Bawer's book. Two of the harshest reader critiques made note of Bawer's homosexuality. I can't help but believe their displeasure with the book may be related to a distate for his orientation. One of the most interesting points raised in Stealing Jesus is how fundamentalists so vigorously prosecute homosexuality, while ignoring other prominent prohibitions. There is, without a doubt, a selective agenda at work here. This is one of the mechanisms of the Church of Law that Bawer describes. The book is so important because it details the hypocrisies that Fundamentalism embraces.
Rating:
Summary: Worth reading despite its flaws...
Review: As a mainline Christian that spent four years at a fundamentalist college, Bawer's book helped crystalize a lot of the feelings and ideas I had after my experience. The book starts out strongly - giving a clear, readable outline of fundamentalism and its contradictions with the sayings and example of Jesus. He also gives a well researched outline of the historical developments that gave rise to the fundamentalist movement and how it is interacting in our culture today. The other reviewers are correct in their criticism that he paints fundamentalism with too broad a brush. (Though they don't seem to point out that fundamentalists constantly do the same with mainline Christians and liberals.) And he doesn't give us many references. I found his writing style a bit more angry and preachy than appropriate in a scholarly work. His attacks on the tele-evangelists distract from the main theme of his book and make it easy for the fundamentalist reader to dismiss him as someone who simply has an axe to grind. It may have been more appropriate to concentrate on the bad theology and outrageous claims of fundamentalism: i.e., the "Bible claims to be the inerrant word of God" (Sorry, the God-breathed "scripture" referred to in 2 Timothy 3:16 is the Torah, not the 66 books of the Protestant Canon.), or that the whole idea of the Rapture (popularized in the "Left Behind" series) came from a 19th Century Scottish child's dream. He could have built a case that it really isn't the Bible that is inerrant but the fundamentalist agenda that is. But despite these flaws it is worth reading and a useful book for study in mainline churches whose members often feel assulted by fundamentalists and made to feel inferior.
Rating:
Summary: Love me or drop dead!
Review: As a practicing Anglican and member of a so called "liberal' church where female priests are routine and gays are welcome, I find Bawer's intolerance of any differing point of view unsettling. There are many of us who assert that Biblical literalism and inerrancy cannot hold water, yet we recognize that other disciplines have their own scholarship. There are simply too many pious, thoughtful Christians in other disciplines for us to dismiss them out of hand, as Bawer does. We accept them as we might Buddhists or Jews, reaching for the same God, albeit by different routes. Bawer's attacks on the leadership of fundamentalism is mean spirited and belies his calls for a faith based on love. In several instances he is misinformed or intentionally dishonest. For example, he may assert that Pat Robertson thinks all non evangelicals are gong to Hell, but the fact is that Pat Robertson's two sons are faithful Episcopalians who work with him at CBN and the The Family Channel. For Bawer, these evangelical leaders, these "legalists," have become embodiments of a theology he detests. His repeated ad hominem attacks indicate he doesn't know them nor understand their ministry. His book is anything but loving. Many of us have gay friends who are writers from different faiths, Bawer's work is a poor example of the love we need to transcend the differences.
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