Throughout the history of the Christian church there have been moments of significant theological crisis, and we are currently in the midst of another. But our pressing question is not "Who is Jesus?" (as it was in the fourth century) nor "How can we be saved?" (as it was in the sixteenth). Now it is, "What is a human being?" In many communities that claim the name "Christian," even people who can provide correct answers to the first two questions are currently confused when it comes to the third. This book is intended to help all such readers understand how they should, as faithful Christians, respond to this crucially important question, and how they should live as a result. At the same time, it seeks to equip these serious Christians to recognize the non-Christian roots of the powerful, competing ideas of "the human" that they encounter every day, both in contemporary society and in contemporary churches, and to have the courage to reject them. For these unbiblical ideas, when embedded in a church, do damage to Christian faith and life. They are destructive cuckoos in the Christian nest.

Iain Provan was the Marshall Sheppard Professor of Biblical Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, from 1997 until 2022, when he retired and founded The Cuckoos Consultancy. He and his wife Lynette have four grown-up children, and numerous grandchildren. Iain was born and educated in the U.K., completing his final degree (PhD) at the University of Cambridge in 1987. His subsequent academic teaching career prior to emigrating to Canada took him to King's College London, the University of Wales, and the University of Edinburgh. Iain has written numerous books, essays and articles. He is an ordained minister of the Church of Scotland; a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge (since 1993); and the recipient of an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in Germany (ongoing since 1996). He is also a qualified Provincial B Licence soccer coach (in British Columbia) and an ARA rowing coach (in the UK). His main hobby is fly-fishing. You can find out more about him - and also about the Cuckoos Consultancy - at his website, iainprovan.ca.