I'm still plugging through this book and it's slowly working it's way through my brain. I think the book's main point is to say that a faith that is only about eternal life is missing the point as much as a faith that is only about the hear and now in terms of social justice. It's somewhere in the middle of the continum. Jesus's famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) make so much more sense in this context, looking at them with the idea that they are a summary of his teachings on how to actually live in the reality of God's present kingdom which is available to us right now in the world around us. I'd always looked at this teaching as more of what a perfect world would look like, but the message, as I now understand it is more about the availablity of God to everyone, through Jesus. They're not really teachings on how to be blessed or instructions on how to do anything...they don't state conditions of God's approval, salvation or blessing. This was news to me. They're all about clarifying Jesus' fundamental message: "The free availability of God's rule and righteousness to all of humanity through the reliance upon Jesus himself, and the person now loose in the world among us." It's good head knowledge, but I'm trying to figure out to make this applicable to my real life. It hasn't gotten there yet.