Two Friends Get Publisher's Weekly Reviews

November 27, 2010 By 2 Comments

Two of my closest friends got reviewed in PW this week.  I’ve only read Jay’s, and I really, really liked it.  Both books come out in January, so get ready to use those Amazon gift cards!  Here are the reviews:

One.Life: Jesus Calls, We Answer

Scot McKnight. Zondervan, $14.99 trade paper (204p) ISBN 978-0-310-27766-8

In his latest book, McKnight, a professor of religious studies at North Park University in Chicago and the author of the acclaimed Jesus Creed, argues against the Christianity he was taught in his youth, an interpretation he finds overly fixated on the personal piety of believers rather than their influence in society. He contends instead that Jesus called believers to action and to the establishment of a world of justice, compassion, and peace. This scriptural reading is hardly new, but McKnight’s writing makes it fresh and engaging. His frequent pop culture references serve to draw in younger readers; other stylistic choices, such as unusual punctuation and line breaks, can distract from his message instead of creating a contemporary feel. Dividing the book into chapters addressing different aspects of a believer’s life, such as “church.life” and “sex.life,” McKnight combines knowledgeable scriptural exegesis with anecdotes drawn from his own life and his experiences with college students to provide insight into Jesus’ life and message. This results in a highly readable work that can serve as an excellent introduction to Jesus and his teachings for a new generation. (Jan.)

Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self & Society

Jay Bakker with Martin Edlund. FaithWords, $19.99 (224p) ISBN 978-0-446-53950-0

Bakker, son of famous televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye and pastor at Revolution Church in New York, stridently argues for a new emphasis on grace. After spending his teenage years reeling from family scandals and substance abuse, Bakker had almost given up on Christianity altogether until he discovered grace, which he understands as the love and salvation offered by God to all regardless of adherence to religious law. Interlacing anecdotes with exegesis of Paul’s letters (especially Galatians), Bakker shares stories of those who have experienced a three-part revolution of grace. Living with grace transforms God from harsh rule maker to loving abba (daddy), reorients individuals away from self-centeredness, and remakes society. His test for this final revolution is his call for acceptance of homosexuals, a position that he says grace demands. This emphasis might be troubling for more conservative Christians, even with his clear summary of how to read the Bible as condemning not homosexuality itself but forbidding rape, abuse of strangers, and paganism. Bakker’s tone and style are highly readable, even humorous, as he tackles serious theological issues. Overall, the book speaks more to those already convinced of grace, but provides ample reinforcement for that position. (Jan.)

via Religion in Review.

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Does God Require Blood?

October 27, 2010 By 98 Comments

That’s the question that Mark Heim, professor of theology at Andover Newton Theological School asked his class this morning as I sat in. Mark thinks not, and he explicates that idea in his excellent book, Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of the Cross.  Therein, Mark explores Rene Girard‘s brilliant theories of mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism in common in human culture.

That reminded me of a great podcast interview at Entitled Opinions in which Robert Harrison of Stanford interviews Girard on these very notions.

A lot of former evangelicals have been looking for a rich and rewarding understanding of the atonement without the violence inherent in the “penal substitutionary” theory in which God demands, or at least requires the blood of his perfect son to assuage his wrath.

It also got me thinking about the contest we ran at Emergent Village back in 2008 looking for alternative metaphors for the atonement.  That contest was judged by Mark Baker, who has also written on the subject, and won by Steve Sherwood.

The atonement isn’t quite the hot topic it was couple of years ago, but it’s still an animating question for most who follow Christ.  It’s good to be reminded that, along with Mark’s book and Scot’s book, there’s yet another good treatment of the subject.

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Dads in Divorce Court at Jesus Creed and Tikkun

September 8, 2010 By 4 Comments

Scot takes on an issue I’ve rarely seen him touch before. He has discussed divorce in the past at Jesus Creed, but never advocated for a position (at least as far as I can recall). But last week he allowed Taylor George to guest post, and George asks why divorce proceedings still favor the mother:

Truth be told, there is no perfect way to split a family. It is obviously a complex situation for a third party to figure out. Once again though, we know how the courts usually rule. Fathers get a couple weekends a month, a week or two in the summer, no decision making in the life of the children, and many times a crippling monthly payment. In the state of California it can be as much as sixty percent of your income.

So here is the question: Why does this have to be the de facto one size fits all solution? Why must Dads be guilty until proven innocent? Why can’t we figure out how to share physical custody especially for children well beyond infancy?

That reminded me of a fascinating article I read a couple months ago in Tikkun Magazine, written by Bruce Peterson, the former presiding judge of the Family Court in Hennepin County — so he used to be the boss of the Family Court referee that oversaw my divorce.

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Filed Under: divorce Tagged With: , , 4 Comments

Augustinian Ecclesiology? Scot Says Yes.

February 24, 2010 By 28 Comments

I must say, I agree with Scot’s assessment of the problem, if not his solution.  There’s an illness in evangelicalism, and it’s that everything is always worse than it used to be.  Teens are more pregnant, politicians are more corrupt, culture is less Christian, and, yes, the church is less relevant.  I think Scot’s right to point this out.  But what do you think of his suggestion that an Augustinian ecclesiology is the answer?

Everywhere I go and nearly everyone I read has a theme, whether central or peripheral, and I think the theme is getting too much attention and it’s getting too much play and it’s setting us up for failure.

Here’s the theme: the Church is so messed up.

Instances: preaching is not that good today; theology is so shallow today; Christian morals are so loose today; parents are not that good today; we’ve got too much individualism today; kids don’t respond as they used to; the church is spending too much money today; Christians aren’t liked in culture ….

The suggestion: Let’s start all over again. This time we’ll get it right. Let’s get ourselves a group of really zealous followers of Jesus and let’s think about kingdom and forget the choir robes and denominations and pastors and hierarchy and church budgets. Finally, we’ll get it right. We’ll just follow Jesus and we’ll forget the church. We’ll do kingdom work and forget the church.

Go ahead. Join the crowd. In a few years you’ll come back to something you either face now, in a more rational manner, or later in a more chastened manner, that is if you’ve got any passion left. Here’s my theory:

I want to say I believe in an Augustinian ecclesiology.

via Criticizing Church, Defending Church – Jesus Creed.

Filed Under: christianity in america, church Tagged With: , , 28 Comments

Talk of Universalism

December 29, 2009 By 74 Comments

At Jesus Creed, Scot has been working through recent book on universalism.  Richard Beck, whose posts I universally love, has joined in at Experimental Theology; the money quote from him:

3. Missional Concerns Over the Soteriological/Eschatological Disjoint

Many people in the church see salvation as a binary, you are either saved or lost. Christians then fetishize this status, obsessing over who, at Judgment Day, will be saved or lost. This causes the Christian community to become otherworldly in its focus, ignoring the cosmic (e.g., social, political, ecological) and developmental (i.e., sanctification) aspects of salvation. This becomes a missional problem in the church, where people just look to “get saved,” eschatologically speaking. But it is hard to fault people for this fetish if they are seeing thing correctly, that there will be a non-reversible binary judgement at the end of all things. In short, as much as missional church leaders want to instill the notion that salvation is this-worldly as well as other-worldly they will fail, for clear psychological reasons, unless they undermine the classic doctrine of hell. Leave the classical teaching of hell intact (overtly or by trying to ignore it) and you’ll compromise your missional effort. Like it or not, hell and mission are intimately related. Worries over hell (which can’t be helped if you leave the doctrine intact) will import otherworldliness into the mission of the church.

via Experimental Theology: Universalism: A Summary Defense.

While I surely have leanings in this direction, universalism is not a theological topic on which I have spent much time reflecting.  I do surely agree with Richard when he writes,

I reject Calvinism because I find the doctrine of election to be loathsome. I don’t find God worthy of worship, praise or service if he created people with the intention of torturing most of them forever. True, such actions would demonstrate his sovereignty and “justice” but it is hard to see those actions as loving and praise-worthy. Also, I don’t see how Calvinism allows for a dynamic and interactive relationship between God and humanity. We end up being mere puppets and playthings.

So I think I’ll spend some time thinking and writing about these ideas in 2010.

Filed Under: theology Tagged With: , , , 74 Comments

Liberal Bias in the Academy? (In Response to Jesus Creed)

December 8, 2009 By 18 Comments

At Jesus Creed, Scot has first asked, then responded to a question posted by Dan Wallace at Parchment and Pen.  The bottom line of the discussion is this: Is there a bias in the academy, particularly graduate studies, against students from evangelical schools? I have a couple thoughts.

First, my experience.  I went to a secular, Ivy League university for undergraduate studies, majoring in Classics and adept in history, archaeology, Greek, and Latin.  From there I went directly to an evangelical seminary.  And, after that, in the fall of 1993, I applied to the PhD programs at Yale, Duke, Emory, and the University of Chicago.  I was accepted at none.

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Filed Under: christianity in america, dissertation, theology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , 18 Comments

Breaking: Scot McKnight Soon to Owe Me a Pizza

November 28, 2009 By 11 Comments

I hereby challenge uber-blogger and blindly loyal Chicago sports fan, Scot McKnight to a friendly wager.

Tomorrow afternoon, the mighty Vikings play the once-mighty Bears in American football.  The current line is ranges from 10 to 11 points.  So I’ll give Scot 10.5 points.

When If the Vikings win, Scot will send me a Chicago deep dish pizza.

If the Bears win, I’ll send Scot some Peace Coffee.

Filed Under: random Tagged With: , , , , 11 Comments

Around the Horn

May 2, 2008 By 4 Comments

First Base: Collin Hansen and I have begun a dialog on our two books and two movement (if you don’t know, Collin is part of the “young, restless, Reformed” crowd).

Second Base: Scot has a guest blogger?  Yes!  RJS is blogging through Tim Keller’s book.

Third Base: Jenell Paris inveighs on gender in emergent.

Home Plate: The Democratic race thus far, in 7 minutes.

Filed Under: books, politics, random Tagged With: , , , , , 4 Comments