Every day, millions of people lament the loss of civility, respect, and hope, and they wonder if it's possible to cultivate a love big enough to overthrow hate and heal our hurts. With courage, authenticity, and relevance, Jacqueline A. Bussie proclaims, "Yes! It's possible!" and urges readers to widen love's wingspan and to love as God loves--without limits or exceptions.In Love Without Limits, Bussie imparts practical solutions for people of faith who yearn to love across division and difference in these troubled times. Through poignant personal memoir, engaging theological reflection, inspiring true stories of boundary-busting friendships, creative readings of scripture, and surprising shout-outs to some of love's unsung heroes, Bussie challenges readers to answer God's call to practice a love so deep, it subverts the social order; so radical, it scandalizes the powerful; so vast, it excludes no one.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Part 1: People Who Taught Me Love
Chapter 1: My First Love (Gus)
Chapter 2: A Mother’s Love (Charlotte)
Chapter 3: When Your Friends Become Your Family (Framily)
Chapter 4: Wearing the Wrong Nametag (Grandma Perkins)
Chapter 5: Adoption (Elijah)
Chapter 6: Stop the Single Story (Fariah, Ali, and Jamila)
Part 2: More of Love’s Teachers: Places and Things
Chapter 7: Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? (Fargo)
Chapter 8: Is It Okay to Love Yourself? (Feet)
Chapter 9: Why Does Love Hurt So Bad? (Grief)
Chapter 10: How Do I Love You If I Don’t Even Like You? (Difference)
About the Author :
Jacqueline A. Bussie is professor of religion and the director of the Forum on Faith and Life at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. The award-winning author of Outlaw Christian, she is an engaging, widely sought-after speaker on issues of faith and life, interfaith peacebuilding, and the radical love of God and neighbor.
Review :
"A must-read for all Christians interested in inclusivity for their communities." --Publishers Weekly
"In a world as balkanized as the one in which we find ourselves, Bussie's words light the way toward practice 'a love so deep it subverts the social order, so radical it scandalizes the powerful, so vast it excludes no one." --Chicago Tribune
"This is a memoir, but it's also a theological examination of the depths of love." --The Presbyterian Outlook
"'God is love.' 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' I want to embrace these biblical dicta, but so often I hear them as clichés. In a way equaled only by C. S. Lewis's The Four Loves, Jacqueline Bussie's dilation of love wakes me up so that I might see, practice, and receive love. In this moment when so many of us find it hard to love the neighbor with whom we disagree, Bussie's work seems especially urgent." --Lauren F. Winner, author of Wearing God
"Love without Limits is a beautiful, exquisitely written, and deeply moving proclamation of revolutionary love. A courageous triumph of solidarity over censorship and hate." --Valarie Kaur, founder of the Revolutionary Love Project and author of See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love
"This is a book about love, but not just any love. It's about cosmic love, deep-faith love, break-down-walls love. Every page pulses with that same radical love. Read it and let the contents pour into you and make you better." --Eboo Patel, author of Acts of Faith
"In Love without Limits, Jacqueline Bussie offers us a no-nonsense, no-excuses, love-without-exceptions instruction manual. Written with a warmth and earnestness that invite readers to settle in and stay, this book gives us permission to think in new ways about old stories while reminding us to open up to loving even the most rejected parts of ourselves and others. Love without Limits is folksy, generous, and wise." --Sheri Reynolds, author of The Rapture of Canaan
"Jacqueline Bussie is one of the most insightful and inviting thinkers in the church today. I love the way she seamlessly integrates head and heart into this vibrant treatise on what has always been at the center of Christianity and yet has so often been ignored: love." --Nadia Bolz-Weber, author of Pastrix and Accidental Saints
"If you believe, as I do, that love is the heart of Jesus' message and should be the point of the Christian life, then you'll be surprised to see how few books there are that aim specifically to help you become a better practitioner of love. And you'll be thrilled when a book like this comes along--super well-written, really inspiring and practical, deeply engaged with scripture, and joyfully celebrating the primacy of love." --Brian D. McLaren, author of The Great Spiritual Migration
"I want to press this book into the hands of every Christian who has despaired of our faith being choked by narrow moralism, prejudice, nationalism, and all those who sought Jesus and were greeted by a door slammed in the face instead of a seat at his banquet table. I want to stock it in every church pew where I've heard something contrary to the love of Christ preached. Bussie's words reminded me of how vast and expansive Christ was (is)--and that Christian love shook the earth precisely because it extends to every single person without exception, even to me. Bussie's a gifted preacher with the voice of a friend who will grab you by the shoulders, look you in the eye, and say, no matter what your family of origin says, no matter what your church says, no matter what you say, you are beloved. Full stop." --Jessica Mesman Griffith, author of Love and Salt, curator of the online spiritual community Sick Pilgrim
