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| True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In | 
 enlarge | Author: James Choung
Publisher: IVP Books
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 26739
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 231
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0830836098
Dewey Decimal Number: 239
EAN: 9780830836093
ASIN: 0830836098
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In this engaging narrative, James Choung weaves a tale of a search for a Christianity worth believing in. Disillusioned believer Caleb and hostile skeptic Anna wrestle with the plausibility of the Christian story in a world of pain and suffering. They ask each other tough questions about what Jesus really came to do and what Christianity is supposed to be about. Along the way, they have some surprising realizations that real Christianity is far bigger than anything they ever heard in church. And the conversion that comes is not one that either of them expects. Join Caleb and Anna on their spiritual journeys as they probe Christianity from inside and out. Get past the old cliches and simplistic formulas. And discover a new way of understanding and presenting the Christian faith that really matters in a broken world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Balanced, Biblical and Inspiring August 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Choung presents a Biblical view of Christianity that is both balanced and inspiring. He not only includes Christ's Atonement, he also includes Christ's vision for bringing about the kingdom of God "on earth as it is in heaven". Choung not only explains the need for personal repentance, justification through Christ, and sanctification through the Holy Spirit, he also explains Christ's call to follow him in service to redeem all nations. I especially liked the elegant simplicity and scope of his diagrams. They provide a foundation that is broad enough to build on with the whole counsel of scripture.
 A Mix August 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Although giving this book only two stars I recognize that technically it is quite well done. The author uses a running dialogue-narrative to lay out the case for his system of evangelism. This makes for an easy read, and helps fix his "napkin theology" in one's mind. (It appears MIT grads are not only into math and science - they can write too!) Also he is to be commended for making Genesis 3 - creation and fall - an integral part of his presentation which other systems too often fail to do.
However, if his "story" is designed for use by Christians who are committed to the historic evangelical faith, it fails on several fronts. On the opening page he sets up a problem - "If my parents are going to hell, I'd rather be in hell with my parents than in heaven without them," says a young man to the author. The interest of the reader is aroused. How will the author deal with this?
As a matter of fact, he doesn't. Hell never comes up again, except as the "bad news" that can't possibly have anything to do with the "good news" of the gospel. As for sin, is is seen more as disease than as rebellion against a holy God, that calls for repentance and atonement. And atonement is defined in so many contrary ways that it can't possibly be all that significant.
While generations of Christian evangelists were driven by a desire to save souls, the motivating force for this author appears to be saving the culture - the planet. Is he unaware of the history of Christian missions? ("Mary Slessor of Calabar" - "John Payton, Missionary to the New Hebrides" for starters) Their desire to save souls led dramatically to changing the culture - to raising it! He attempts to attract people to the gospel by focusing on planet change. It seems a bit like the old liberalism of the 20's recast as "green."
 a bit simple, but helpful August 4, 2008
this book is a worthy effort. in the vein of brian mclaren's "a new kind of chirstian" trilogy, author james choung used a fictional allegory to make his point. it's very similar to brian's books, in fact, though less pithy. chuong is making an attempt to explain the gospel using something other than the "cross in the gap" diagram most evangelicals have been familiar with for decades.
in mclaren's first book in that trilogy, "a new kind of christian", he establishes the fictional characters, and talks about christianity in a postmodern context. when i read that book, i -- like so many others -- felt that someone was finally putting words to the stuff i was sensing and feeling and thinking. but the second book of the trilogy, "the story we find ourselves in", traces the big story of god, grouping it into 7 chapters or epochs. i've used this framing now for years, finding it extremely helpful (i change brian's last chapter from "consecration" to "commencement", feeling that, when i'm speaking to teenagers, consecration has too many extra bits to unpack, and commencement is both the end of something and the beginning of something). chuong's book is most like this second of mclaren's, in that it also traces the big story of god -- but in a slightly less story-like manner.
i found it a bit forced and simplistic at times. in other words, it wasn't necessarily helpful to me (like mclaren's book was); but was, rather, a book i could see giving to a 20-something who's wondering about christianity. or, better yet, to a 20-something who grew up in church, but doesn't have a clue how to talk about faith to friends in a way that makes any sense and also connects with the real life she's living.
the diagram chuong introduces has a few too many steps, i think, to be perfectly useful. but it's still good, and follows a theology that is both true to scripture, as well as focusing on the restorative work of god, rather than a "left behind" theology.
so, pretty good book for the right purpose.
A Gospel big enough for Jesus! July 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Working in college ministry, I have felt the difficulty in telling the true Gospel (God's story, and not a watered down, me-centered one) and also in contextualizing it in a way that increasingly skeptical students can connect to. I loved True Story for what is at the heart of the book: an excellent Gospel diagram to help us share our faith Biblically. For more than 2 years, my students and I have been using this diagram with skeptics, seekers, and Christians. Here are a few reasons why Choung's diagram is excellent, and True Story is a great read for anyone:
It starts where they start.
Fewer and fewer people these days begin with a concrete idea of God or truth. But most have a deep sense that all is not right in the world. Choung's diagram begins with our discontentment. Because it begins with the world as we experience it, it is easy to bring up naturally in a variety of contexts. I've been able to share it while discussing the AIDS crisis in Africa, watching the evening news, and even after a student simply had a hard week of school. Choung's diagram shows that indeed things are not what God designed them to be, and connects the large-scale problems in the world and our lives to the sin problem in each of us.
It involves whole-life transformation.
Choung's diagram invites personal change through redemption in Christ, but also makes clear that "getting saved" is the beginning of a life of grateful participation in God's mission. Too often in our desire to protect sola fide, sola gratia, we shortchange our message. Our Gospel explanations leave out Paul's words in Eph. 2:10 (that we are saved by grace alone in order to overflow in good works) and Jesus' in Matt. 5:14-16 (that our good works will lead others to glorify God). The result is Christians whose lives look nothing like Christ's. Of course works are not salvific, but the Bible makes clear that they are to be a part of the life of a believer! As my students and I have used the diagram, we've found it useful not just with unbelievers but Christians, too. Many lifelong Christians recognize that they are living in "Circle 3" (forgiven, but not actively joining God's mission), and are encouraged to live out their faith. And unbelievers recognize that if this is God's message for the world, it truly is Good News.
It's larger than me!
Choung repeatedly focuses on three levels of restoration that Christ's atonement brings: personal, interpersonal, and systemic. Other Gospel diagrams I've used begin and end with the personal--Jesus can forgive and heal me, period. True Story points out that Christ's work certainly begins with my own issues, but that he is also concerned with right relationships between people and with restoring His creation (Eph. 2, Col. 1:20). Thus it leads us to racial reconciliation, environmental stewardship, and other Biblical mandates.
The Gospel will not be palatable to everyone (I Cor. 1:23). But at times in the past, I've had the feeling that seekers I shared with were rejecting not so much Christ as the weak, limited explanation of him that I gave. No diagram or single book holds the fullness of God's plan, as Choung himself points out many times. But True Story is a helpful and needed correction to our individualistic, fire-insurance approach to sharing God's Story. And despite containing all this good stuff, its fable-format makes it a very easy and enjoyable read. Read it, and ask God to help you make sure the Gospel you share is as big as the Kingdom!
It isn't a shock that there are those who doubt their faith July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
With corruption, pedophile priests, and other stories of shame all too widespread, it isn't a shock that there are those who doubt their faith. "True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In" is the story of Caleb and his disillusionment as he confronts his loss of faith alongside his skeptical associate Anna. With so much pain and suffering, Caleb looks for anything to give him the strength to keep his faith as he speaks to his friend, exploring the concept of Christianity inside and out in this expertly composed novel. "True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In" is highly recommended for community library Christian fiction collections.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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