![]() The birth accounts of Jesus undermine several core ideas in most religious and political worldviews. I think, however, that while many people are familiar with the birth story of Jesus, few of us recognize how religiously and politically subversive His birth narrative truly is. The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant, by Michael J.If you attend church, sing Christmas carols, send and receive Christmas cards, set foot into any store that is somewhat decorated for Christmas, or watch “Charlie Brown’s Christmas,” you will likely see or hear some reference to the birth of Jesus.The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni (24).Sitting at the Feet of the Rabbi Jesus (3).Wright's The Day the Revolution Began (108) Misreading Scriptures with Western Eyes (14).Kingdom Conspiracy by Scot McKnight (21).Gordon Wenham’s Story as Torah: Reading the Old Testament Narrative Ethically (7).Covenant: God's Purpose, God's Plan (7).We can only spread such salt and light as we have ourselves.īat: My uncle Beanfellow took a speed reading course and doubled his reading speed.īat: Actually, he couldn’t read atall before. And adding to our stock of these will not make us the least bit saltier. We do not lack for project ideas, or for motivational sermons, or for volunteer sign-up sheets. It may make our activities more active and our functions more functional, but it will not exhibit spiritual power. If we are not already salt and light, good functional organization will not MAKE us salt and light. ![]() We Westerners tend to see these things through organizational eyes, asking, “What should our group do?” before we think to ask, “What are its members already doing?” If the answer to the second question is “not much”, then an altogether different set of questions should be asked. I would remark that this is first an individual influence, and only as a combination of individual influences does it truly become a corporate influence. ![]() “The key to the book is to ask the reader to re-imagine the Kingdom as Christ intended, not as a social club or political special interest group but as a subversive influence that transforms all that it touches - like salt or light.” Or start subversive action,( with grace of course) to bring down this flawed group from within.? Jay would the graceful thing to do have been for this man to realize this group was not for him, and move on. So the day arrived when this man said I can no longer tolerate this flawed bunch, I must change them. Everything went well for a time but the man seemed to see more and more flaws in what this group was doing, all the time thinking I can do better. Hummm he thought,I like what is going on here I wonder if they will accept me into their group, sure enough he asks and they with open arms gracefully accept this man into their midst even give him a position of leadership. Say some man saw a group of people gathering every so often, and he visited to see what was going on in this group. Is there anything in this book that could explain subversionary grace to me?, it is hard to understand. Jay, you speak highly of being gracious, and understanding of others exuding grace to others because grace was given unto you. …Īnd just wait till you see how its going to turn out in the end. ![]() And though the size and scope of the renovation is more than we can get our arms around, we have reasons to be heartened rather than disheartened - because we’re not expected to fix everything. The kingdom that’s already been inaugurated is on its way to being consummated. So don’t be surprised at how much more broken you find the world than you even realized it was when you began.Īnd don’t be afraid. The key to the book is to ask the reader to re-imagine the Kingdom as Christ intended, not as a social club or political special interest group but as a subversive influence that transforms all that it touches - like salt or light. And that makes it an excellent study for small groups or Bible classes. It’s a thoughtful synthesis of ideas from many sources, all brought together into a holistic, missional, practical study. Thus, rather than being a peculiarly Baptist or even evangelical approach to Kingdom living, Subversive Kingdom reflects the best thinking of all of Christendom - which is its greatest strength. Stetzer is closely tied with the Southern Baptist Churches, but it’s easy to pick up the influence of Neo-Anabaptist thought from Yoder and Hauerwas and Kingdom thought from N. ![]() Subversive Kingdom reflects a maturing of evangelical thought about how to live as Christians. Ed is a consultant to churches on church growth, especially on church planting, and an expert in missional theology. He also has a great blog about these very subjects.Īnd so I was very pleased to receive a prepublication copy of Subversive Kingdom: Living as Agents of Gospel Transformation for review. ![]()
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