Saving Jesus from Those Who Are Right: Rethinking What It Means to Be Christian

In this theological resource for spiritual transformation and social change, Carter Heyward rethinks the figure and import of Jesus for church, academy, and society.

Rather than focus on the endlessly variable pictures of Jesus in contemporary biblical scholarship, and in radical opposition to the Jesus of the "Christian Right," Heyward presents "Jesus as our brother, infused with a sacred power and passion for embodying right (mutual) relation, and ourselves with him in this commitment." She goes on to "explore, concretely, how we might live this way."Wonderfully clear-sighted, this brief, faithful, and intelligent Christology offers reconstructions of incarnation, atonement, evil, suffering, and fear. It also sheds light on the significance of Jesus for ecological, racial, economic, and gender justice. Heyward's book envisions "a mighty counter-cultural force," which she names christic power, that can help save American culture from its greed and domination and save the figure of Jesus from culture-generated distortions. In short, Heyward's book will help people come to terms with the life-changing implications of Jesus' person and ethic. To a generation in search of the transforming potential of Christian commitment, Heyward's most important work offers both spiritual depth and unwavering commitment to the human good.

A study guide to this book is available here on fortresspress.com. Click on the tab "Letter from the Author."

Carter Heyward is the Howard Chandler Robbins Professor of Theology Emerita, Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among her many books are Saving Jesus (Fortress Press, 2d ed. 2026) and The Seven Deadly Sins of White Christian Nationalism (2023).