A few observations...

Here is an excerpt from an email I sent describing Elaine Heath's book:

I think the most challenging thing Heath does is frame evangelism in light of kenotic, self-giving love.

The book begins by arguing that the church in post-Christendom America finds itself in a "dark night of the soul, -- "a divinely initiated process of loss -- so that the accretions of the world, the flesh, and the devil may be recognized and released" (27). Heath hopes that in the church's dark night of the soul, it will abandon the desire to perpetuate the institution and embrace the desire to love God and neighbor. The second part of the book, "Illumination" is the most helpful I think. It is here that Heath works out what self-giving love looks like as part of Christian mission. Each of the four chapters in this part look at two saintly mystic figures (a couple of Quakers pop up!) who characterize four aspects of illumination. First, Julian of Norwich and Hans Urs von Balthasar show how "love is God's meaning." (Her treatment of Julian is particularly helpful.) The second part of illumination is kenotic love illustrated by Phoebe Palmer and Father Arseny. Father Arseny was an Orthodox priest who was sent to a death camp during Stalin's rule; Heath says that he never ceased being a priest to those who were there in the camp and his love for the people in the camp displayed Christ's kenotic love.

The day we talked I was struck by your mention of Bonhoeffer who said he saw others as Jesus, and Heath talks about this too (though without mentioning Bonhoeffer) -- she points to Christ on the cross who thirsts, saying that we should want to serve our thirsty neighbors around us as if they were Christ simply because we love them not because we want to convert them. She has a chapter discussing a "Hermeneutic of Love" that is excellent as well.

There's also some critique of Christian Education: "The false self [i.e., the self that fears being vulnerable and honest] is firmly in place by the time we get to seminary, and for most of us, theological education makes it only worse" (147).

The third part, "Union," can get a bit melodramatic in its presentation of what an illuminated church that has emerged out of its dark night might look like (a hypothetical story about Sam's journey into Christianity), but I think it's good to at least look forward and try to answer the "So what?" question.

I fear I've not given the book justice with this description though...

Hope this helps pique your interest; I think it's really a must read book.