For those not on Facebook, I have recently posted a series of links to David Flowers blog as he has started a series on the top five books American Evangelicals should read as they contextualize the New Testament into their lives and culture. Though I don’t know David personally, I have been following his blog for a year or so now and have found him to be a thoughtful and thorough author whose articles are worth reading – hence this post. 🙂
The first book that David Flowers lists as crucial for American Evangelicals is N.T. Wright’s “Surprised by Hope.” Having read this book, I would to agree with David that this is a game charger for American Evangelicals (assuming that they actually read it and ponder the practical implications). You can also read my review of this book here.
The second crucial book in David Flowers’ series is Scot McKnight’s “The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited”. This is a book that I have not read (yet) but I have been following Scot’s blog for quite a while and he is pretty dang solid when it comes to Jesus and the Kingdom. From what I can tell (both from David’s review and for reading Scot’s blog) the premise of the book is that there has been a “misunderstanding of the gospel” with the focus being on the act of salvation and not “radical discipleship” as outlined in the New Testament. This is definitely a concept that I agree with; hence why this book in on my too read list. 🙂
David has yet to publish his review of the other three books…so jump over to his site and catch up while you can. 😀
I read McKnight’s book when it came out and I thought it was pretty good. If my memory serves me right, he makes a argument that we need to interpret Paul through Jesus’ message instead of the other way around. He really presses that there is more to the Good News then just making a decision and getting into heaven, but that it has to do with the Kingdom of God, the rule and reign of God and resurrection. The book ties in nicely with N.T. Wrights other book, “Simply Jesus”. Although he writes it with a sense of controversy (see McKnight’s YouTube promo: http://tinyurl.com/7dz8arr ), it sounded a lot like what Ladd, Wimber and Morphew have written in the past. The difference this time is that it is hitting a larger audience.
I find it interesting (and somewhat reassuring) that the Evangelical church is re-discovering the Kingdom.
Great summary! It is pretty sweat to see the wider Evangelical church discover the Kingdom. My only concern is that they simply add it on to their other theological structure/doctrine as the ‘new cool’ thing without letting it seep through and over everything in the life. Yet, I guess that is challenge for everyone, isn’t it? =?