Kurt Struckmeyer

Kurt Struckmeyer grew up in St. Louis, Missouri in the aftermath of global war. His youth was shaped by the decades of the conformist fifties and the contentious sixties. At the age of twelve, he discovered a radical and passionate Jesus in the gospels and responded to his call to "follow me." Four years later, Kurt read "The Cost of Discipleship" by the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Based on a growing understanding of the love and nonviolence taught and modeled by Jesus, Kurt became a conscientious objector to the war in Viet Nam. The two martyrs--Jesus and Bonhoeffer--had launched the trajectory of his life.

After graduating from the Washington University School of Fine Art in 1969, Kurt pursued a varied career at the General Motors Design Center in Warren, Michigan. For over 35 years, he worked as a sculptor, digital technician, process and technology planner, business strategist, historian, writer and visual communicator, serving under every vice president of the Design Center except its founder Harley Earl, until his retirement from GM in 2005. Kurt now lives in Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 2008, he was asked to write a history of automotive design at General Motors titled "Driving Style: GM Design's First Century." Today, he spends much of his time in study and writing.

Throughout his adult life, Kurt's true avocation and calling has been theology, biblical studies, and historical Jesus research, focused on the vision of peace and social justice that Jesus called the "kingdom of God." Over the years, Kurt has written a number of classroom studies about the mission and message of Jesus, nonviolence, and community building. In 2004, Kurt founded the Mustard Seed School of Theology, launching the website "Following Jesus: a life of faith in a postmodern world."

https://followingjesus.org/

Wipf & Stock is publishing three of Kurt's books about following Jesus in a postmodern world. The first, "A Conspiracy of Love," presents the contours of a secular postmodern faith based on the way of Jesus as a conspiracy of personal and social transformation. It was released in February 2016. The second, "An Unorthodox Faith," calls for a postmodern reformation of traditional Christian theology, replacing it with a theology, ethic, and lifestyle based on an understanding of God as love. It was released in February 2017. And the third, "People of the Way," will outline a future for the declining church in the developed world through small activist communities that are dedicated to selfless service and the pursuit of peace and justice. It is targeted for early 2021.