Being familiar with Scot McKnight's other books, I received this one from Zondervan to review with expectation. The basic message of the book is very good in its approach and in its content: Jesus did not call his followers to individual salvation so that they can be engrossed in private acts of piety that have no effect on the world whatsoever. On the postive side, McKnight's writing directs us to consider that following Jesus means 'giving your One.Life to him and to his dream' (24). The great joy of this type of teaching is that it sees Christianity in the lives of its believers as providing a call that encompasses all of life (not segregated to morality or petty rules of dress and dance). If we are not caught up with the dream of Jesus, following his teaching and life, then are caught up in a vision counter to his call.
Scot appropriately situates Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God within the context of the Jewish understanding of 'kind, land and citizens' (30). Echoing the work of N.T. Wright, Richard Hays and others, McKnight sees the goal of Israel and its coming king as providing blessing to all nations, regardless of ethnicity. Jesus' message was therefore radical to his hearers, for it called for a new order to dawn upon the present age of Roman rule. Yet, as McKnight indicates the end point of the kingdom was to be a society of God on Earth (32). How does this help us understand Jesus' teaching and our application of it? Well, for one, the message of the kingdom is not be isolated from the blessing of God upon the whole nations. As Christians, it is not an option to isolate ourselves from the prevailing culture in search for a city upon a hill. God's blessing does not end with the coming of Jesus, but is inaugurated in a new paradigm.
Using Jesus' parables as a focus point, McKnight sees that these stories were spoken to bring people into the kingdom vision of Jesus and leave them wanting more. In the chapter on Imagined Life Scot outlines 8 basic principles that come from the parables of Jesus. I want to highlight a few that are worth mentioning. One, God is at work in the lives of the ordinary. No truer words have been spoken. We have gotten into the Western culture trap that there is a hierarchy of status defined by both what we do and what we have. This mentality can be poisonous for the witness of Christ. God is as much with the janitor as he is the CEO, as much with the street cleaner as with Albert Pujols. We notice in Jesus' ministry that most of his time was directed toward the outcasts and not the high class peoples. The vision of the kingdom comes with the least of these and those who work in high places. Secondly, Kingdom folks live peaceably with non-kingdom folks (40). In our power hungry world, the choice to live peaceably with our neighbor and even do things for his good is unthinkable, yet this is exactly our calling. What good is it to speak of Christ but to bring ruin to our neighbor in our dealings with him.
The chapter on justice was specifically interesting. McKnight asks the question to his students and of his readers as to the reason why Jesus came to Earth. Many upon many answer with the pat answer of 'He came to die for my sins upon the cross.' Although this is true, McKnight states that this is not the primary reason for his coming, rather "Jesus came to bring justice by building the kingdom society on Earth, beginning right now with you and with me" (67). What is missing in the before mentioned answer is any notion of justice related to the proclaiming good news to the poor, releasing the captives and recovering the sight of the blind. Too often we have truncated the meaning of Jesus coming for our own individual salvation instead of seeing the political, global, and theological dimensions of justice.
There were only a couple of ideas in the book that I thought were troubling and in one case verging on unbiblical. The phrases like One.Life and others in the middle of sentences seem to be more of a marketing technique than actually providing any substance to the book. Lastly, the discussion of hell in pp.159-165 left much to be desired. McKnight does not want to advocate a position that many traditionalists have with respect to eternal torment for the lives of those who live barely 100 years. In essence, for McKnight the punishment does not fit the crime. Rather than adovacte an annihilationist position in which those who do not believe will be judged and then will receive the punishment of being annihilated (ceasing to exist). I think McKnight is right to reject this position. Annihilationism in its understanding really effects no punishment beyond the judgment for unrepentant sinners, a view that is hard to square with the biblical witness. McKnight eventually opts for a position in saying "hell is person's awareness of being utterly absent, which is what "death after death" means, but yet in the presence of God" (165). The traditional view of hell lacks grace and mercy, but the annihilationist position doesn't square with Jesus' teaching. I find his position to be out of line with the clear teaching of Scripture that hell is both eternal and unquenchable due to the violation of God's holiness and righteousness. I think in the end those who wish to reject the more traditional idea of hell do so out of an emotional repulsion at the imagery and power of such a grave torment.
Overall, I think this book is a good witness to see following Jesus as encompassing much more than our private lives. Following Jesus means thinking about our checkbook, prostitution in the city, the water we drink, our children and much more. This does not mean that we solve every problem, but we should bring a kingdom saturated vision to bear on all of life.
Thanks to Zondervan for the complimentary review copy.
Scot appropriately situates Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God within the context of the Jewish understanding of 'kind, land and citizens' (30). Echoing the work of N.T. Wright, Richard Hays and others, McKnight sees the goal of Israel and its coming king as providing blessing to all nations, regardless of ethnicity. Jesus' message was therefore radical to his hearers, for it called for a new order to dawn upon the present age of Roman rule. Yet, as McKnight indicates the end point of the kingdom was to be a society of God on Earth (32). How does this help us understand Jesus' teaching and our application of it? Well, for one, the message of the kingdom is not be isolated from the blessing of God upon the whole nations. As Christians, it is not an option to isolate ourselves from the prevailing culture in search for a city upon a hill. God's blessing does not end with the coming of Jesus, but is inaugurated in a new paradigm.
Using Jesus' parables as a focus point, McKnight sees that these stories were spoken to bring people into the kingdom vision of Jesus and leave them wanting more. In the chapter on Imagined Life Scot outlines 8 basic principles that come from the parables of Jesus. I want to highlight a few that are worth mentioning. One, God is at work in the lives of the ordinary. No truer words have been spoken. We have gotten into the Western culture trap that there is a hierarchy of status defined by both what we do and what we have. This mentality can be poisonous for the witness of Christ. God is as much with the janitor as he is the CEO, as much with the street cleaner as with Albert Pujols. We notice in Jesus' ministry that most of his time was directed toward the outcasts and not the high class peoples. The vision of the kingdom comes with the least of these and those who work in high places. Secondly, Kingdom folks live peaceably with non-kingdom folks (40). In our power hungry world, the choice to live peaceably with our neighbor and even do things for his good is unthinkable, yet this is exactly our calling. What good is it to speak of Christ but to bring ruin to our neighbor in our dealings with him.
The chapter on justice was specifically interesting. McKnight asks the question to his students and of his readers as to the reason why Jesus came to Earth. Many upon many answer with the pat answer of 'He came to die for my sins upon the cross.' Although this is true, McKnight states that this is not the primary reason for his coming, rather "Jesus came to bring justice by building the kingdom society on Earth, beginning right now with you and with me" (67). What is missing in the before mentioned answer is any notion of justice related to the proclaiming good news to the poor, releasing the captives and recovering the sight of the blind. Too often we have truncated the meaning of Jesus coming for our own individual salvation instead of seeing the political, global, and theological dimensions of justice.
There were only a couple of ideas in the book that I thought were troubling and in one case verging on unbiblical. The phrases like One.Life and others in the middle of sentences seem to be more of a marketing technique than actually providing any substance to the book. Lastly, the discussion of hell in pp.159-165 left much to be desired. McKnight does not want to advocate a position that many traditionalists have with respect to eternal torment for the lives of those who live barely 100 years. In essence, for McKnight the punishment does not fit the crime. Rather than adovacte an annihilationist position in which those who do not believe will be judged and then will receive the punishment of being annihilated (ceasing to exist). I think McKnight is right to reject this position. Annihilationism in its understanding really effects no punishment beyond the judgment for unrepentant sinners, a view that is hard to square with the biblical witness. McKnight eventually opts for a position in saying "hell is person's awareness of being utterly absent, which is what "death after death" means, but yet in the presence of God" (165). The traditional view of hell lacks grace and mercy, but the annihilationist position doesn't square with Jesus' teaching. I find his position to be out of line with the clear teaching of Scripture that hell is both eternal and unquenchable due to the violation of God's holiness and righteousness. I think in the end those who wish to reject the more traditional idea of hell do so out of an emotional repulsion at the imagery and power of such a grave torment.
Overall, I think this book is a good witness to see following Jesus as encompassing much more than our private lives. Following Jesus means thinking about our checkbook, prostitution in the city, the water we drink, our children and much more. This does not mean that we solve every problem, but we should bring a kingdom saturated vision to bear on all of life.
Thanks to Zondervan for the complimentary review copy.
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