So last year I created a Facebook Page around my book Discovering The God Imagination.  Little did I know that this was a bonehead move.  Turns out I needed an author page because once I release a new book, the old page becomes obsolete.  So I now have a true-blue bona fide author page for updates and connection.  Please feel free to join my page.

Much love.

Atonement theory is back on trial, and I love it.

When I wrote this post (State of Emergence) I didn’t realize how quickly the emerging church conversation would once again explode. Everything kicked into high gear with the release of Rob Bell’s Love Wins. Emergence Village is stirring again, and Mark Galli is tackling atonement theories over at Christianity Today. The conversation is busting out at the seems.  Even the Tall Skinny Kiwi is talking about it again. As I said in my post, what needed to die was the stereotypes that came with the emerging church, but what never died were the original questions that created it.

One of those questions centered around atonement.  Back in 2005-2008, as the emerging church conversation was really flourishing, for the first time people were talking openly about the apparent dissonance in our understanding of the Gospel.  It was on the table because we can’t ignore that our present understanding of the Gospel are shaped by these theories.  Put relevant information in the hands of the masses and they will talk about it, and we did.  And the most dominant theory in my evangelical heritage is the penal substitutionary atonement theory.  It posits that humanity broke God’s moral law, and God sent his son as a substitute for humanity by paying for our sin on the cross.

In Mark’s post, he takes on the atonement theory suggesting that people are being drawn to the alternative Christus Victor. It is interesting to me to see people try and grapple with their own theories, in order to hold onto them.

“On the other hand, “neurotic substitutionary atonement” needs to be abandoned. The picture of a wrathful Father having his anger appeased by the death of his Son is wrong on many fronts. Here’s one: It separates the work of the Father from the Son, as if they have competing concerns—the Father with righteousness, the son with compassion. It sounds like the Son saves us from the Father! This is manifestly unbiblical, for Paul clearly says that “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). While we were sinners, God took action. God would not have come to us in Christ had he not already determined to reconcile with us. This is not the behavior of a God who stands aloof in a huff, waiting for propitiation before he’ll have anything to do with us.”

Mark tries to reconcile the problem by ironically slapping on the word “neurotic”, (I’ve never heard it described that way but the idea of neurotic is telling) rather than our understanding of the problem. He essentially uses Rob Bell’s take on the theory almost verbatim. He says, “It sounds like the Son saves us from the Father.” Mark then goes on to suggest it’s unbiblical because it pits Christ against God.  Well duh!  It does.  The basic assumption in the theory is a God who demands justice for a perfect law.  Jesus saves us from the wrath of God. It’s easy to want to say this is a stereotype but it’s not.  It’s the natural logical understanding of the theory.

Penal substitutionary atonement theory (don’t you just love big words ;-P) is important one of the dominant theories of the Gospel in the Western church (the Eastern church uses/used Ransom theory) for the last 1,000 years.  The Catholics call it a mystery, which I think is intellectually more honest but not any better. Like Rob suggests in his video, if “(if millions of people are going to hell and a few are going to heaven), if that’s the case, how do you become one of the few“.

The problem with Mark’s approach is that we can’t just slap a adjective on the theory and hope that all we need to do is remove the adjective.  The theory does pit God against Jesus.  We can’t ignore the basic assumptions that inform the theory, which posit humanity broken God’s moral law and a punishment must be exacted. (BTW, can you hear John Calvin’s lawyer side in the this theory?) Penal subsitutionary atonement is broken because it’s based on a false assumption.  It’s based on the assumption that God required perfection, which ignores the grace that was present from the beginning. It ignores long periods of silence on God’s part.  It ignores the reality that it is humanity that creates both religion and the basic idea of the law before God ever gives Israel both.  It ignores that the substitution was always FOR humanity, not God.

What if there were a better way of understanding the Gospel?  What if the problem is not the Gospel but our understanding of it?  What if the very problem we are attempting to solve is creating this distorted, warped version that makes people run for the exits.  Because isn’t the best evidence that the theory isn’t working is that it isn’t producing life? I would suggest that Jesus isn’t satisfying God’s demands, but OURS.  And when we begin to understand how demanding we can be for evidence, when we begin to see that God will go to the ends of the earth, that love really does win, then we will be able to have a much different conversation about it.

I make the argument in Discovering The God Imagination that the problem is not that each theory is incorrect.  Each theory exists because there is enough biblical evidence to suggest it.  The problem is with our understanding of the root problem.  It’s our capacity to construct a false reality that sees the self as outside of the kingdom of God.  We become captivated by our own imagination, which leads to death.

I like the fact that Mark is asking these questions.  We asked them in depth 4-5 years ago and go crucified for it.  Now a major Christian media outlet that serves the traditional evangelical church is also talking about it.  That’s progress. Soon and very soon we will be having a new conversation about it.  If you’d like to explore it more with me, I’m leading a class that works through it.

The online class is with BeADisciple.com, a division of Southwestern College.

Title: Exploring a Postmodern Gospel

Dates: May 2 – 29, 2011

Cost: $69

The online class will explore the book over four weeks and will include online interaction with those who are also reading the book. It’s self paced so you can participate at any time during the week. If you’ve read the book and want to explore it in dialog in community, this is your chance to do so. The beauty of the online format is that you can participate at any time during the day or week.

Enrollment in courses at BeADisciple.com is a two-step process. A person must first “register” in order to build an account at BeADisciple.com where he/she may then “login” to enroll and pay in a secure online environment. If someone has registered and now needs to enroll he/she may return to www.BeADisciple.com at anytime to do so. He/she will “login” (upper-right) using the email address and password combination created upon registering. Any problems/questions with enrollment may be directed to Lisa Buffum at beadisciple@sckans.edu.

This four week class is limited to the first 20 participants, so if you’re interested, I would encourage you to sign up today. I’m really looking forward to the dialog that will happen over the seven weeks.

The class takes place online using Blackboard’s classroom technology. If you’ve used it before you’ll know it’s really simple to use.

One of my students in my Exploring A Postmodern Gospel class wrote the following two posts.  We’re working through my book Discovering The God Imagination. I wanted to share them.

——————————————————-

Jonathan,
As I sat in a local Taco shop finishing chapter 4 last week, I experienced a significant amount of hope and desire to worship as I have while reading only a few other books (The Challenge of Jesus and Simply Christian by NT Wright, The Heart of Christianity by Borg and a few others). I felt a swelling inside my chest as my head raced through to one version of where the story was going.

I got the feeling you were saying at the end of discussing the atonement theories (page 82) that, possibly, what God did was let humans create the rules (either by accident or by choice, for better or worse). Then, because he loves us so much did, does, and will do whatever it takes to prove that love and to reconcile and redeem us-even if that meant that he had to play by the rules we had internalized as necessary… and become our perfect sacrifice.

I choked back tears of amazement and felt like it would have been appropriate to drop to my knees in worship of a love so free. I am looking forward to following the details that seem to indicate a story I want to believe, and do at some level already.

Thanks for this.

——————————————————-

Okay, so here goes. Sorry for the length.

As I mentioned, or tried to previously, one of the things that has given me the freedom to proceed with a deconstruction and beginning of reconstruction of my faith was a belief that I wasn’t doing it alone. I began to “find” evidence able to overcome my preconceptions. More specifically I have had the sensation that the creator of the universe was communicating to me in ways that I was able to understand, ways that would encourage me to keep going and to trust more. I told a friend, my counselor, and my wife about this and even blogged about it in a very general way. In the past and in stories of others I have heard people say that they had a certain coincidence or thing happen or believed God to be speaking to them, and I was always a bit skeptical, even when I felt it and said it. Was I making it up? Fabricating? Practicing confirmation bias?

Somehow in the past several months I have been able to suspend judgment on this and allow it to “take me where it will”. One of the ways that I experienced what I called “a voice”, was through events and specifically music, which I constantly listen too. I have always been a huge fan of U2. But in the past 24-36 months, I cannot help but hear God speaking to me at specific times, saying specific things, that make me as sure as I can be that He was the one speaking. This has been followed by a similar experience with the music of Switchfoot, Snow Patrol, and Mat Kearney.

Most recently however, and currently, the music of The Killers has been the means by which I feel able to hear Him speak. Now, I had never been a fan of the Killers until 4 months ago when I read this tweet from Rob Bell:

I get the sense that Brandon Flowers knows exactly what he’s doing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBENjCPS8LI

So I watched the video and loved it. I began listening to everything Brandon Flowers and the Killers (the band he fronts) have recorded, and have felt at times, not too often, just enough to keep me open, that God continues to speak. The Killers Live has been the DVD we listen to in the van every day for the last month. Now, I believe he has spoken in many, many other ways as well. He speaks through friends, my boys, Holly, my counselor, scripture, books, sermons,etc. But I have gained a great deal of willingness to walk forward from this specific way he speaks to me. I now believe he very likely “speaks” to others in different ways, ways they specifically relate to. It isn’t necessarily His giving some specific advice or guidance, though at times it is. I guess I can best describe it as His subtle, or not so subtle, whispering to me that He is still here and He loves me.

So now… As mentioned above I am in a Taco shop reading chapter four last week and am filled with hope and write this across the bottom of page 82-83: “If God became a man…He would do whatever he saw was necessary to rescue humanity. He would give his life even if it was to convince us once and for all that we were loved, accepted and good…Jesus. He allows us to “make up the rules” and then willingly plays by them to get the outcome we all want… Only God would or could do that.”

So as I write this I am tearing up, and trying to keep my composure, and my alarm goes off telling me it’s time to get my boys from school.
Before I get up, I glance at the epigraph at the top of page 83 and see this quote, “I need direction to perfection, no, no, no, no. Help me out.” – Brandon Flowers. I couldn’t keep the tears back, knowing He is with me still on this journey.

I share this now because I just finished page 120 and it was so helpful. Even with these episodes I still had these feeling I was making it up, or reading things into coincidence and “normal” life. That was my preconceived assumption. Was I giving significance to insignificant things. My gut feeling, the deepest sense in me says I’m not making it up. That is why I have been following it these past few years. But I didn’t have words to explain it (which is important to me) until I read the last two paragraphs on page 120:

“To do this, he simply takes the risk to discover who God really is. He walks with God. He puts it all on the line and approaches God with the courage to challenge the prevailing assumption that God would crush him. This is faith on display. It’s not making something true by our actions. It’s aligning our internal image of reality to what is already true.

Faith is simply opening the door to possibility, to hope, and to a transcendent life. It’s taking the risk to challenge the preconceived assumptions and embedded captivating stories. And because of this risk, he sees what is true. He transcends his own perceptions and subjective judgements. He overcomes.”

I am sorry to quote your own words back to you, Jonathan. But the hope I am filled with that God may be able to help me transcend my own perceptions and subjective judgements, is news so good it is worth repeating.

————————————————–
From the cover: Can you do something to make God stop loving you?

In this 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.

Honestly, reading this book gave me a headache. But in a good way. Discovering The God Imagination: Reconstructing A Whole New Christianity by Jonathan Brink is one of those books that you can’t just plow through on your way to the next book. Rather, this is a book you have to read with care, taking time to digest the information being presented. As such, I’ve been chewing on this book since last summer. A classic story comes to mind when thinking about how to describe this book…

A young woman was preparing a ham dinner. After she cut off the end of the ham, she placed it in a pan for baking. Her friend asked her, “Why did you cut off the end of the ham?” And she replied, “I really don’t know but my mother always did, so I thought you were supposed to.”

Later when talking to her mother she asked her why she cut off the end of the ham before baking it, and her mother replied, “I really don’t know, but that’s the way my mom always did it.”

A few weeks later while visiting her grandmother, the young woman asked, “Grandma, why is it that you cut off the end of a ham before you bake it?” Her grandmother replied, “Well dear, otherwise it would never fit into my baking pan.”

Much like the story above, Jonathan isn’t willing to simply take what he’s been told throughout the years without some deeper digging. In Discovering The God Imagination, Jonathan presents a new framing story with which to read God’s history with mankind. In this fresh new take, we find great comfort in the knowledge that at the heart of everything, God really does find us not only good, but very good.

I appreciate Jonathan’s heart, and his perspectives. I may not agree with every single assumption he makes throughout the book (although I’d be hard-pressed to make you a list of where we differ), but we both agree with one thing in the end—love will always prevail. Thanks for blazing a bold new trail Jonathan!

4 out of 5 stars

————————————————–

“OK I’ve read quite a few Emergent books. Most of them seem to beat around the bush, others just seem to push back against the heretic hunters. I suppose I could be cute and say this one does too, because it starts in the middle of the Garden with a detailed look at what really happened at the tree. It’s a book that may require you to suspend your traditional interpretation, at least while you read it. If you listen well I think it will get your attention. I’ve been working for over a decade with people who are so marginalized that they’ve turned the abuse that happened to them, into the truth about them. It’s very difficult to tell those people that their Heavenly Father loves them so much, that he killed his only son, so he wouldn’t have to send them to hell. Jonathan Brink reveals a very different view of the biblical history that shapes our Gospel. This book resonates with the wounds that I see everyday, my own and others.”

- Wayne Rumsby

The first class was awesome.  The conversations were rich, and filled with exploration, meaning, and hope.  One person called it the most important class she’s taken.

Dates: February 28 to April 22, 2011

Cost: $69

The online class will explore the book over seven weeks and will include online interaction with those who are also reading the book. It’s self paced so you can participate at any time during the week. If you’ve read the book and want to explore it in dialog in community, this is your chance to do so. The beauty of the online format is that you can participate at any time during the day or week.

Enrollment in courses at BeADisciple.com is a two-step process. A person must first “register” in order to build an account at BeADisciple.com where he/she may then “login” to enroll and pay in a secure online environment. If someone has registered and now needs to enroll he/she may return to www.BeADisciple.com at anytime to do so. He/she will “login” (upper-right) using the email address and password combination created upon registering. Any problems/questions with enrollment may be directed to Lisa Buffum at beadisciple@sckans.edu.

This seven week class is limited to the first 20 participants, so if you’re interested, I would encourage you to sign up today. I’m really looking forward to the dialog that will happen over the seven weeks.

The class takes place online using Blackboard’s classroom technology. If you’ve used it before you’ll know it’s really simple to use.

Dates: February 22 to April 22, 2011

Anyone who signs up by February 11, gets a free signed copy of the book to use in the class.  Just register, and then leave your name below in this post, and I’ll send you the book.  Now’s your chance.

Update: If you register, please send me your mailing address or leave it below, so I can send you the book.

So I’m leading an online class with BeADisciple.com that works through my book Discovering The God Imagination. It has been a blast working through a postmodern approach to the Gospel. The one common thread that everyone has shared is the overwhelming tension they experience, between what they’ve been taught and what the story actually reveals.  It’s hard to process something so important in a different way.

And then Cynthia shared with me, “I feel like I am discovering God again.” These are words to my ears.

If you’ve been wrestling with you’re faith and are looking to reconstruct it in a powerful way, please join us. We start February 22nd.  Participation is online and any time during the day.