About Back to the Center
Short lessons that set what is taught in Jesus' name beside what he actually said, with the Bible open and the history behind it.
Why it exists
Most of what gets written about Jesus is written to win. Some of it wants to bring you into a church. Some of it wants to talk you out of one. Very little of it just sets his words on the table and asks where everything else came from.
That's the whole idea here. Every lesson takes one teaching you'll hear in churches today, prints what Jesus said about it in full, tells how the teaching actually took shape, and then says plainly what it found: a contradiction, an add-on, or a subject he never addressed. It ends with a keeper, something he taught that's worth living by, whatever you believe.
Two readers, one set of lessons
Centered is for believers who want Jesus without everything built on top of him. You don't need anyone's permission to follow him, inside a church or outside one.
Honest Heretics is for people who see plainly where Christianity left its founder, and who love people who are sure it didn't. No one is trying to convert you.
Both editions tell the same history and reach the same verdicts. They just speak to different people. You can switch on any lesson.
What's here
- Four volumes of twelve lessons, about twenty minutes each. Volume 1 is free to read, download and listen to.
- An audio version of every lesson, with one voice for the lesson and another for the Bible.
- Follow Me, the words and acts of Jesus alone, arranged in the order a follower needs them.
- A simple guide to reading with friends.
Who wrote it
Carlos C. spent twenty-five years in church and came out the other side still thinking the teachings at the center are good. The books tell that story in full.
If you believe, this isn't trying to take your faith from you. If you don't, it isn't trying to give you one. It asks one question of everything taught in his name: does this start with Jesus?