The Radical Disciple invites the followers of Christ to take seriously the scriptural mandate to love God and neighbor. The cost of contemporary discipleship is just as high now as it was in the early days of the Christian church. But the sharp edge of the gospel mandate has been watered down. The hard passages of the Bible have been ignored by a church that has become too comfortable with the economic and political status quo. But when a disciple sidesteps the call of God to radically embrace the poor of the world, then that disciple also sidesteps the comfort and the inheritance that God holds for God's faithful people.We Christians represent a radical alternative to the greed, complacency, and violence of our age. The promise for us is the promise of community and celebration, joy and peace. But we must follow the way of the cross,which is just as relevant and compelling for us as it was for Jesus two thousand years ago.So we have set before us in these pages a prescription for the servanthood that is required of us. By assuming the yoke of a servant, we claim joy and purpose for our lives. Read this book and gain insight into the meaning of these words for Christians and the church today.

Bill Lane Doulos is a deacon in the Episcopal Church who has worked with the poor and the homeless for forty years. He currently serves at the Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel, California, as the director of Jubilee Homes, four facilities that house fifty adult men and women recovering from addiction. He is also the author ofA Journey of Compassion (1989),Hearts on Fire (1995), andCotton Patch Parables of Liberation (1976).