Living the Sermon on the Mount in Difficult Times

""This is an extremely valuable book. It is written with clarity and conviction and rooted in the author's lifelong effort to live a life true to the radical demands of the Sermon on the Mount. Filled with fresh insights and hard-earned wisdom and in dialogue with key scholarship, Living the Sermon on the Mount in Difficult Times will help readers to think deeper and further about this familiar text. The carefully crafted questions are particularly impressive. Designed to help individuals and groups reflect on the Sermon's radical implications, they will, I am sure, prove essential to many who want to understand and respond to the challenge it poses. It is rare to find a book that will clearly transform lives. This is one of them."" --Justin Meggitt, professor of the study of religion, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge ""I really enjoyed reading this book. The Sermon on the Mount contains the very essence of Jesus's teachings and closely reflects how he lived his own life. However, it has often been overlooked, regarded as essentially unrealistic and irrelevant to this world. In this fascinating and much-needed book, Andrew Bolton unpacks the true meaning of the Sermon and demonstrates its pertinence to the great challenges facing humanity today. I hope it will be widely read by individuals and studied within faith communities."" --Stuart Masters, author of The Quaker Way: Friends of Love and Truth ""What an amazing book! It inspires me to continue to grow in my new journey as a Christian in a loving community. It has motivated me through wonderful examples of the past to never give up. It has deepened my understanding of what it actually means to be a light in the darkness and reminded me that 'a thousand-mile journey begins with one step.' A really great and encouraging read!"" --Agneta Zukauskaite, young adult immigrant from Lithuania and recent Christian convert ""Andrew Bolton has been fascinated, inspired, and challenged by the Sermon on the Mount for many years. This book is the fruit of his reflections on the biblical text, its cultural context, examples of those who have lived out its teaching, and its contemporary significance. An engaging and encouraging exploration of a central Christian text."" --Stuart Murray-Williams, author of The Naked Anabaptist