About You: Fully Human, Fully Alive

Praise for About You

"The human race, in its mass confusion and conflict, asks the existential questions to which there seem to be no solid answers. In the sweep of a mere fourteen chapters, Dick Staub offers us the coherent narrative of the Why of humanity, the How of healing, and the Who of the Creator, giving firm ground for thoughtful questioners to stand on."
—Luci Shaw, poet and author, Breath for the Bones, Harvesting Fog

"Broadcaster, writer, lover of all things C.S. Lewis, raconteur par excellence, and great friend, Dick Staub is one of the few people I′ve met who truly cares about people becoming fully human. He is a faithful and effective guide on the journey to do just that."
—Bill Kinnon, Moving Image creator, writer, blogger

"Dick Staub′s insight into our present age and our own deep longings lead us on a ′rowdy pilgrimage′ to discover the riches that lay within our unique design while pointing us to the fully human life."
—Scott & Pam Nolte, theatre artists and co–founders, Taproot Theatre

"Staub′s refreshingly honest book doesn′t flinch at the reality of our fallenness, but offers fresh insight into a profound mystery: Why does God love us? What is wrong with the current picture of our lives? How can it be painted more beautifully and truly to match the vision of the Artist?"
—Bruce Herman, artist and Lothlorien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts, Gordon College

Preface: Our Shared Story ix

Acknowledgments xiii

I Human Potential and Our Universal Dilemma 1

1 You Are a Masterpiece 3

II Primal Humans: The Collective Memory of the Way We Were 13

2 Created 15

3 In God′s Image 29

4 Together 39

5 Our Ancestral Homeland 51

III The Human Problem: Our Devastating Diminishment and Dehumanization 63

6 Fallen, Broken, and Sick unto Death 65

7 Alone in a Hostile Land 81

IV Your Path to Fully Human: The Way to Fully Alive and Fully Human 97

8 Coming to Your Senses 99

9 Returning 107

10 Awaking from the Dead 121

V Progressing to Fully Human: Making All Things New 131

11 The Humanizing Jesus 133

12 Restoring 149

13 Your Design, Your Destiny 165

14 And in the End, a Beginning 177

Afterword: A Creed for the Fully Human 193

Notes 195

The Author 207

A noted interpreter of faith and culture, Dick Staub is an award–winning broadcaster, writer, and speaker who is fascinated with today′s spiritual quest, so often disconnected from organized religion. He is the host of The Kindlings Muse podcast, an intelligent, imaginative, hospitable exploration of ideas, sparked by our shared experiences in art, movies, books, and music (www.TheKindlings.com). He is the author of Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters, The Culturally Savvy Christian (both from Jossey–Bass) and Too Christian, Too Pagan.