All Flesh Shalom: Larger, Freer, More Loving Readings of the Good News of Jesus

So many of the forms of Christianity we have inherited have disappointed us. We’ve been offered a faith that seems to make people smaller, more rigid, and more violent. This is why James Baldwin once wrote, “If the concept of God has any validity or any use, it can only be to make us larger, freer, and more loving. If God cannot do this, then it is time we got rid of Him.”In this groundbreaking work of constructive Christian theology, Steve Watson takes Baldwin’s challenge seriously. He dissects some of white Western Christianity’s most narrow and misguided readings of the life and teaching of Jesus. And in conversation with leading open and relational and postcolonial, liberation theologians, Steve explores ways we can engage major themes in the gospels in the service of a larger, freer, more loving faith.What others are saying about All Flesh Shalom:White Christianity is an infectious corpse. Though many of us acknowledge that it is long dead, its pathogens still permeate and poison our society. Those who long to reclaim and resurrect Christianity as the liberating, shalom-bringing spirituality that it once was, must begin by fearlessly and thoroughly examining what went wrong and why. In All Flesh Shalom, Steve wisely guides readers through a prophetic autopsy of white Christianity — one that is grounded in the embodied wisdom of BIPOC theologians, preachers, and teachers. Both incisive and expansive, All Flesh Shalom is a powerful and much-needed resource for reclamation and reformation.— Christena Cleveland, Ph.D., author of God Is a Black Woman (2022) and The Black Madonna: Icon of Resistance and Nourisher of Souls (2026)All Flesh Shalom is a serious work of postevangelical theology addressing crucial dimensions of Christian theology. It demonstrates consistent disciplined attention to process/open and relational theology and postcolonial theologies. What results is a breakthrough work of theology fully suitable to join an emerging canon of groundbreaking postevangelical writings that will immediately form and inform pastors and laypeople in urgent need. Essential reading.–David Gushee, author of Kingdom Ethicsand The Moral Teachings of JesusSteve Watson has written a phenomenal open and relational, postcolonial, and liberation theology! Drawing from a wide range of diverse contemporary voices, Watson works from gospel texts to counter the Euro-centered theology common in most Western circles. But this work is not just a postcolonial criticism of unhelpful versions of Christian thought, it offers a positive alternative: open and relational liberation theology.–Thomas Jay Oord, author of A Systematic Theology of LoveIn the face of Christian nationalism, Dr. Watson writes as a white American Christian shaped by evangelicalism and sustained formation within multiracial communities. He offers a theologically rigorous account of Jesus’ redemptive concern for all humanity and all creation, while simultaneously issuing a call to repentance and hope.–Andrew Sung Park, author of The Wounded Heart of God: The Asian Concept of Han and the Christian Doctrine of SinIn a remarkable balance of humility, theological rigor, and a pastor's heart, Steve Watson has given us all a rare gift: the ability to translate prophetic, decolonizing theology into language the institutional church can actually hear. All Flesh Shalom is bold, humble, and honest about Christianity's complicity in violence while pointing toward a larger, freer gospel. This is theology that takes both justice and Jesus seriously—something we need now, more than ever.–Randy Woodley, Ph.D., author of How Western Christianity Got It Wrong Read more