Just Jesus by
Walter Wink with Steven Berry
Many people know the name Walter Wink through his series of
books on the Powers that Be, but many people don’t recognize the extreme nature
of Wink’s life. This new book, Just
Jesus, is a memoir of Wink’s life through his time at Union Seminary, his
nonviolent protests, and his views on practicing the faith of the fathers in
the midst of horrible evil. You get many
pictures of Wink as you work through this memoir; social reformer, radical
theologian, and constant stirrer of the pot.
You might not agree with everything in this book, in fact you won’t, but
you will appreciate the life of a man dedicated to many worthwhile causes.
After relaying the story of how Walter had decided with his
friend to burn up some Christmas trees, the fire marshal came and blamed it all
on Walt’s black friend. Wink writes, “That
day I discovered something of what racism is.” (36) The sting of knowing that someone was wronged
when you were to blame, and that the reason that the blame was leveled on them
was because of their skin color was an outrage to Walter. Later on in life, Walter with some other
clergy went down to Selma to help in the March with Martin Luther King,
Jr. It seems that at almost every point
Walt was seeking out places where injustices were taking place and putting
himself in the middle of them. At the
end of some of the entries in this memoir, Walter writes out a short prayer
that captures the essence of the preceding lines very well. I was amazed at how beautiful these short
prayers were by Walter.
We also get a sense of Walter’s influences in this book,
from Jung to John Cobb Jr., many notable radical theologians were on the
list. It seemed as if Walter’s whole
life was a distancing himself from his stringent, more conservative
upbringing. Yet, we see Walter dipping
into panentheism and rejecting the more traditional models of
Christianity. It was at this point that
I think Walter strayed too far from the foundations of the faith.
This book gave us a good glimpse into makes Wink tick, what
he is passionate about, and what he is willing to die for. Overall, I enjoyed this book even though I
find some of his views on the faith damaging and downright false.
Thanks to Image Books and Waterbrook/Multnomah Blogging for
Books program for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
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