The Great Dance - by C Baxter Kruger (Paperback)

About the Book

The Great Dance unveils the joyous mystery of the Trinity, inviting us into God's relational life through Christ. Kruger reimagines faith as a living, loving participation in divine grace.

Book Synopsis

In The Great Dance: The Christian Vision Revisited, theologian C. Baxter Kruger offers a compelling and transformative perspective on the nature of God, the meaning of salvation, and our place in the divine story. Moving away from traditional Western theological models that depict God as distant, detached, or primarily concerned with law and judgment, Kruger invites readers into a deeper and more relational understanding of the Trinity-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-as a communion of love and joy.

At the heart of Kruger's vision is the idea that the Trinity is not a doctrinal abstraction, but the vibrant center of reality-a dynamic, eternal fellowship into which all humanity is welcomed. This "great dance" is the life of the Triune God, a celebration of mutual indwelling and shared delight that has been extended to us through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God has joined Himself to our humanity, and in doing so, invites us to participate in the divine life-not as outsiders trying to earn a place at the table, but as beloved children already included in the family.

Kruger skillfully blends theological depth with accessible language, offering insights that are both intellectually enriching and personally healing. He addresses key doctrines such as the incarnation, atonement, and union with Christ, showing how these are not merely religious ideas, but invitations into real relationship. With warmth and clarity, he tackles issues of identity, brokenness, and belonging, affirming that in Christ, we are already embraced, healed, and made whole.

What makes The Great Dance particularly powerful is Kruger's use of personal narrative and imaginative storytelling. He weaves theology into everyday experiences, making the profound truths of the gospel tangible and emotionally resonant. His writing encourages readers not just to understand Christianity differently, but to live it differently-moving from fear and striving to joy and rest in the life of God.

The book is deeply pastoral, aiming to liberate readers from shame-based religion and to awaken them to the truth of their union with Christ. Kruger emphasizes that salvation is not merely a future hope or a legal transaction, but a present reality-a participation in the love shared between the Father, Son, and Spirit. This view reshapes how we see ourselves, others, and the world around us.

In a time when many are rethinking their faith or recovering from rigid religious structures, The Great Dance offers a refreshing and hopeful alternative. It challenges long-held assumptions, not to dismantle faith, but to recover its beauty, intimacy, and joy. Readers will come away with a renewed vision of God-not as a distant ruler, but as a loving Father, a faithful Son, and a life-giving Spirit who invite us into their eternal communion.

Ultimately, Kruger's message is one of radical inclusion and divine embrace: that we were made not for isolation or performance, but for relationship; not to appease a distant deity, but to live in the heart of divine love. The Great Dance is a theological celebration, a spiritual invitation, and a personal awakening to the life that has always been ours in Christ.

Written with pace and poetry and winsome grace, The Great Dance is the voice of the ancient church speaking to us across the ages through the pen of a Southerner who loves life.

Review Quotes

"Some scenes are breathtaking, and none more so to me than the unlikely dance scene of the King of Siam and Anna, an ordinary British teacher, in the old Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. But that scene, with all of its surprise and grace and delight, is but a shadow compared to the scene set in The Great Dance. Here we learn that we are the ordinary British teacher caught up, not in a momentary dance with a human king, but in the arms of the Father, Son and Spirit and in their great dance of shared life. This is no ordinary book, and Dr. Kruger is no ordinary theologian. He takes the old doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, shakes them free of their academic dust and irrelevance, and uses them as a secret key to unlock the hidden truth of our ordinary lives as the musical through which nothing less than the life of the Father, Son and Spirit is being played out. Truly breathtaking."

Nancy-Anne Bain Upshaw

Pickens, Mississippi

"Baxter Kruger has done a great service for all Christians who are trying to put wheels on the meaning of the Trinity for their everyday lives. His down-home storytelling and energetic, lyrical prose combine to pull our hearts and very beings into "the great dance" of life. On first reading one of Baxter's books, I cried out, "This is it!" He put flesh on my bony understanding of how our triune God loves me in and through my daily, frequently misshaped, living. And now The Great Dance takes me further, presenting me with the wonderful scene of my everyday existence taken up, through Christ's ascension, into the very life of God. I commend this book to anyone who longs to experience meaning, purpose, and joy in everyday duties and pleasures."

W.J. Douglas Ball

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

"In The Great Dance, Baxter Kruger offers us the most stunning of lenses through which to see what is actually happening in our lives. In fresh, clear, and lively prose, Kruger illumines our human experience of everything from fishing and babies to baseball and bulldozers by drenching it all in a trinitarian flood of light. Along the way, Kruger provides a perceptive interpretation of how the meaning of holiness in the Western tradition evolved in terms of law and order, crime and punishment, rather than reflecting the beauty of the inner life of Father, Son and Spirit. In addition, he clarifies the uniqueness of the trinitarian vision by setting it alongside pantheism on the one hand and deism on the other "

Roger Newell, Ph. D.

George Fox University, Oregon

"Here is a book that demands to be read again and again. For those of us who wrestle with our identity, especially in the midst of the postmodern world's seductive calls, Dr. Kruger offers a marvelous vision of who we are 'in Christ' as participants in the 'great dance' of life shared by the Father, Son and Spirit. All other visions pale in comparison."

Rev. John D. White, Pastor

Cayce Presbyterian Church, Cayce, South Carolina