Free books for the eating

My bookshelf is stuffed like a holiday bird – and everyone knows the only grateful way to steward excess wealth is to eat it, give it away, or burn it spectacularly in true Potlatch fashion.

Of course, the burning of books has fallen out of favor in recent years, so these volumes are yours for the taking. One, ten, twenty, or the whole lot. Just name your titles.

If you’re in Southern California, shoot me a message and you can come pick them up. I’ll even throw in a cuppa coffee and a friendly chat, if you’re so inclined. If you hail from out of town, send me your address and the shipping fee and I’ll hurry them off (sans latté).

Most of these are assorted nonfiction Christian titles (we’re donating the fiction to our local library). Several are course books from my MAGL program at Fuller Theological Seminary, if that sort of thing interests you.

UPDATE: Titles already claimed are listed in strikeout.

General Theology & References

Who Needs Theology? by Stanley Grenz & Roger Olson (John Chandler)

An Introduction To Ecclesiology by Veli-Matti Karkkainen (Josh Hopping)

Portraits of God by Allan Coppedge

Desiring God by John Piper

From Eternity To Here by Frank Viola

Unprotected Texts by Jennifer Wright Knust

Reading Scripture With The Church Fathers by Christopher Hall (Josh Hopping)

Manners and Customs Of The Bible by James Freeman (Josh Hopping)

The New Ungers Bible Handbook

The Gospel of Matthew, Sacra Pagina Volume 1 by Daniel Harrington (Thomas Lyons)

New International Commentary on James by Peter Davids (Thomas Lyons)

Thru The Bible With J Vernon McGee (4 hardcover volumes) (Julie Mnaion)

Missional/Emerging Church

Church Next by Eddie Gibbs

The Good News Of The Kingdom by Van Engen, et al (Aaron Henderson)

The Church Between Gospel And Culture by Hunsberger and Gelder (Geoff Hsu)

The Missionary Congregation, Leadership & Liminality by Alan Roxburgh (Brandon Becker)

The Missional Leader by Alan Roxburgh and Fred Romanuka (Brandon Becker)

God’s Missionary People by Charles Van Engen (Aaron Henderson)

A Credible Witness by Brenda Salter McNeil (Josh Hopping)

Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum (Jason Evans)

The New Global Mission by Samuel Escobar (Brandon Becker)

The Local Church, Agent of Transformation by Tetsunao Yamammori (Josh Hopping)

Announcing the Kingdom by Arthur Glasser (Josh Hopping)

The Power of Place by Dolores Hayden (Geoff Hsu)

The Continuing Conversion of the Church by Darrell Guder (John Chandler)

The Shaping Of Things To Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch

The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch

Exiles by Michael Frost

A Christianity Worth Believing by Doug Pagitt

The New Christians by Tony Jones

Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola and George Barna

A Theology As Big As The City by Ray Bakke (Brandon Becker)

God So Loves The City by Van Engan, et al (Aaron Henderson)

Treasure in Clay Jars by Lois Barrett, et al (Jason Evans)

Permission Granted by Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell (Julie Mnaion)

Theology & Family

The Family Handbook by Anderson, Browning, et al

Theology and Families by Adrian Thatcher

Authentic Human Sexuality by Judith & Jack Balswick

Men at the Crossroads by Jack Balswick (Josh Kerkoff)

Beyond Sex Roles by Gilbert Bilezikian (Jason Evans)

Marriage and Modernization by Don Browning

Family Ministry by Diana Garland

On Justice

Justice, A Global Adventure by Walter Burghardt (Josh Hopping)

In Pursuit of Justice by James Skillen (Stephanie Struck)

With Justice For All by John Perkins (Josh Hopping)

Churches That Make A Difference by Ron Sider, et al (Thomas Lyons)

Leadership

Character Forged From Conflict by Gary Preston

Barnabas, Encouraging Exhorter by Bobby Clinton (Brandon Becker)

Connecting by Paul Stanley & Robert Clinton (Brandon Becker)

The Foolishness of Preaching by Robert Farrar Capon (Jeff Bassett)

Called to Holy Worldliness by Richard Mouw (Josh Kerkoff)

Lectures To My Students by Charles Spurgeon (Aaron Henderson)

Spiritual Formation

The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard (Thomas Lyons)

The Little Flowers of St Francis by Raphael Brown (Josh Hopping)

The Year of Living Like Jesus by Ed Dobson (John Chandler)

The Mystery and the Fullness by Jennifer Abel

Jesus Brand Spirituality by Ken Wilson (Aaron Henderson)

General

Reinventing American Protestantism by Donald Miller

Under The Overpass by Mike Yankowski

Heaven by Lisa Miller

Generation Me by Jean Twenge

People of the Lie by M. Scottt Peck

A View From The Back Pew by Tim O’Donnell

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker

Technorati Tags: Books, Christianity, gifts, Giveaways, Theology

Book Review: Heaven by Lisa Miller

Not long ago I was linking to an article by Lisa Miller in another book review, and now here I am reviewing her own recent book, Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination With the Afterlife (this review represents the recent release of the paperback version). Miller is the editor of religion at Newsweek, where she tends to reap all manner of blessings and curses from a nation polarized about its own religious identity.

She may actually be the person for the job. Miller herself embodies a kind of religious plurality – raised a secular Jew, then later married by a Rabbi and an Episcopal priest in an interfaith ceremony, then finally joining a “progressive, inclusive” Jewish synagogue where she attends regularly with her daughter in order to reconnect with her Jewish heritage.

Given this thoroughly secular Modern pedigree – journalist, theological liberal, and enculturated believer –  Miller would be easy to dismiss by orthodox devotees and she is often the recipient of harsh criticism, particularly from religious fundamentalists. But read this brief article and get to know her just a bit. She is a woman who, every week, weeps during the recital of the Shema. She is a mother who broods over the spiritual development of her daughter, and she is a person whose own religious fears and discomforts are assuaged by a firm belief in “a God who’s love extends beyond the tribe.”

And this, I propose, explains a great deal about Lisa Miller’s book Heaven. In it, she plays the role of spiritual midwife for a culture caught in the terrifying pangs of a pluralistic birthing. Miller has been there, as a daughter, as a wife, a student, a journalist and now as a mother, she has grappled with the tensions of competing religious beliefs that from the inside appear as strangers but from the outside resemble countrymen. She brings this tension to her explorations of the afterlife: “Like so many Americans, then, I approach religion from an uneasy, untraditional place, and like so many, I have struggled with what I believe about heaven” (xxvi).

Miller goes about her task of cultural peacemaking by comparing diverse visions of heaven through a tapestry of traditional teachings, scholarly alternatives, folk reflections, and pop cultural depictions. She writes with the eye of an anthropologist, the mind of a journalist, and the heart of a mother. It is genuinely educational; there is surprising depth of inquiry for a popularly written book and details that most people will find surprising. She wrestles openly and honestly with the influences of outside cultural and cultic beliefs on the development of Judaism, Christianity and even Islam. She places liberal and conservatives in dialogue and uncovers the deep yearnings and affections that feed the comfort that heaven provides.

Yet Miller has a dog in this fight – albeit a reluctant one. Early, while reflecting on research into incipient Judaism, she asks hypothetically, “[If I were an ancient Hebrew] What if my Rabbi’s told me that [the semitic pagan cult of the dead] was forbidden? That these family customs violated God’s law? What would I do? How would I think about my dead?” (36-37). Her proposal is that, in order to find comfort, ancient Hebrews coming to grips with an emerging religion that forbade a daily, imaginary interaction with the souls of dead loved one, the best conceptual alternative might have been the invention of a distant home for dead loved one. For Miller this is more than an honest sympathetic inquiry because it cuts to the heart of her metaphysical assumptions.

The trouble is that Miller, along with most of her theologically liberal cohorts, has more in common with her fundamentalist critics that she realizes – both are Modern foundationalists. Because she believes that a sure knowledge must rest on indubitable foundations, she cannot help but treat mere belief with a kind of paternalism. It’s not just that she handles such beliefs and traditions with skepticism (as we all should), it’s that she never treats these traditions and accounts as potential evidence because, for her, religious beliefs and traditions could never possibly qualify as evidential.

The end result is that the whole book comes off as a bit patronizing with strong undertones of melancholy – because in it we see Miller herself finally lay down any remnant of a belief in an afterlife. Like any foundationalist of the liberal variety she can only protect her own religious belief by bifurcating epistemology and relegating faith to the path of subjective personal experience. Consequently, it doesn’t matter what millions of people from one generation to the next have discovered about God. What matters is her own experience, and, when it comes to heaven, that experience is empty:

Whenever I have asked myself – over and over – “Do you believe in heaven?” I always think of my grandfather. I try to visualize him. I love him, I was there when he died; I miss him and my grandmother every day of my life. Surely if I believe in heaven, I would see them there in my minds eye. Sadly, I don’t (241).

So, despite having written a book that compiles mountains of evidence that that there may indeed be something beyond the grave, Miller is unable to integrate that knowledge into a holistic worldview that takes faith seriously as a tradition of knowledge. As a result, Heaven, while educational, touching, poignant, and lucid, ultimately comes of as a sad commentary on the impotence of the Modern era to satisfy the deepest longings of humanity. For Miller, this means she believes in some kind of God for goodness’ sake, but can’t seriously accept the notion of God’s present power in human life beyond the immanence of culture.

No wonder she weeps when she hears the Shema.

(I was provided with a copy of this book in return for the review I’ve written. I was in no way required to write either a positive or negative review of the book.)

Technorati Tags: Books, Heaven, Lisa Miller

Book Review: A View From the Back Pew

By all accounts, Tim O’Donnell is the quintessential self-made Modern man. He built his own business, made his own fortune, constructed his own log-cabin in the wilderness to face-down his own private demons, and, subsequently built his very own religion. Now he’s written his own book about the experience (and self-published it too).

Not that A View From the Back Pew isn’t good.

Actually, Tim is a solid writer. He tells engaging and often funny stories about his journey of faith. His prose can get a bit labored at times as he guides the reader through the basics of various religions as he sees it, but that’s just because he wants us to accompany him on his journey.

Tim writes with a missionary zeal, partly because he wants to spare others the demons he wrestled for the better part of forty years. Tim understands that the nuns who so rigorously constrained him as a child in Catholic school were well-meaning, “But mostly fear prevailed. I was afraid of Hell, I was afraid of yardsticks, and I was afraid of nuns.” Tim doesn’t want that fear to be the prevailing spiritual condition for anyone else seeking God.

And let’s face it: he’s right. Fear is often the motivating dynamic in religions of all stripes.

What made this book so interesting for me was that Tim’s message is basically identical to the gospel of American Evangelicalism – “Knowing religion is not the same as knowing God” (xiv) – except Tim jettisons any and all blind allegiance to the authority of the Church (as he was taught as a Catholic) or Christian scripture (as he would have been taught if he were Protestant).

The end result is that Tim crafts a spirituality for himself, governed entirely by himself. Typical of Modernist thinkers, Tim requires a reductionist kernel; an epistemological foundation that can be unimpeachably and universally applied from the bottom-up to serve as the prime mover in a causal-chain that reliably governs his life. For Tim, that foundation ends up being, quite literally, a feeling in his gut – “that trusty vibration in my solar plexus” (233).

Many Christians will scoff that this as nothing more than subjective emotionalism (others will just call it heresy, since Tim is heavily influenced by the gnostic gospels), but, frankly, it’s not all that different from the fundamental rationale I’ve heard from countless other Christians (and leaders) over the years. Tim just has the courage to admit that he really is the final arbiter of truth according to his worldview. In reality, religious fundamentalists are no different; they’re just playing a mental shell-game where Descartes’ cogito ergo sum wears the guise of tradition or scripture (or tradition about scripture, really) and is re-imagined as a delusion of objectivity.

What Tim is lacking is a nuanced view of truth as a tapestry of meaning that weaves together threads of culture, tradition, enquiry,  relationships, and circumstances, etc., as well as personal experiences in a pattern of ever-emerging knowledge and wisdom. My hunch is that Tim would embrace the idea – right up to the point where he had to submit to it in the form of someone else.

Still, although I think he misses the mark theologically and epistemologically, A View From the Back Pew is full of culturally relevant and brutally-honest (and, I think, often true) critiques of religion. If you can read it through a sympathetically critical lens, I recommend it as a window into the world of hyper-modernist spirituality and a partial peek into the landscape of a post-Christian future.

(I received a galley copy of A View From the Back Pew free of charge by the publisher in return for agreeing to review the book. I was not asked to offer either a positive or negative review.)

Technorati Tags: A View From the Back Pew, Books, Christianity, Epistemology, Gnosticism, Religion, Tim O'Donnell

My Interview With Anne Jackson

Technorati Tags: Anne Jackson, Author Sketches, authors, Books, christianaudio, Interviews, Permission To Speak Freely

Announcing the Winners of the Pastoralia Membership Giveaway!

Today we conducted the random drawing of members for our April membership drive giveaway! First and foremost, thank you to everyone who bacame a member of Pastoralia! Your contribution will help us continue our mission to bring the gospel to post-Christian people in North County San Diego in creative and non-traditional ways. We ended up bringing in the equivalent of 189 memberships. Not quite enough to give away an iPad (250), but enough to make a difference for our mission. Thank you!

Now, a quick word about how we conducted the giveaway:

Everyone who contributed as a member during the month of April was entered into this drawing. Those whose donations were over $25 were given multiple entries depending on the donation amount ($50 = 2 entries, $200 = 8 entries, etc.). Beginning with the iPod Touch, we drew one name randomly per prize until all prizes were assigned. In the case of multiple entries, we limited one prize per person (so people with multiple entries couldn’t win more than once, even if their name came up more than once). Each name was assigned a number and drawn blindly using the engine at Random.org. With the print book giveaways I drew 10 names at random, then tried to match titles with what I thought the winners would find most useful or interesting (it helps that I know all of you somewhat!).

Here are the results:

Grand Prize Giveaway

iPod Touch: Erin Thomsic

Audiobook library giveaways from christianaudio.com

Library of Classics: Sean Campbell

Postmodern Church Library: Dave (from saintsofvirtue.com)

Library of Contemporary Theology: Jacob Evans

Church and Culture Library: Jesse Schroeder

Renovaré Library: JR Rozko

Audiobook download coupon from christianaudio.com

christianaudio Download Code #1: Tracy Wilcoxen

christianaudio Download Code #2: Linda Orem

christianaudio Download Code #3: Krysten Case

christianaudio Download Code #4: Peter Kipley

christianaudio Download Code #5: Christie Harwood

christianaudio Download Code #6: Jason Clark

christianaudio Download Code #7: Carin Pollack

christianaudio Download Code #8: Aaron Boerboom

christianaudio Download Code #9: Jaeson Ma

christianaudio Download Code #10: John Hindes

Print Books Giveaways:

ViralHope copy #1: Jason Dougherty

ViralHope copy #2: Cynthia Taylor

Practice Resurrection by Eugene Petersen: Rick Dumas

Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal: Duke Lancaster

Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey: Geoff Hsu

Experiencing the Trinity by Darrell W. Johnson: Denise Lawson

Christ Based Leadership by David Stark: Bryan Dormaier

Imaginary Jesus by Matt Mikalatos: Peter Coker

Soup, Soap, Hugs, and Hope by Harold Kutler: James Loesch

Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith: Joshua Hopping

Details, details…

If you won a hardgood item, such as the iPod Touch, audiobook libraries (which are on audio CD’s), or the print books, you should expect to receive delivery of these via USPS within 7-14 days (we need a little time to pack everything up). If your prize is a download coupon for an audiobook through christianaudio.com, expect to receive an email this week with your coupon code and instructions.

Condolences

Obviously not everyone won a prize. For those who didn’t win, my sincere condolences. Perhaps next year I’ll have enough prizes for everyone. At the very least, I hope you’re comforted by the fact that you received the coolest t-shirt on the planet : )

Technorati Tags: audiobooks, Books, christianaudio, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

On Spending Easter With a Porn Star: My Interview With Craig Gross

As the Production Manager for christianaudio, I sometimes conduct audio interviews with Christian authors. I recently spoke with Craig Gross, co-founder of XXXChurch.com and co-author, along with Jason Harper, of the recent book, Jesus Loves You…This I Know:

In this edition of Author Sketches we talk to speaker and pastor Craig Gross, whose latest book Jesus Loves Me This I Know, was co-authored with Jason Harper and continues the outward-focused themes explored in his previous books like Starving Jesus and The Gutter: Where Life Is Meant To Be Lived. In this interview Craig talked to us about touring the country with Porn stars, sharing Easter with Ron Jeremy, and learning to be less judgmental through his visit with Fred Phelps and the people of Westboro Baptist Church.

You can download the interview for free at christianaudio.com by clicking here (registration is required).

Technorati Tags: Books, christianaudio, Christianity, Craig Gross, Interviews, Jason Harper, Jesus Christ

What Does The Gospel Really Look Like?

What does the gospel really look like in practice, on the ground, in the city, walking the streets, in the boardrooom and the legislative session, among the neighborhoods and schools of North America?

That was essentially the question asked by JR Woodward last year of 50 missional church practitioners, including myself. What would you write about the good news in your local paper if given the opportunity?

The 50 responses have now been collected and published in a wonderful little book called ViralHope: Good News From The Urbs to the Burbs and Everything In Between. It was humbling to contribute my small chapter to this book as many of the other men and women featured on the pages are people I have admired and emulated for years. Others I’m just discovering and getting to know. As Alan Hirsch writes in his endorsement of the book:

“ViralHope is a unique and enticing collection of postcards from a veritable who’s who of the missional church from across the Western world. It provides us with articulate and varied perspectives on how missionaries to the West are conceiving the good news in and for their various contexts. A worthy read.”

ViralHope would make a fantastic 50-day personal devotion, small group study reflection, or church-wide reading series. You can click here to get your own copy from Amazon.

Technorati Tags: Books, Christianity, Good News, Gospel, JR Woodward, missional, Missional Church, ViralHope

Announcing the First Ever Pastoralia Membership Drive

(For those who want to cut to the chase: We’re conducting a membership drive through April. Members get a cool t-shirt and chance to win some great prizes on May 1, including an iPad, an iPod Touch, and a MacBook Pro. Scroll down for a complete list of giveaways. Click here to become a member now for just $25, or keep reading for all the details.)

I love writing this blog. It’s a way to work out my thoughts and connect with other missional folks, and I hope the discussions here have been as thought-provoking and helpful for some of you as they have been for me. As I recently mentioned, I hope to expand on the articles and features here in the future.

Almost two years ago I left my full-time staff position at a big church in Columbus, OH and moved my family across the country to start a missional work here in North County San Diego. As it turned out, my daring move almost perfectly coincided with the advent of “The Great Recession” – a tough time to break into a second career, to say the least. But, we’ve made ends meet with a combination of part-time jobs, contract work, support from friends and family, and savings. There have been some scary months, but God has been good to us. In addition to cultivating a missional community, Jenell and I both work and I go to seminary nearly full-time.

But even though we live very simply, California is very expensive, and we’re not quite making it. We need to bring in more income to continue with our missional projects and give them the attention they deserve (not to mention pay the rent). So I’ve decided to use this blog to do so. I don’t want to plaster this space with ads. I hate that. Nor do I want to create “pay walls” for the content. I’m committed to offering Pastoralia as a kind of gift.

Instead I’m offering “memberships” at Pastoralia, a bit like public radio. Just like your local public radio station, the content here will remain free, but becoming a member is your chance to support not only the content here, but also our family, my continuing theological education, and the missional work we are engaged in.

Also like public radio, you’ll get a gift for your contribution and a chance to win some very cool giveaways.

Here’s how it works:

• The month of April is our membership drive. Membership is only $25 for one year (a little over $2 per month). You can click here to become a member now, or keep reading to find out about the prizes.
• For your contribution you’ll get a “thank you” Pastoralia t-shirt with original “Space Priest” artwork by Christine Jung (see picture above of my daughter Judah wearing one). Additional t-shirts can be purchased on the same order for $18 each.
• Everyone who becomes a member during the month of April, 2010 will be entered into a drawing to win one of the prizes listed below. Each membership/t-shirt purchase is good for a giveaway entry (if you buy 2 shirts, you get two entries into the drawing). The drawings will be conducted on May 1 and winners will be announced immediately.

Obviously at such a cheap price I need to move a lot of memberships. To be honest, I need your help. I figure there are a couple hundred readers lurking here – at best – so it’s not enough for you to buy a membership. Frankly, I need you to get 5 or 10 (or 100) of your friends to become members too. Now, I realize your friends probably couldn’t care less about me paying my rent, so in addition to the t-shirt I’ve decided to sweeten the deal with a few cool giveaways for the May 1 drawing (shameless, I know, but fun!).

Membership Prizes:

The Really Big Giveaways

1 Apple iPod Touch will be given away.

1 Apple iPad will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 250 (yes, this is pretty ambitious).

1 MacBook Pro will be given away if membership/t-shirt sales reach 500 (okay, this might be a crazy goal).

Audiobooks From christianaudio.com

1 Library of Classics: The Confessions of St Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, and Dark Night of the Soul by St. John of the Cross.

1 Postmodern Church Library: So Beautiful by Leonard Sweet, Searching For God Knows What by Donald Miller, The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren, and Everything Must Change by Brian McLaren.

1 Library of Contemporary Theology: Foolishness To The Greeks by Lesslie Newbigin, The Challenge of Jesus by NT Wright, and Evil and the Justice of God by NT Wright.

1 Church and Culture Library: Deep Church by Jim Belcher, and Culture Making by Andy Crouch.

1 Renovaré Library: Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard, and Longing For God by Richard Foster and Gayle Beebe.

10 download codes for an audiobook of your choice from christianaudio.com given to 10 people (1 each).

Print Books

2 Copies of Viral Hope: Good News from the Urbs to the Burbs (and everything in between), edited by JR Woodward, given to 2 people (1 each).

1 Copy of Practice Resurrection by Eugene Peterson.

1 Copy of Practicing Greatness by Reggie McNeal.

1 Copy of Urban Christianity and Global Order by Andrew Davey.

1 Copy of Experiencing The Trinity by Darrell Johnson.

1 Copy of Christ Based Leadership by David Stark.

1 Copy of Transforming Power by Robert Linthicum.

1 Copy of Treasure in Clay Jars by Lois Barrett.

1 Copy of Formational Children’s Ministry by Ivy Beckwith.

That’s it! Pretty simple. Buy a membership, get a t-shirt, maybe win a prize, tell your friends. Go ahead. Click here to become a member now.

Technorati Tags: Books, Giveaways, Membership drive, Pastoralia

Reading Blog: Untamed by Alan and Deb Hirsch, Chapter 1

Alan Hirsch has made a name for himself in recent years as a missiologist who has drawn attention to the neglect of mission to the West. His books, The Shaping of Things To Come (co-written with Micheel Frost) and The Forgotten Ways take up these subjects, along with his other missional initiatives such as the Forge Missional Training Network and Shapevine (started along with Lance Ford). For Untamed, Alan c0-writes with his wife Deb, an experienced and articulate minister in her own right.

Section 1: Untamed God
Chapter 1: Jeebus Made Me Do It

Homer Simpson is the template for this chapter. Trying to escape a debt to PBS, Homer gets shipped to the South Pacific by Reverend Lovejoy as a Missionary where he promptly destroys the pristine native civilization by preaching “Jeebus” and building a Casino-themed religion that introduces gambling and alcohol to the natives. For the Hirsch’s, this is a snapshot of what happens when we don’t really know God; we create toxic religious enterprises and institutions.

As has been pointed out abundantly by a growing collection of popular Christian authors in the last two decades – from Dallas Willard to Dan Kimball to Dave Kinnamon and Gabe Lyons – Christians often don’t look much like Jesus at all. Reflecting this, Bill Maher has said, “I don’t know anyone less Jesus-like than most Christians.”

It’s critical to reclaim the centrality of Jesus as the defining image of God. We know God by knowing Jesus Christ, or as former Anglican archbishop Michael Ramsey has said, “God is Christlike.” The Hirsch’s believe that this re-centering of Christ, not just as the savior of humanity, but also as the model of discipleship leads us to take Jesus seriously as a template for life. This incarnational view of God breaks us out of the tendency to “know” God primarily through the abstract concepts of his transcendent “otherness.”

However, this need to see God through Christ can include the tendency to create Christ in our own image. Quoting Voltaire’s famous saying – that God created us in his image and we returned the favor – the Hirsch’s explore the phenomenon of enculturated versions of Christ. Europeans create a light-skinned, light-haired version, Africans create a dark-skinned version, etc. While it’s necessary to recognize Christ ability to identify with every culture, this tendency can quickly becomes idolatrous. There’s an interesting example of this in Untamed, taken from an infamous sermon preached by Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll:

He [Driscoll] has become somewhat infamous for his portrayal of Jesus as some sort of ultimate fighter. But in attempting to “butch up” Jesus and make him appeal to “real men,” has Driscoll come close to creating Jesus in his own image? Consider this from one of his sermons:

“Latte-sipping Cabriolet drivers do not represent biblical masculinity, because real men—like Jesus, Paul, and John the Baptist—are dudes: heterosexual, win-a-fight, punch-you-in-the-nose dudes. In other words, because Jesus is not a limp-wristed, dress-wearing hippie, the men created in his image are not sissifed church boys; they are aggressive, assertive, and nonverbal.”

Now we don’t believe Mark’s original intention was bad. What he was trying to do is rescue Jesus from the overly feminized ways in which Jesus has been portrayed. We would agree and also want to rescue the image of Jesus from this [...] But the problem with Driscoll’s ultimate-fighting Jesus is that Jesus has been freed from one distortion only to be captured by another.

The Hirsch’s are very concerned with how an overly personalized and distorted image of Christ leads to toxic religious abuses. Instead, “Jesus must be freed in order to relate to all people; if he isn’t freed, the incarnation fails to make sense [...] That’s the whole point of the incarnation: he became a human in order to fully identify with each and every one of us.”

The authors go on to ask why is it that Christ’s holiness tended to attract the marginalized sinners of his day, but the “holiness” of Modern Christians tends to repel them? The Hirsch’s answer is that Jesus’ holiness wasn’t about conformity to the rules of personal morality, but rather individual and corporate conformity to God as revealed in Christ. The distinction they make here is the classic Evangelical distinction between religion and “relationship.” The authors affirm that Christ taught a reconciled relationship with God that leads to a genuine desire to please Him out of love.

However, that “conformity” to God usually sets us prophetically at odds with the surrounding culture (secular and religious). This is where the Hirsch’s view of God becomes “untamed” in the “gutsy” and “intoxicating” Jesus of the Gospels. There is a radical freedom expressed by God and his people to stand for what is truly righteous, unfettered by the rules of society.

Some Questions for Reflection:

1. Aside from Mark Driscoll’s “Ultimate Fighter” Jesus, What are some of the other caricatures of Jesus you recognize in Christianity that are inconsistent with the biblical picture of him?
2. What about Jesus do you identify with most? Does Christ seem attractive to you?
3. What do you think of the distinction the Hirsch’s make between moralistic religious conformity to the rules of society and relational conformity to the will of God? How can we reliably know the difference?

Technorati Tags: Alan Hirsch, Books, Christianity, Deb Hirsch, Mark Driscoll, Missional Church, Untamed

April Reading Blog: Untamed by Alan and Deb Hirsch

Last weekend I invited you to vote on what book I would blog through in April and the winner is Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship by Alan and Deb Hirsch! Here’s the back blurb:

Discipleship is costly. Are we willing to critique and even challenge much we’ve been taught for the sake of the kingdom? For this is the radical nature of the discipleship to which Jesus calls us. He did not allow the outside culture to hold him captive; instead he established the kingdom of God and turned the world on its head. Jesus was untamed, and he calls his church to be the same. In this provocative and compelling book, internationally known missiologists Alan and Debra Hirsch overthrow culturized understandings of theology and culture, and cast a vision for a distinctly mission-shaped way of living the Christian life. Written for any Christian serious about issue of discipleship, Untamed covers such topics as church, humans as bearers of the image of God, family life, culture, and sexuality. Through it all they seek to answer the question, how are we to think and live day to day as followers of Jesus? Each chapter ends with suggested practices to help readers begin to live out the book’s principles as well as questions for group discussion.

I’ll be blogging through Untamed, chapter-by-chapter, every Tuesday and Thursday in April, staring tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who voted!

Technorati Tags: Alan Hirsch, Books, Deb Hirsch, discipleship, Untamed