If you had hung around Jesus for three years, as his closest disciples did, you would have come to know the upside-down way that Jesus saw the world, according to Tom Taylor in his book Paradoxy: Coming to Grips with the Contradictions of Jesus. “Jesus’s way is a paradox – a path that will lead us to the most unlikely places to find peace with ourselves and peace with God.” The paradoxes of Jesus set us free to rejoice in life’s ambiguities.
The paradoxes which the book discusses include: you have to take on Jesus’s yoke if you want to find rest; if you want to see the world as it really is you have to walk by faith and not by sight; it is only through giving to others that you can receive anything truly satisfying; what most people think of as freedom is actually slavery to sin, and most people think of freedom from sin as a form a slavery; God’s wisdom looks like foolishness to many; we are strongest when we are weak; we have to be servants if we want to reign; and we have to die if we want to live.
Before reading the book I had never heard of the author. I simply bought the book because I found the title intriguing. I think that effective communication of the good news today requires us to explain clearly how the message of Jesus differs from conventional wisdom in a way that answers many of the world’s problems, so I think the contrarian approach is a good one. The book is filled with interesting anecdotes and sound advice, and I found it well worth reading.