Jesusanity - What is that?
Those who visit this blog are probably aware that I have previously posted much about the Atonement and the implications of how one understands it. This issue is very important to the Church, it always has been and it always will be. Well, at least it should be. Anyway, I came across a post written by Albert Mohler called ‘Christianity vs. Jesusanity — The Postmodern Temptation‘. In that post he speaks about the postmodern (ugghhh, soooo sick of that word!!!!) attempt to humanise Jesus.
Of this is writes…
While postmodern literary theorists debate the meaning of “totalizing metanarratives,” at the level of popular piety we see the widespread substitution of “spirituality” for biblical Christianity.
This is exactly what we are seeing! The following quote is from authors Darrell L. Bock and Daniel B. Wallace who argue that popular culture is on a quest “to unseat the biblical Christ”. In a book called ‘Dethroning Jesus‘ the authors recognise that there is an ongoing attempt to reduce Jesus into a dethroned humanitarian teacher…
“Jesusanity” is a coined term for the alternative story about Jesus. Here the center of the story is still Jesus, but Jesus as either a prophet or a teacher of religious wisdom. In Jesusanity, Jesus remains very much Jesus of Nazareth. He points the way to God and leads people into a journey with God. His role is primarily one of teacher, guide, and example. Jesus’ special status involves his insight into the human condition and the enlightenment he brings to it. There is no enthronement of Jesus at God’s side, only the power of his teaching and example. In this story, the key is that Jesus inspires others, but there is no throne for him. He is one among many – the best, perhaps, and one worthy to learn from and follow.
Check out the post by Albert Mohler and see what you think. I for one am glad that there are some authors willing to lay it all out and stick to good clear biblical exegesis!
Previous posts on Blood Atonement.
Well, here’s to being a Christian, by gum…
I had this sneaking suspicion that you were one of those Christian types
This is one of those standout issues of the social gospel and the higher criticism camp. All of the looking the other way for so many years is coming back to bite proverbial evangelical tush.
The post was a good read, I may have to invest in the book the reviews looked interesting.
The statement “at the level of popular piety we see the widespread substitution of “spirituality” for biblical Christianity” is so very true! It’s everywhere these days.
Anything this popular should be setting off alarm bells, but many in leadership are falling for the same siren song.
One other comment, related to this subject:
I received a devotional recently that inferred that Jesus could have failed to complete His mission! Simply put, the idea was that Jesus was so human that He almost backed out of going to the cross, failing to provide the needed sacrifice. This was supposed to evoke a thankfulness for His not letting His humanity overcome God’s plan and as an example of His being as subject to failure in temptaion as we are.
I responded that I considered this near heresy because it intimated Jesus could have failed in His mission to save mankind. Using that same reasoning we could say that Israel could have accepted Jesus as the Christ and no death on the cross would have had to have occurred. Where would that have left us non-Jews, eh?
I insisted that the plan of Salvation was instituted from the beginning of time, God made promises beforehand He (as incarnate Christ) would surely keep, there was no Plan B, and to say that Gethsemane was a pivotal point where Jesus could have backed out is to say that God can lie! This is a very subtle, yet provocative, attempt to humanize Christ at the expense of challenging His deity.
God tells us He cannot lie and that Jesus appeared at just the right time! Jesus was human in that He can empathize with our human weaknesses, but He could not and cannot fail…or He is not God!
Well done, NWProdigal. Sounds like your “sword of the spirit”, made a clean cut for the truth. Keep the Ephesional armour on! :-)(Ephesians 6)