EngineeredTheology

First off, the book can be freely downloaded from the book’s website

I will admit that I started this book expecting the worst. Having moved quite far from the viewpoint that Christianity is all about saving people from hell, I expecting a book explaining exactly which people needed to be saved from hell.

Turns out I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The book contrasts the traditional evangelical view of Christianity (that Jesus came to die to save us from our sins so we can go to heaven), with finally freeing God’s people to actually be God’s people.

our salvation addresses the problem God faced throughout the entire Old Testament: How can I have a faithful people with a heart for Me? rather than the nowhere-mentioned problem How can I get people into heaven?(61)

The book is a little difficult to summarize because the chapters don’t entirely build on each other to a climatic point. With the main aim to raise questions about current Christian dogma, so much material needs to be covered in order to cover enough bases to make a point. Instead, topics are somewhat eclectic to cover what the author feels are the most important to help his point to be taken seriously. It is in no way the final word, but instead tries to open a window to let in a fresh breath on scripture.

The writing style was not entirely to my liking, but the tone of the book was very appropriately delicately confrontational. In addressing current modern beliefs, I believe that so much of the current understanding comes from haphazard quoting of the bible without its due context. It may be due to a desire of brevity, but much of the copious scripture quoting in the book is somewhat absent of the context in which it was originally written in. I also suspect that I am obviously not the target audience for the book who may be more interested in this type of point and shoot proof texting. I would be very interested in how this book would strike someone who is new to this mode of thought.

There is an effort to bring continuity of Jewish thought into the NT – showing the dissimilarity between current Christian believes and what would have made sense in first century Judaism. When we say we are saved, we must ask what they thought they would be saved from. When we say righteous, what would that have meant. In this mode of thinking, I was not at all surprised to find a few direct quotes and some heavy borrowing from N.T. Wright.

The book is published by Biblical Heresy Press, and I suspect there will be many who think it an apt name for this book. I think we fear heresy so much that we never truly engage the bible and God himself. If we vow to follow God wherever he would lead, does that also mean that we would allow Him to lead us to those murky grey waters, or are there boundaries that we would stop and say we will follow no further. Would we stand and defend “heresy” if that is where God would want us to be?