{"id":28261,"date":"2015-08-26T00:22:29","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T04:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28261"},"modified":"2015-08-26T00:22:29","modified_gmt":"2015-08-26T04:22:29","slug":"review-of-did-god-kill-jesus-by-tony-jones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=28261","title":{"rendered":"Review of Did God Kill Jesus? by Tony Jones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"did_god_kill_jesus_large\"<\/a>Did God Kill Jesus?<\/p>\n

Searching for Love in History\u2019s Most Famous Execution<\/em><\/p>\n

by Tony Jones<\/p>\n

HarperOne, 2015. 295 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

This book has a provocative title \u2013 at least for Christians. Jesus\u2019 death is central to Christianity. What, actually, does it mean?<\/p>\n

Like the author, I was brought up with the \u201cpayment\u201d explanation of Jesus\u2019 death \u2013 essentially that we are sinners and God hates sin \u2013 and Jesus, the sinless sacrifice, had to save us from God\u2019s wrath. I\u2019ve heard it preached that this is essentially the gospel. But I\u2019ve also heard stories, explanations, and analogies of this view that get a little bit horrible if you think about them too hard. <\/p>\n

It turns out that the reason for Jesus\u2019 death preached at that middle school retreat. . . is not the only way that Christians have understood the death of Jesus. Instead, it\u2019s one of about half a dozen theories that preachers and theologians have used over the past two thousand years to explain why Jesus died. This fact wasn\u2019t advertised to me when I was growing up. Instead, I was taught that there was one and only one reason that Jesus died: because of my sin and God\u2019s anger and disappointment with me. Maybe you were told the same thing. But this sentiment would have been confounding to a second- or third-century Christian. They had entirely different ways of understanding Jesus\u2019 death, ways that we will explore in later chapters.<\/p>\n

And behind each explanation of the crucifixion is an implied view of God. God is either strong or weak, in control or abdicating control, engaged or absent, gracious or vindictive. In the pages that follow, we will walk through the various views of Jesus\u2019 death, and we will look at the God who stands behind the cross in each.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For myself, my reading in George MacDonald\u2019s writings is what got me first to even see there might be another way of looking at the cross. This book goes into detail and examines the many different ways Christians have, over the centuries, looked at the death of Jesus. It turns out that the \u201cpayment\u201d model wasn\u2019t taught in the church until hundreds of years after Jesus\u2019 death. And now we\u2019re told believing this is the only way to be saved?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a section from the introductory chapter:<\/p>\n

Even without the Bible, what kind of sense does it make to believe that God would create you and me, only to be disgusted by us and wrathful at our inevitable shortcomings? But add in the Bible, and you can really see how misaligned this interpretation of the crucifixion is. If we look in the Bible for evidence of this overwhelming disgust God has for us, it\u2019s hard to come by. Sure, there\u2019s the occasional verse that talks of God\u2019s anger at particular sins or human behavior that God considers an abomination, but the overarching message of scripture is clear: God created us, God loves us, and God wants the best for us. In fact, the Bible is rife with stories of God going out of his way to set people on the right path \u2013 despite our failures, despite our sins. Indeed, the Apostle Paul assures us that God loved us \u201cwhile we were still sinners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before we study the Bible and even before we formulate and wrestle with all the doctrines from church history, we intuitively know something fundamental: the message of Jesus, God\u2019s primary emissary, is that God loves us.<\/em> That\u2019s what Jesus came to preach and to enact in his miracles. He referred to God as his \u201cFather\u201d and his \u201cAbba\u201d \u2013 intimate terms based in relationship. Theirs was a close and loving connection. Jesus came to open that loving relationship between himself and the Father to all of us. This event, the crucifixion, on which all of cosmic history pivots, forever changed both us and God.<\/p>\n

This also means there can be no separation between God and Jesus; we cannot set a wrathful and vengeful God in opposition to a loving and gracious Jesus. Jesus repeatedly taught that he and the Father are one, that the best way to know and understand the Father is by knowing and understanding the Son. And the main message of both Father and Son is that they love us and want to be united with us. Even before we come to understand what happened on the cross, we know that whatever explanation we discover cannot contradict the eternal relationship of love that binds the Father and the Son, that binds God and us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a book on theology. The author does what he suggests here \u2013 looks at all the doctrines about the cross from church history. <\/p>\n

I suspect that as we journey through the history of thought about Jesus\u2019 crucifixion and look at the biblical accounts of that event, we will find a God who is not wrathful or disgusted. We won\u2019t find a God who killed his son, nor demanded that his son be executed to pay a penalty. Instead, I suspect that we will find a God of love who goes even to the most extreme lengths to identify with the human experience and to build a bridge between the human and the divine. We\u2019ll find a God who wants nothing more than to communicate his love to us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like his \u201csmell test\u201d:<\/p>\n

Research shows that those who believe in a wrathful God are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety disorders than those who believe in a loving, merciful God. Our beliefs really do have consequences, for they structure how we live.<\/p>\n

I tend to be a pretty logical person. I like debates, reasoned arguments, and rigorous thinking. But after many years of searching and studying the ways of God, theology, and the Bible, I\u2019ve concluded the following:<\/p>\n

Bad theology begets ugly Christianity.<\/p>\n

Good theology begets beautiful Christianity.<\/p>\n

I call it the smell test<\/em>. It\u2019s an aesthetic argument. Like me, you\u2019ve probably pulled that half-gallon of milk out of the back of the refrigerator, seen that the \u201cbest by\u201d date is long past, and cautiously waved the open bottle under your nose. The result is either, \u201cSmells fine to me!\u201d or a sour stench strong enough to strip the bark off a tree.<\/p>\n

That may seem an odd way to measure a faith system. We are used to matters being true or false, right or wrong, not beautiful or ugly, sweet or sour. Most prefer a more forensic approach: she who has the most logical doctrine wins. But, as we will see in the pages to come, many religious systems that are perfectly logical are nevertheless downright ugly. They\u2019re bad for the world and bad for people. In other words, you can devise a system of doctrine that makes perfect sense within its own little self-inscribed world, but when you take it out into the broader marketplace of ideas, it spoils, like dropping a teaspoon of vinegar into a gallon of milk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the main section of the book, the author looks at historic interpretations of Jesus\u2019 death within the church (and there are many). And he asks six questions of the various models:<\/p>\n

What does this model say about God?<\/p>\n

What does it say about Jesus?<\/p>\n

What does this model say about the relationship between God and Jesus?<\/p>\n

How does it make sense of violence?<\/p>\n

What does it mean for us spiritually?<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s the love?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It turns out, these are some good questions to ask. This is a book that explores, and a book that thinks deeply.<\/p>\n

I recommend this book for Christians who want to think about their faith. For those who think there is only one way to think about the crucifixion, perhaps it will open your eyes. And whether you end up agreeing with the author or not, it offers many perspectives and many things to consider. If nothing else, it will get you thinking about God\u2019s love and grace.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not a Christian, but you feel you\u2019ve been burned by Christianity or Christians who have taught you that God is angry with you \u2013 I also recommend this book. Perhaps you\u2019ll be able to more clearly see God\u2019s great love for you and God\u2019s identification with humanity in Jesus. If nothing else, perhaps this more loving communication of Christianity will be healing.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a section from the last chapter:<\/p>\n

Of the mystics in the history of the church, many like Brother Lawrence spent a great deal of time meditating on the crucifixion. In the climax of the great twenty-eight-day retreat called the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, the person on retreat meditates on Jesus being crucified, even having an imaginary conversation with Jesus as he hangs on the cross. While this may strike our modern sensibilities as gruesome or strange, now that we\u2019ve come to see the humility of God on display in Jesus and the solidarity that God showed to humankind, we can understand how the cross can become a peaceful meditation, the moment of God\u2019s ultimate presence<\/em> with us.<\/p>\n

The English mystic Julian of Norwich also meditated on the crucifixion. She dared not look up from the cross, she said, \u201cFor I knew that whilst I looked at the cross I was secure and safe.\u201d When she looked at Jesus on the cross, she experienced God\u2019s presence. It is ironic: looking into the eyes of a man being executed and feeling peace, safety, security, even tranquility. But it is possible because the crucifixion is God\u2019s ultimate act of love.<\/p>\n

We have something to learn from these old mystics. The crucifixion is a source of peace. It\u2019s a magnet that draws us into the all-encompassing love of God. It\u2019s a mirror that shows us the result of all our violent tendencies. It\u2019s a spark that relights the flame of divinity within us. It\u2019s a symbol of God\u2019s victory over the forces that oppress us.<\/p>\n

We look into the eyes of the dying savior knowing that in him, God performed the ultimate act of humility. In the abandonment of Jesus\u2019 cry, God experienced the godforsakenness that every human feels. And a new bond was formed between God and humanity \u2013 a bond that is now cemented by God\u2019s Holy Spirit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I like this book. The author does show some drawbacks with the Payment Model of Jesus\u2019 death, but I don\u2019t think this book is primarily about showing drawbacks. It\u2019s about shining a light on the cross, about thinking deeply about the cross and what it means about God, what it means about Jesus, what it means for us spiritually, and how it\u2019s all about love.<\/p>\n

tonyj.net<\/a>
\nharpercollins.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/did_god_kill_jesus.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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