Readers, listeners, and followers alike--Thank You! I appreciate your support for my Flashđ„Devos + Podcast! As a thank-you gift for November, hereâs my review of my friend Andrewâs latest book, just published in October. Andrewâs years of researching and writing âReviving the Golden Ruleâ created this remarkable work of scholarship that relates to our world today. The content here could be a life-changing present for a loved one--or someone whoâs hard to love. A Review of Andrew DeCortâs Reviving the Golden Rule: How the Ancient Ethic of Neighbor Love Can Heal our World by Marianne Abel-Lipschutz Andrew DeCortâs latest book, Reviving the Golden Rule, explores the many reasons why we love or hate our neighbors. Itâs an encyclopedia of the ways love wins. âNeighbor love is the core and culmination of Godâs will for humanity,â DeCort believes. You can come back to this book repeatedly for encouragement, strategy, and lessons in the subtle ways we all fall short. Building on literature of visionaries across faiths and centuries, DeCort traces human detours along with stories of nonviolent love and humility, transformational spiritual practices that change communities. âMy hope is that this book can serve as a school for love and revive neighbor love as the most healing movement in human history.â He has done his own fearless moral and ethical inventory and been transformed by devastating personal experiences to come to a truer sense of self as a passionate believer in Jesus. DeCortâs studies of the nuances of othering and dehumanization are insightful and are themselves devastating, as these warped beliefs shape the horrors we see today. For example, he talks about how we dehumanize others â even parts of our own natureâ and reject them with our words and actions. These habits of othering act as gateways to such behaviors as what philosopher Judith Butler named âungrievability.â DeCort explained, âungrievability means that if youâre grieving, I donât care. Your pain doesnât matter to me. What happens to you doesnât matter. We begin to tolerate levels of suffering that are actually seen as necessary.â Othering heightens the paradox of neighbor love. âWhen we see others as morally related to ourselves and equally worthy of love, the whole purpose of divine revelation has come to life in us. There is nothing more important than neighbor love for Christian ethics, and everything else flows in and out of it.â In fact, thereâs been a significant misunderstanding of what we call the Great Commission, DeCort asserts. âThis final invitation from Jesus to continue his work on earth is all about neighbor love, baptism, and belovedness. Itâs an invitation to actually embody and practice what he taught across every boundary of identity and difference⊠Thatâs not a list of doctrinal statements.â âIâve written this book to revive the dead dogma of neighbor love and to reawaken us to the living truth that it was since the beginningâa radical vision and practice of being human,â DeCort claims. âIf that belovedness and that practice of radical love isnât crossing every boundary like Jesus said, then weâre no longer extending the movement that Jesus launched.â DeCortâs desire for honest witness inspired him to invite famous atheists to review his book. They commended it. âIt was essential to me for the book to be tested, so I looked for someone who has deep disagreements with what Iâm writing,â he explained. âI wanted someone to sniff it out and see, is this book actually talking about authentic neighbor love or is it still this pious game that Andrew is playing?â This book is no intellectual game. Itâs a serious endeavor, a remarkable work of scholarship, and a generous gift to all who want to live more fully and love the world into a better shape. âNeighbor love makes humanity shimmer and shine in full color like precious diamonds as if for the first time. How was it that I went through life and couldnât see the glory all around and within me? I am born again, and neighbor love sets me free.â These words close his book, opening a new door for our collective future. Keep this mighty book handy in the days and years ahead. Paperback: IVP Academic, 2025Buy Now: [ BookShop ] [ Amazon ] [ Kindle ] [ Audible ] First published in the Englewood Review of Books, November 12, 2025 https://englewoodreview.org/andrew-decort-reviving-the-golden-rule-review/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com
