Posted by Helen on: 10.31.2007 /
Can a good review be bad for a book author? Apparently it can if the author is Christian and the reviewer is atheist.
Ingrid of Slice of Laodicea wrote yesterday that that an atheist (me) positively reviewing Brian’s book proves how off base his theology is. (Here’s my review of Everything Must Change.)
I wonder how far Ingrid takes this? If atheists find a Christian likeable, does that prove the Christian is a heretic? Must he/she come across as obnoxious to those who aren’t Christians in order to prove he/she is a Real Christian?
I’ve come across Christians who do pride themselves in how they give offense with their evangelizing. Off The Map of course doesn’t think this way. That’s why one of Off The Map’s goals has always been to help Christians become normal (aka less like jerks) n the eyes of people who aren’t Christians.
Brian’s lack of affirmation of traditional theology in Everything Must Change has been noted by a number of bloggers - some showing friendly concern, others less friendly. Here’s a recent excerpt from a comment Brian posted on Scot McKnight’s blog which clarifies some of his personal beliefs
I certainly believe in the need for saving faith, for forgiveness, for hope beyond death, for the pursuit of orthodox articulations of belief, for overcoming the damning effects of sin, for rejecting wholeheartedly the idea that we can be saved by our own efforts or through religion, and so on. I’m not attacking those beliefs.
The entire comment is quite extensive. Much of it, including the excerpt above, was written to defend/explain Brian’s parody of Mary’s praise song. Here’s the parody
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my personal Savior, for he has been mindful of the correct saving faith of his servant. My spirit will go to heaven when my body dies for the Mighty One has provided forgiveness, assurance, and eternal security for me - holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who have correct saving faith and orthodox articulations of belief, from generation to generation. He will overcome the damning effects of original sin with his mighty arm; he will damn to hell those who believe they can be saved through their own efforts or through any religion other than the new one He is about to form. He will condemn followers of other religions to hell but bring to heaven those with correct belief. He has filled correct believers with spiritual blessings but will send those who are not elect to hell forever. He has helped those with correct doctrinal understanding, remembering to be merciful to those who believe in the correct theories of atonement, just as our preferred theologians through history have articulated.
Here’s the actual praise-song from the Bible; this is from the colorful paraphrase “The Message”
I’m bursting with God-news;
I’m dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened -
I’m the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It’s exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.
I don’t really understand why Christians expect Brian to state his beliefs about personal salvation, heaven and hell in a book which is an urgent call to action regarding the global crisis. Why do those even matter if the call to action is valid and needed?
I wonder how these Christians handle Jesus, since he was continually issuing strong calls to action without attaching a statement of his personal theology to each one. I don’t think they can have taken a close look at how many things Jesus doesn’t say and how often he doesn’t say them. I suspect all those ‘gaps’ have been neatly filled in for them by some systematic theology which eliminates the discomfort of what Jesus didn’t say. For some reason this ’rounding out’ of Jesus’ words is considered perfectly acceptable even though the Bible pronounces the strictest of curses on anyone who adds to the word of God (Rev 22:18).
Comment by: joe
1 10/31/07 4:54 AM | Comment Link |Thats right Helen - how dare you have an opinion about anything!?!
I’ve always thought that Ingrid is best ignored.
Comment by: Lainie Petersen
2 10/31/07 8:39 AM | Comment Link |Gotta love these “discernment” ministries. Sheesh.
Comment by: Mike Clawson
3 10/31/07 9:43 AM | Comment Link |I wondered if Brian was going to get this sort of critique when he linked to your review in his email newsletter. But I wouldn’t worry about it. Slice is on the same par with folks like Ken Silva. They’re loud and shrill, but very few people take them seriously.
Comment by: Helen
4 10/31/07 10:08 AM | Comment Link |It didn’t worry me…
I know it’s not just Ingrid (and Ken, probably) who will be critical of Brian because his message connects well with people who aren’t Christians who care about the global crisis.
This fascinates me because, using Brian’s technique of considering framing stories, I would say the New Testament presents Jesus as bringing a message which makes him the hero of the ordinary person and unintelligible and annoying to the ultra-religious.
Somehow some Christians have taken a few verses out of the New Testament letters and turned Jesus’ message into the hero of them, the ultra-religious and something unintelligible and annoying to ordinary people.
Comment by: Mike Clawson
5 10/31/07 10:54 AM | Comment Link |Funny thing, but we got a similar criticism after Hemant visited our church and gave us a positive review. Some people (including close family members) said things to the effect of “If an atheist likes what you’re doing, you must be doing something wrong.” As if we were compromising the gospel or something. But as you point out Helen, I think such people have a misconception that the gospel must always be offensive to non-Christians. Of course it sometimes is, but surely it must also appear as genuinely “good news” to some people as well, or why would anyone ever convert?
Comment by: Doreen A Mannion
6 10/31/07 11:53 AM | Comment Link |don’t worry, the REAL Christians still love atheists
(She says, tongue firmly planted in cheek….)
Comment by: monts
7 10/31/07 11:57 AM | Comment Link |i thought slice was extinct… but now it looks like they’re back in action with all of their vitriolic fervor and condemnation. oh joy.
Comment by: Steve S.
8 10/31/07 10:01 PM | Comment Link |What if those calls to action are in and of themselves statements of theology!
I think Jesus was constantly giving statements of personal theology…
…there once was a man who had two sons…
…there once was a woman…
…there once was a shepherd…
They just didn’t happen to coincide with a modern western framework for understanding (ie systematic theological statements in alphabetical order, cross-referenced, and foot-noted)…
Comment by: Steve S.
9 10/31/07 10:05 PM | Comment Link |PS
My absolute priority as a pastor is to have someone like you, Helen, give our spiritual community a positive revue…
I think McLaren would say the same.
Something has gone severely astray in the Jesus movement when the ‘mature’ people in the church become the squeaky wheels getting greased, instead of seeing their function as blessing and serving those who are ‘on the outside looking in.’
Comment by: joe
10 11/1/07 4:00 AM | Comment Link |I know this is a sideissue, but one of the things that impresses me about Jesus is the way he subverted the spiritual thinking of the time. Whereas ‘important’ spiritual people were going about making everything into a spiritual issue (how much grain to give, whether to pay tax, when to help someone in need), Jesus constantly made a spiritual issue out of everything (fish in the sea, trees on the sidewalk, even the dirt on the ground).
In our time, people constantly want to make spiritual issues out of things like church-attendance, right theologies etc. I’m not convinced Jesus was really so bothered about that stuff - and would be making spiritual issues out of the things we do in our backyards, on our streets, in our fields etc.
Comment by: David H
11 11/1/07 5:27 AM | Comment Link |Some people are just so darn proud to be counted among the 99 that they haven’t even noticed that the shepherd left the fold. What’s worse, they’re pretty sure 90 or so of their companions don’t really belong in the pen either.