This book, while sharing some common features with the other two, is quite different. Jacques Ellul, unlike Bonhoeffer, is not a trained theologian, but a French professor of social institutions who, like Bonhoeffer, ardently grapples with the relevance of faith in our modern world. Unlike Henri Nouwen, Ellul s concern is not so much with the disciplines of the spiritual life, as with the implications of our faith for the kind of world we are shaping. If there is anything that should characterize Christians, it is that they be daring. Unfortunately, Christians have learned to be careful.
Christians can afford to be daring because in one sense they have nothing left to lose.
In joining with Christ, they have lost everything. Their previous life, with its values and priorities, has gone. In Christ, a new way of being human and serving the world has come into view. In another sense, Christians can be daring because they have already gained everything there is to gain. They have received new life through Christ and this life will last into the age to come.