A Root-Exposing Book (Now Reading)

 

Part of God's calling on my life has been, and remains, getting at the root of beliefs.

The best book I've read, so far this year, does just this.

Love Is Not an Entity to Be Worshiped

 

 

                                                              (Lake Erie, Monroe, MI)

(I am re-posting this for a friend.)

For followers of Jesus, love is great. But love is not the greatest. First Corinthians 13 tells us that love is the greatest, among faith and hope. In the great triumvirate of faith, hope, and love, love takes first place.

As mighty as love is, love is not a thing. It is not a substance. It is not an entity. Love is not an object, nor is it a being, or a person. Therefore, love is not to be worshiped, since it is irrational to worship non-entities, be they physical or non-physical.

Love is a multi-faceted verb, manifesting itself in actions we call "loving," such as patience, kindness, gentleness, not easily angered, protective, trusting, and so on. While 1 Corinthians 13 appears to reify love, that's just a rhetorical device to elevate the behaviors associated with love. Love acts in certain ways, and does not act in certain other ways.

When the Bible says God is love, it is telling us that love is an essential attribute of the being of God. As an attribute of God, love is not to be worshiped. We don't worship attributes. Let's say, for example, that one of my attributes is weighs 170 pounds. (I wish this was true!) While weighs 170 pounds would be commendable, this attribute is not an entity or a substance which, in itself, is praiseworthy. We wouldn't expect someone, unless they are mentally incapacitated, to bow down and worship weighs 170 pounds.

Don't reify love. It's misleading, and false, to do that.

Don't bow before love and worship a verb.

Worship God who, in his being, is love.

Character Comes Before Ability in Relationships

 

(On the west side of Michigan, Lake Michigan shoreline)

My physician possesses high character, and great ability. He has both qualities. But if I was forced to choose between a physician of great character, and one of great ability, I'd lean towards ability. Better is a doctor who knows what he is doing. 

But when it comes to relationships, I think differently. Character is more important than ability, when it comes to relationships. In a friendship, or in a marriage, if I have to choose, I'll take someone with high character and low ability before someone with high ability and low character. The latter person will cheat on you, or betray you, or throw you under the bus.

Through the years abilities decrease, but character can keep increasing. As Paul wrote, Though my abilities are wasting away, my character is being transformed day by day. (2 Cor. 4:16, Piippo translation)

In After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters., N. T. Wright says, "The central thing that is supposed to happen "after you believe" is the transformation of character." This is the Galatians 4:19 thing - that Christ be formed in you. Or, as Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:12 - "We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." 

This formation, the development of Christ-character in you, is your calling. It happens as you indwell Christ.

The goal of our own character formation into Jesus-likeness is love. Love is "the greatest of the" core virtues. We may disagree with others, but we must never cease loving them. Jesus loved those he disagreed with so much that he died for them. We are to even love our enemies, in spite of our opposing views. Anything less than this and you have left Jesus. (This does not, of course, mean that we affirm everything the other believes. To do that is not love, either.)

What will character formation look like? Because it comes from attachment to Christ, it will look like Christ. Christ forms you, meta-morphs you into one who loves and lives as Christ is.

Wright's example is Sully Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who landed a disabled passenger jet in the Hudson River and saved 155 lives. The character of a pilot had been formed in him. He no longer needed to wear a wristband that asked, "What Would a Pilot Do?" (WWPD) Rather, "the skills and ability ran right through him, top to toe." 

Wright says "The key to it all is that the Christian vision of character that has become second nature is precisely all about discovering what it means to be human - human in a way that most of us never imagine."

Regarding Sullenberger, "virtue is what happens when wise and courageous choices have become "second nature." Not "first nature," as though they happened naturally. Like an acquired taste, such choices and actions, which started off being practiced with difficulty, ended up being "second nature." (James K. A. Smith and Dallas Willard say the same.)

For Wright, our "first nature" is our subhumanity. The "second nature" Christ wants to form in us is his nature, which is true humanity. God wants to rescue us out of our subhumanity and transform us into true humanity. Some, when they fail, say "I'm only human." They should say, "I'm subhuman." 

Wright's book shows how God metamorphs us from subhumanity into true humanity, how God forms our character into Christlikeness.

What can I do about this? I look at my own self, and focus on my own change. I pray to be transformed into someone who is more like Jesus, and loves their enemies so much they would even die for them. I learn to live an abiding life, which is the place where the character of Jesus flows into me, like a vine resources its branches.

I pray for the character of Christ to be formed in me.

Conflict Reveals Character

(Downtown Monroe)

I've always thought that who a person really is, is who they are in their home. This is because a home is made of people living under the same roof who are not normal like you. The people in your home, whether old or young, are different. We see who you really are by the way you handle "different."

Differences can attract - that's good. Maybe that's why you married the person you did. She had something you did not have, and maybe you thought she would complete you. 

Differences can also collide. Differences can repel, like positive and negative magnetic poles. Differences conflict. A husband and wife are, in a few ways at least, polar opposites. Husbands and wives conflict, at times. There are no exceptions to this. Many are in denial, or fearful, about this.

From God's perspective, this is very good. Differences can complement. In Genesis we read, "And God created polar opposites, and saw that it was good." And, BTW, God is different from you. God's ways are not your ways. That fact is a transcendent good which we minimally grasp.

Conflict, therefore, is inevitable. Conflict is normal. If there's no conflict in your home, you have a problem. Probably, that problem is you. Or, at least, you are part of the problem. Always consider this possibility, for it reorients you on the road to being a peacemaker.

James van Yperen, in Making Peace, writes:

"Conflict reveals the true character of a leader. Jesus told His disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?” (Matthew 5:43-46). Who we are is revealed by how we react to persecution." (p. 26)

If differences irritate you, that is your problem. If different approaches and styles "push your buttons," those buttons are yours. Own up to this and you are on your way to character formation.

***
My books are:

Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God (May 2016)

Leading the Presence-Driven Church (January 2018)

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship

31 Letters to the Church on Praying

Encounters With the Holy Spirit (Co-edited with Janice Trigg)

Caring and Confronting Attitudes

 

COMMUNICATION AS SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE (CARING + CONFRONTING)

Linda and I have used this template in our own marriage. We have shared this with countless couples. Copy it. Display it on your refrigerator. 

Ephesians 4:15 says: “therefore speak the truth in love; so shall we fully grow up into Christ.” Here we are told, in communication, to be both loving and truthful, caring and confronting.

Work at communicating both caring and confronting in the middle of marital or relational conflict.

Here are the attitudes to have and hold to.

 

 

From David Augsburger, Caring Enough to Confront

Divorce - The Kids Will NOT Be OK

(I'm re-posting this, to keep this ball in play.)

A cover of Time Magazine had the titillating headline "Is Monogamy Over?" Biologist-psychologist David Barash answered: "We should keep it [monogamy] for our kids' sake." Because:

"It’s very rare for any species to engage in biparental care unless the males are guaranteed that they are genetically related to the offspring—confidence monogamy alone can provide. And because human children need so much parental assistance, protection and investment, humans, perhaps more than any other animal, especially benefit from monogamy."

I meet all the time with young adults whose biological parents have separated or divorced. Almost always, there’s devastation. 

I meet with married people who are thinking about divorce. They’ve picked up the village-idea that if they divorce, the “kids will be OK.” There is evidence suggesting that is false. 

Perhaps, for some, it’s their way of trying to justify their own inability to work through their failing marriage. Only a few kids do well, and they are rare. 

Many couples do not have the tools to fix their marriage. The current parentless generation is spawning teens who have never seen a healthy marriage before. Unless something transformational happens in them, they will mirror their parents’ failures.

The best book on this is by former Columbia U. scholar Judith Wallerstein - The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce. She’s done the only longitudinal study of what happens to kids whose parents divorce. Wallenstein followed these kids into adulthood. Anyone contemplating divorce who thinks “The kids will be OK” needs to read this book. 

Wallenstein writes:
“By tracking approximately 100 children as they forge their lives as adults, we has found that, contrary to the popular belief that kids would bounce back after the initial pain of their parents’ split, children of divorce often continue to suffer well into adulthood. Their pain plays out in their relationships, their work lives and their confidence about parenting themselves.”

If you are divorced your kids probably need more help than kids with healthy, married monogamous parents.

***
In an PBS interview Wallerstein responds to a question.

adriana_rome: Is there any information on how divorce affects children at different ages? Say a toddler aged child vs. a teen?

Dr. Judith: Well, children who are little ... 2-6 .... are really very worried that they're going to be abandoned. They have so little capacity to take care of themselves. Their logic is that if one parent can leave another, why can't they leave me? They cling to their parents, they have terrible nightmares, they don't want to go to nursery school and all the times during the day and night where there's separation are filled with enormous anxiety because they're so afraid they'll be abandoned and there will be no one to take care of them, feed them, dry their tears, take care of them.

Youngsters who are school aged ... 8-11 ... are more worried about the fact that they're not going to get a chance to do the things they need to do. There's a stage that's being held up by their parents ... the mainstage is at school, on the playground, with other friends, with sports, with music, with ballet ... all the things they do at this age and they're very angry with their parents because they're afraid it will interrupt their activities. They think their parents are being very selfish as the very scaffolding that holds their lives up is going to collapse.

Teens .... are much more likely to be their parents' confidants at the break-up. They're much more likely to be aware of the trouble either parent has been having and they can be very compassionate and caring. But at the same time, they are very angry that the family is falling apart. They figure they need that family support,: especially at this time in their lives when they have so many questions about their own futures. And thirdly, they worry very much at 15-17, whether if their parents marriage went belly-up ... whether their own relationships are going to run into disaster and they're very frightened.

It's False That an Atheist Just Believes in One Fewer God Than a Theist Does

Card, in a store in Detroit's Cass Corridor

I heard this again, so I'll post my response again. Heard what? The Internet-atheist cliche, given to a theist such as I: "We atheists just believe in one fewer "god" than you do." 

That's cute. But not really. The person who quotes this thinking they are making some profound point is commits the fallacy of equivocation.

I don't believe in "Zeus." Here are some things about "Zeus":

• Zeus is not omniscient - he got tricked by Prometheus, e.g.
• Zeus is a pervert - he changed his shape into a swan, e.g., when he impregnated Leda. When he abducted Ganymede he changed his shape into an eagle. And so on..., kind of like the atheist Bertrand Russell would disguise himself so as not to be recognized when he engaged in adulterous behavior in seducing women. (See Paul Johnson's Intellectuals, pp. 212 ff. Fellow philosopher Sidney Hook said Russell "would pursue anything in skirts that would cross his path.")  Anyway, Zeus is far from all-loving, and Zeus has a physical body.
• Zeus has a beard and long hair.
• Zeus lives on Mount Olympus.
• Zeus is married.
• Zeus fathered many children.

In the philosophy of religion no scholar is interested in "Zeus." The real question that is found in every academic philosophy of religion book that exists is: does a being with the following attributes exist:

• personal-causal agent
• atemporal (therefore changeless)
• immaterial (therefore nonspatial)
• omniscient (knows everything that can be known)
• omnipotent (is able to do everything that can be done)
• omnibenevolent (in morally perfect)
• necessarily existent (never began to exist and never will cease existing; therefore uncaused)
• cause (creator) of all that exists.

Philosophers (atheists and theists), when they argue for or against the existence of "God," refer to this kind of being. The philosophical question is: Does this kind of being exist? Theists say yes, atheists say no. But note they are both referring to the same kind of being, and not to "Zeus" and his many anthropomorphic kin.

So, to call "Zeus" and the theistic God examples of "gods" in the cliche-quote is to equivocate on the meaning of "god." Because the attributes of "Zeus" and other anthropomorphic gods are not the declared attributes of the God of classical theism. Thus, they are two different kinds of beings.

That's irrational. Illogical. 

Don't Consent to the Illusion

(Ann Arbor)

Many people define themselves in terms of their material possessions, their personal appearance, and their accomplishments. These evaluations are all comparative. They function on the punishing honor/shame hierarchy. This hierarchy is brutal, because it requires a constant striving to maintain or upgrade one's false identity.

For such persons, this is all they are. They are nothing more or less than what they own, how they look to others, and what they have done. They create themselves in the image they think others will adore. They are a function of what people think, puppets controlled by ever-changing public opinion.

Thomas Merton knew this and wrote:

"There are many respectable and even conventionally moral people for whom there is no other reality in life than their body and its relationship with “things.” They have reduced themselves to a life lived within the limits of their five senses. Their self is consequently an illusion based on sense experience and nothing else. For these the body becomes a source of falsity and deception: but that is not the body’s fault. It is the fault of the person himself, who consents to the illusion, who finds security in self-deception and will not answer the secret voice of God calling him to take a risk and venture by faith outside the reassuring and protective limits of his five senses."
Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation (pp. 27-28)

Disciples of Jesus Meet on Sunday Mornings

 

 

When I was a pastor in Joliet, Illinois, there was a man who was always with us on Sunday mornings. He was handicapped. He lived alone. He walked, so slowly, to the church building every Sunday morning. I mean every. No matter what the weather conditions. My thought was, “This man is committed!”  

Linda and I are committed. This is nothing to boast about. This is basic discipleship. When we were growing up, our families were there on every Sunday morning. We never missed. Sunday is the Christian disciple’s Sabbath.  

One of the Ten Commandments says,  Remember the Sabbath day, and be there.  

Keep it holy.  

My parents did. The DNA of Sabbath-keeping became my DNA.

Linda’s parents did the same with their children. Linda’s dad and mom were on fire for Jesus! Missing the weekly gathering of the people, the church, was unthinkable for them. It formed the center of their born-again life. As it says in Hebrews,  

Do not give up meeting together, 

as some are in the habit of doing,  

but encouraging one another

—  and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 

 Real disciples are in community. In “fellowship.” So much of what Jesus has taught me about being like Him has been learned in community.

The letters of Paul are not addressed to individual Christians. They are addressed to Jesus-Communities. Nearly every time the word “you” is used in Paul’s letters, it is plural.  

The precious manifestations of the Holy Spirit (the “gifts”) only make sense within The Community.  

Jesus taught me that the Bible is a tribal document. He is building his Tribe out of all kinds of people.  

​I need The Community. 

The Community needs me.  

We ARE the Church.

(From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship)

Studying Jesus - Some Resources

 

(Jerusalem street)



One of my PhD qualifying exams was in Ancient Christology. Christology is still, for me, an area I study in. This is my first love: knowing Jesus, and making Jesus known. 

Here are books and websites I recommend for studying Jesus, with a few annotations. 

This list could be miles long! These are some I recommend. If you read these, you'll be well on your way in studying Christ and thinking Christologically. You will, increasingly, be able to separate the real from the false.

BOOKS ON JESUS

Gustav Aulen

• Christus Victor: An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of Atonement

Ruth Haley Barton

• Life Together in Christ: Experiencing Transformation in Community

Richard Bauckham

• Jesus: A Very Short Introduction - a beautiful introduction to the Real Jesus by a great scholar.
• Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony - Bauckham delivers a strong case that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus. Note: all four Gospels.
• Bauckham's website is HERE. 

James Beilby and Paul Eddy, eds. The Historical Jesus: Five Views

Michael Brown

• The Real Kosher Jesus: Revealing the Mysteries of the Hidden Messiah

Greg Boyd

• Cynic Sage or Son of God?: Recovering the Real Jesus in an Age of Revisionist Replies - I was talking with Craig Keener in his office and asked, "What books do you recommend on Jesus studies?" Craig pulled Greg's book off the shelf and said, "This is very good."
• Crucifixion of the Warrior God: Interpreting the Old Testament's Violent Portraits of God in Light of the Cross
• Cross Vision: How the Crucifixion of Jesus Makes Sense of Old Testament Violence
• Boyd's website is HERE. 

Greg Boyd & Paul Eddy

• The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition - Among other things Boyd and Eddy debunk the idea that the Jesus story emerged from surrounding pagan myths.
• Lord or Legend?: Wrestling with the Jesus Dilemma - A more accessible version of their book The Jesus Legend.

James Charlesworth

• The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide - By Princeton New Testament scholar Charlesworth.

William Lane Craig

• The Atonement
• Atonement and the Death of Christ: An Exegetical, Historical, and Philosophical Exploration

Paul Eddy and James Beilby

• The Historical Jesus: Five Views

Craig Evans

• Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels - The great New Testament scholar debunks, among others, Bart Ehrman.
• Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence - I got this book as a Christmas gift, and began to read it last night. It is highly reviewed. 

Craig Evans and N.T. Wright

• Jesus, the Final Days: What Really Happened. This would be an excellent little book to read leading up to Easter 2013. 

Gordon Fee

• Pauline Christology

Gordon Fee and Cherith Nordling Fee

• Jesus the Lord According to Paul the Apostle: A Concise Introduction

Simon Gathercole, Robert Stewart, N. T. Wright

• What Did the Cross Accomplish? A Conversation About the Atonement

Gary Habermas

• The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ

Larry Hurtado and Chris Keith

•  Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels. I recently picked up this book and have begun to read it. 

Craig Keener

• The Historical Jesus of the Gospels
• Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts 
• Any of Craig's New Testament commentaries.
• Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels
• Lots of great, free material on the Real Jesus at Craig's blog HERE. 

J. N. D. Kelly

• Early Christian Doctrines

George Ladd

• Gospel of the Kingdom: Scriptural Studies in the Kingdom of God. This is one of the books to be read on the nature of "the kingdom of God." 
• A Theology of the New Testament (This was one of my seminary texts, which I have worn out (it's falling apart!)).

Amy Levine

• The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus

Michael McClymond

• Familiar Stranger: An Introduction to Jesus of Nazereth. This is another book Craig Keener strongly recommended to me. 

Scot McKnight

• The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited. Why read this book? Because it has two Forewards, by N.T. Wright and Dallas Willard. This book is about the Real Jesus and the actual Gospel. 
• Any of McKnight's New Testament commentaries. 
• McKnight's excellent blog is HERE. 

Richard Norris and William Rusch

• The Christological Controversies (Sources of Early Christian Thought)

Eugene Peterson

• Tell It Slant: A Conversation on the Language of Jesus in His Stories and Prayers
• Practice Resurrection: A Conversation on Growing Up in Christ
• The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways that Jesus Is the Way

Stephen Porter, Gary Moon, J. P. Moreland

• Until Christ Is Formed In You: Dallas Willard and Spiritual Formation

Stephen Prothero

• American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon - A good read on who the Real Jesus is not.  

Fleming Rutledge

• The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ

Lewis Smedes

• Union with Christ: A Biblical View of the New Life in Christ

Klyne Snodgrass

• Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus. The best book on the parables ever written?

Mark L. Strauss

• Jesus Behaving Badly: The Puzzling Paradoxes of the Man from Galilee

Lee Strobel

• The Case for Christ
• The Case for the Real Jesus

Rankin Wilbourne 

• One with Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation

Dallas Willard 

• Living in Christ's Presence: Final Words on Heaven and the Kingdom of God
• Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ

Ben Witherington

• The Christology of Jesus
• The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth
• What Have They Done with Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History--Why We Can Trust the Bible
• Witherington's blog is HERE. 

N.T. Wright (No one, except Craig Keener, is writing more about Jesus than Wright is.)

• How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels . Remember that understanding the "kingdom of God" is the hermeneutical key to understanding the Real Jesus.
• Jesus and the Victory of God
• The Resurrection of the Son of God
• Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
• Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship
• Wright's website is HERE. 

N.T. Wright and Michael Bird

• Jesus and the Powers: Christian Political Witness in an Age of Totalitarian Terror and Dysfunctional Democracies 

NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARIES

When the following New Testament scholars write a commentary, it's going to be worth reading.

• Richard Bauckham
• Craig Blomberg
• D.A. Carson
• Craig Evans
• Gordon Fee
• R.T. France
• David Garland
• Joel Green
• Craig Keener
• Andreas Kostenberger
• Scot McKnight
• Douglas Moo
• Klyne Snodgrass
• Ben Witherington
• N.T. Wright - especially see Wright's "For Everyone" series.

WEBSITES ON JESUS AND THE NEW TESTAMENT

• Richard Bauckham
• Greg Boyd
• Gordon Fee
• Mark Goodacre (New Testament Gateway)
• Larry Hurtado
• The Jesus Blog
• Craig Keener
• Andreas Kostenberger
• Scot McKnight
• Ben Witherington
• N.T. Wright