Challenging our expectations and forcing us to look anew at our reality, Erik Kolbell demonstrates how the eight pillars of the Beatitudes–meekness, empathy, righteousness, peace, persecution, purity, poverty, and simplicity–are still valuable codes of conduct for our individual and collective lives. In this engaging book, he masterfully shows the timeless value in these poetic and paradoxical words from Jesus and how they offer relief and direction in our all-too-confusing world.
Erik Kolbell is a psychotherapist and former Minister of Social Justice at Riverside Church in New York City. He is the author of What Jesus Meant: The Beatitudes and A Meaningful Life and The God of Second Chances, published by Westminster John Knox Press. Kolbell is a regular guest on many national media outlets including The Today Show, Dateline, Morning Joe, and numerous local television and radio programs.