With down-to-earth storytelling and the gritty lens of lived experience, FLAME challenges you to ask: Who taught you your faith, and what got left behind?
What if everything you learned about Christianity left out the best parts? Raw, honest, and unafraid of hard questions, Grammy-nominated hip hop artist and theologian Marcus "FLAME" Gray invites you into his personal journey from the world of American evangelicalism to the heart of ancient Christianity--preserved and lived through confessional Lutheran thought. Cut through the noise of contemporary Christianity and church culture to the heart of what it means to be the baptized, to know Christ's real presence in communion, and to see the Gospel not just as ancient history, but as a living, breathing source of peace and power today.
A few things FLAME will help you understand:
- Why ignoring church history and focusing solely on "Jesus and the Bible" leaves you vulnerable to confusion and false teachings.
- What the early councils, creed, and the Office of the Bishop were really for in the church.
- Why the Sacramental Life (Baptism and Communion as God's work, not our own) gives deeper comfort and assurance than conversion stories, altar calls, or brutal self-inspection
- Who the original church fathers were and what they really taught.
Drawing on the real writings and lives of the church fathers--think Ignatius, Augustine, Luther, and more--FLAME brings centuries-old debates about justification, church authority, and the role of the Sacraments into today's living rooms. If you wrestle with church history, faith formation, or what it means to truly belong to the body of Christ in the 21st century, prepare for a powerful invitation--honest, messy, and full of hope--to find your roots in ancient Christianity.
Review :
" This sounds like a book about ancient Christianity, but even more than that, it is about contemporary Christianity-with its perfectionism and endless self-scrutiny-and our desperate need for the Sacraments. FLAME's joy in discovering the efficacy of Baptism and the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, as found in the church father's works and carried over into Lutheranism, is exhilarating and contagious. This seminary-trained rap star makes an engaging case for a faith that is both evangelical and sacramental."
- Dr. Gene Edward Veith Jr., PhD; author of Spirituality of the Cross and Embracing Your Lutheran Identity
" In his most recent book, Because Jesus Taught It, FLAME tells inspiring stories of faith and faithfulness through the ages in ways that speak to our contemporary times. With insights from the earliest Christians as well as his own walk of faith, FLAME challenges readers to explore a deeper understanding of the teachings of Jesus that make a difference in our lives today."
- Rev. Dr. Gerhard Bode, chairman of the department of historical theology and director of the Center for Reformation Research, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri
"In a seamless melding of memoir and theology, FLAME brings the reader along on his personal journey of patristic discovery. This study highlights the strengths of the Lutheran theological tradition, equipping those new to Lutheranism and lifelong Lutherans alike to identify the comfort, assurance, and beauty of our confession of faith when contrasted with errors common in American evangelicalism. Deeply relatable and moving, yet informative and researched, FLAME's book on the early church fathers and the historic Christian view of the Sacraments is fresh, well-written, and difficult to put down."
- Christa Petzold, author of Journey Through Church History and Gathered by Christ: The Overlooked Gift of Church
"FLAME gets the church fathers-and they got him too. Despite what you may have been taught growing up, Christianity did not go off the rails after the
