This is the third part in a series of posts that explore my subtitle, Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity.
Part 1 explores the word “New”
Part 2 explores the word “Reconstructing”
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We need reconciliation.
In my previous posts exploring the subtitle I looked at why I chose the words “new” and “reconstructing” for my subtitle. In this final post I’d like to explore why I chose the word “whole.” A central part of my journey in Emergence has been confronting my own inherited stories, one that I grew up in and had over 2,500 hours (yes I counted) of formal and semi-formal education regarding some Christian faith. I’ve always known that what Jesus did on the cross was utterly profound, a symbol of love, and something I was interested. I’ve never questioned the reality of the cross, but I have questioned the meaning of it.
But as I’ve grown older, reared children, and come to a point in my life when I realize what other people think of me doesn’t really change me, it gave me a new found freedom to step into the tension with my faith. I simply took the risk to ask questions about what I had been given. My questions were very simple but they were not new. As I began to explore our understanding of the Gospel, which is really catalyzed in two events (the Garden and the cross) I couldn’t help recognize that it didn’t reconcile with my understanding of love. And if it didn’t reconcile it wasn’t whole…for me. I want to be clear that I applaud anyone who can sit permanently within that tension. I couldn’t. I need something whole.
But to address the fundamental conclusions we’ve made about the Gospel, which informs our understanding of Christianity, I knew we had to listen deeply to the fundamental assumptions that informed those conclusions. Could the story inform me with a different perspective. I didn’t want to just come up with something out of thin air. I went directly back to Scripture and essentially lived in Genesis 1-3 for about three years. I kept digging.
But in order to embrace this new perspective, I had to directly confront my own sense of pride. The answers that actually came revealed that the problem God was solving was actually in me. I had to address the breach in my own heart. But in doing so it radically reshaped my understanding of the cross. It became love in a way that was ferocious. It was, in essence, whole.
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Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity offers a sweeping new interpretation of the narrative of Christianity, Jonathan Brink explores the remarkable dissonance between our historical understanding of Gospel and what the story in Scripture actually reveals. It offers a compelling possibility for those looking to reconstruct their faith in a whole new way. Available today from CreateSpace and Amazon. Order from CreateSpace and use code 5GFARGT9 to receive a 15% discount.
