Dear Friends

The Letters of St. Paul to Christians In America

An Episcopal priest imagines how St. Paul the Apostle might counsel modern American Christians in today’s trying times.
 
For almost two thousand years, Christians have asked two essential questions: “What would Jesus do?” and “What would Paul say?” Saint Paul wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else, and he dealt with the most fundamental problems of his day: What should Christians do about marriage? What should the relationship be between Jews and Christians? What is the Christian responsibility to the state? What about male and female relationships? But Paul did not answer the specific questions many Americans are now asking about marriage, interfaith relationships, illegal immigrants, and the authority of government.
 
Now, following the tradition of Paul’s letters to Rome, Corinth, and Galatia, a priest of the Episcopal Church suggests answers to modern questions in the form of new letters from Paul to American cities and states. Encouraging, insightful, and bold, Dear Friends is a call for American Christians to think more carefully about the relationship between faith and society, and to seek purposeful, biblical living.
 
“Christopher Webber has hit on a faithful and creative way to bring Paul's theological, ethical, and spiritual critique right to the heart of American life. As does the Bible itself, so Webber's Dear Friends relates our ultimate values to the questions and dilemmas we face every day. I cannot think of a better way for both beginning and lifelong Christians to engage and renew their faith. Eminently readable, accessible, and yet highly sophisticated, these letters will give both individual readers and congregational groups real insight into the life of faith in 21st-century America.” —The Very Reverend Gary R. Hall, Dean, Washington National Cathedral