Everyone knows there is a "crisis" in the Catholic Church and in the world around us. Some say it is capitalism gone wild. Others say it is the decay of tradition, family, and objective truth. Still others say it is the rise of radical, reactionary conservatism. Though all may not agree on the nature of the crisis, who doesn't agree that there is one, and who isn't worried?

For Larry Chapp, crisis is always the norm of Christian existence. In a cold, dying world choked by greed, the Gospel calls for radical love and radical living according to the Sermon on the Mount. Using the theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Peter Maurin, and Dorothy Day, Chapp argues that the real remedy to the disease of sin is not niceness, not political liberation, not fancy liturgical dress, not technical rigor, but a free decision to live totally and joyfully in Jesus Christ, without compromise.

Just as the martyrs chose God over life itself, so each Christian must, in the crucial hour, choose Jesus over all things. Everything hinges on the moment of Christian witness.

"Bracing and beautiful, learned and profound, and, at times, even funny. Chapp pierces through both the tired opposition of traditionalism and progressivism and the deadly mediocrity of the anonymous atheism that constitutes the omnipresent crisis of Christianity in the modern world. An indispensable book and a much-needed ray of hope in these despairing times. I could not put it down, and I cannot recommend it highly enough."
— Michael Hanby, Associate Professor, John Paul II Institute at the Catholic University of America

"This bold and passionate 'confession of faith' is signature Larry Chapp—filled with keen observations, penetrating critiques, sharp wit, brutal honesty, an intense Catholic faith, and a profound love of Christ 'and him crucified' (1 Cor 2:2). Regardless of whether one agrees with Chapp on every point he makes, the 'confession' he has penned presents a bracing and salutary challenge to the Christian of today."
— Margaret M. Turek, Author, Atonement: Soundings in Biblical, Trinitarian, and Spiritual Theology

"In Chapp's telling, the modern world has rendered us all bourgeois. It's not so much that we don't believe, it's more that we've reduced God to one lifestyle choice among many, an idol of our own making who cannot, therefore, call us to a life-altering moment of decision. This book is a clarion call to all of us who call ourselves followers of Christ either to stand up and be counted or admit what we are. In both inimitable style and lightly worn erudition, it's a book that only Larry Chapp could have written."
— Rodney Howsare, Professor of Philosophy and Theology, DeSales University

“An important book. Weaving together his personal narrative with the prophetic Christian witness of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and the ressourcement theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar, Larry Chapp offers a challenging alternative to our culture that would require Catholics and the Church to answer the universal call to holiness with the radical embrace of a life conformed to Christ."
— Terrence C. Wright, Author, Dorothy Day: An Introduction to Her Life and Thought

"A book that is so good precisely because it belongs nowhere on the current Catholic map, as Chapp is not appealing to any obviously existing camp. We must stop resting on the laurels of institutional Catholicism, stop identifying as conservatives or liberals, stop fighting the culture wars, and, like Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, simply be radical Catholics. Chapp does not commend a theory, but a personal revolution that will change you (literally) forever."
— Colin Miller, Peter Maurin Catholic Worker House, Minneapolis