The Personal and Pointed Challenge of Benjamin Corey’s “Undiluted” (A Review)

I just got finished reading Benjamin Corey’s new book Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus.

And I loved it.

I especially loved the way that Ben approached a somewhat familiar topic – the way that the teaching and life of Jesus in the Gospels corrects American cultural Christianity – in an unfamiliar way. That is, Ben’s approach is both personal and pointed. Personal, in the sense that the book emerges from Ben’s own spiritual journey in seminary and through the process of international adoption. And pointed, in the sense that it prophetically names what American Christian culture has done with Jesus and his good news.

Namely, we have diluted them.

This is an interesting way to name it, too, especially because “diluting” or “watering down the gospel” is a common accusation from fundamentalist/conservative Christians towards those who are not just like them. Ben is really turning this epithet back on those who use it the most; and while he does so graciously, he presents a truly devastating critique. Like Jesus’s own “You have heard that it was said” rhetorical device in the Sermon on the Mount (see Ch. 9), Undiluted addresses a Christian culture that has lost its way precisely by calling out its accepted ideological path – and then presenting a surprising Jesus-centered alternative.

Ben’s personal journey is inspiring, partly because it resonates with my own spiritual-theological trajectory, and partly because it is so different from mine. Especially Ben’s account of his decision to follow in the way of Jesus through international adoption (Ch. 7) – a costly and sacrificial process even if everything goes well – only to have the situation devolve into violence and struggle, was distressing and powerful. It seemed like Ben’s idealistic vision of embracing the marginalized as the core of the gospel was deepened by the realistic experience of disappointment and pain. This is truly the way of the crucified Messiah.

If I’m honest, the challenge this book provides is summed up in the central theme. As Ben traces his way through Undiluted Reorientation, Undiluted Community, Undiluted Inclusion, Undiluted Change, Undiluted Tension, Undiluted Difficulty, Undiluted Justice, Undiluted Love, Undiluted Forgiveness, Undiluted Loyalty, and Undiluted Story, I am convicted of the ways in which, over time, I am prone to diluting this radical way of Jesus in my own life. We are all watering down the gospel, right? 

Not in the sense that Christian culture might mean – you know, by not offending enough liberals – but in the sense that the Gospels mean. We water down the gospel by not really forgiving and loving. By not really living sacrificially for restoration and right-making in the world. By not really acknowledging and honoring the struggle and tension that we all face on the journey.

And yet, Ben ends his book on a particularly hopeful note. Getting started on this path of following Jesus in all his radicalness is surprisingly simple. It just means accepting a new identity.

Not a religious identity, not a denominational identity, not a doctrinal identity, but the Undiluted Identity of being a follower of Jesus and Jesus alone.

Really, it’s choosing to take the first step down that path, and then letting Jesus lead the way.

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*This review is part of the Patheos Undiluted Book Club. I was graciously given a free copy of the book for review purposes and received no compensation from the book’s author or publisher.