Domesticating Jesus
As I noted in my previous two posts (post 1 and post 2), my journey of deconstruction/reconstruction goes back years.
There are two facets to my deconstruction.
First, over the years, I began to see Jesus and the Gospel of the kingdom in a way that did not conform to what I had been taught. This journey took several steps.
As I noted in my last post, my understanding began to shift when I read Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew.
Jesus and the Kingdom: NT Wright
Several years after reading Yancey, I quite reluctantly stumbled upon NT Wright.
Early in my postgraduate studies, I was perusing the university’s bookstore. The store had a section where each professor listed 3-5 of their favorite books. I figured that if the professors, especially the biblical studies professors, liked these books, then I ought to become familiar with them.
As I perused the lists, one name kept coming up—a name that surprised me—NT Wright.
Reflecting on that time, I recall how suspicious I was of NT Wright. I remember being apprehensive because “Isn’t he a liberal?” After all, he was Anglican, and all Anglicans were liberals.
NB: You can see how deep my fundamentalism went.
Nonetheless, I began reading Wright, and I was hooked (Jesus and the Victory of God). Wright was helping me understand Jesus and the Gospel in a context that made so much sense. Yet, it also contained things I had never heard.
I soon began listening to any lectures, presentations, and seminars of Wright that I could access. He was a regular presenter at some theological conferences I attended yearly, and I made sure to attend his sessions.
One of the things that impressed me about NT Wright was his character. Wright is one of the foremost theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries. Yet, he was clearly a person of character with a decidedly pastoral heart.
The Mission of God: Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament: Christopher Wright
Another formative moment in my journey was reading Christopher Wright’s magnum opus, The Mission of God (he later wrote a condensed version titled The Mission of God’s People). Later, I read Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament.
Christopher Wright began to help me see the larger picture of the biblical story. God was on a mission, and we are to participate in that mission.
The Great Omission; Dallas Willard
A few years after stumbling upon NT and Christopher Wright, I was introduced to Dallas Willard and his book The Great Omission. Willard was clear: discipleship was missing from most churches. We have omitted the Great Commission and the call to make disciples. While reading Willard, I recall having another definitive “I knew it” moment.
Just as Yancey more than a decade earlier helped me begin to understand that there was more to Jesus and His teaching than getting saved, and just as NT Wright helped me process Jesus and the kingdom, and Christopher Wright God and the biblical mission, now Willard was helping me recognize the role of God’s people as disciples of Jesus Christ.
I knew there was more. I knew that coming to Jesus was not enough. Why had no one told me this stuff? Why was this not taught?
As I integrated this into my teaching, I found that many within the Church were hungry. They, too, wanted to know more. They, too, knew that there was something more significant to the work of God than just getting oneself saved.
Yet, some of the leadership remained skeptical. After all, discipleship is hard work. And it doesn’t make for big churches.
NB: A few years later, when I was teaching about Jesus and the kingdom, some of the pastoral staff (the executive staff) questioned, “Isn’t that Jehovah’s Witnesses stuff?” This is how deeply ingrained Neo-Platonism had become in our “evangelical” world. The Neo-Platonic model served the megachurch well. Of course, there would be resistance.
The Church
I noted above that my journey of deconstruction has two key elements. The first is my revolutionary understanding of Jesus and the Kingdom. The second is my disillusionment with the Church.
I will speak more about this in my next post. . . .
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