The King Jesus Gospel: A Review

Scot McKnight in "The King Jesus Gospel" dares to ask if we have somehow managed to misinterpret the full meaning of the gospel, and I for one am glad that he did.  McKnight claims that we have shrunk down our understanding of the gospel to include only the plan of salvation and have thus missed out on the full understanding of the gospel in our lives.  I don't know about you, but this seems like a risky proposition.  We in the church do not handle people who come along and claim that we have missed the point to well.  In fact, we usually call them heretics and create smear campaigns across all forms of media about them.  But I hope that those who would first throw stones will give the message of McKnight's book a chance.  For his desire is not to throw out our previous assumptions of the gospel, but to reframe them in light of apostolic teachings.

The meat of this book is centered around looking at what a fuller understanding of the gospel is and where it is found in the teachings of the apostles and even Jesus himself.  Central to McKnight's definition of the gospel is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the story of Israel.  The incarnation was not a random event that occurred in a vacuum, instead it was a continuation of the work that God had already been doing in the world that began with His calling of Israel.  It is through this lens that we begin to understand that the gospel is not just a saving story, but a calling story.  The story of Jesus as the fulfillment of the story of Israel gives us insight as to this calling that God has for us.  As McKnight says at the end of the book, "The gospel propels us into mission, into the holistic mission of loving God, loving self, loving others, and loving the world." (pg 160)

I highly recommend this book as it is both well written and thought provoking.  Allow its message to reframe what we proclaim the gospel to be and in turn how we are shaped by it.

I received this book from Zondervan in exchange for a review on this blog.

Enemies of the Heart: A Review

"Enemies of the Heart," by Andy Stanley, a book about the four emotions that control us.  Through this book Stanley seeks to examine what these four emotions are, how they affect us and ultimately propose habits that we can incorporate into our lives to help break free from these emotions.  He identifies the four emotions as being: Guilt, Anger, Greed and Jealousy.  These particular four emotions become controlling in our lives because they all are connected to a certain indebtedness in our heart.  Guilt leads to the thinking of "I owe you."  Anger leads to the thinking of "You owe me."  Greed leads to the thinking of "I owe me." And finally, jealously lead to the thinking of "God owes me."

After the author unpacks the four emotions and the control they have in our lives, he moves to a section that focuses on a habit that will lead to freedom from that particular bondage.  Freedom from guilt comes through confession, not just to God but also to others.  Freedom from anger comes through practicing forgiveness.  Freedom from greed comes through practicing generosity. Freedom from jealously comes through celebrating others.  Being habits that need to be formed, each one of these freedom-giving practices is to be exercised regularly.  They are not just one time events, instead they are to become who we are.

I found this book to be very well written and easy to understand.  I thought the content was very appropriate for the subject matter and that this would be a useful book for those who are looking for reasons why they are not maturing in their faith or able to move past certain attitudes or habits.  I found this to be a very good and practical Christian living book and would recommend it.  There are discussion questions in the back for use in groups and I feel that the material presented does lend itself to further discussion if one chooses.  All in all, this is another solid book by Stanley.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.