CHAPTER 6
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND!
The Kingdom of God and the Postmodern Social Gospel
Because the kingdom of God is present and inclusive and not eschatological and exclusive, strong remnants of the social gospel flourish in McLaren’s theology. Some argue that the movement as a whole is not the social gospel revamped.[1] However, anyone that reads, studies, and joins the conversation within the movement cannot deny that the Emerging church has become almost nothing else than a postmodern version of the social gospel and Brian McLaren is among those leading the charge.
One example comes from Emergent Village, a website pioneered and continuously influenced by Brian McLaren. One blog asks the question, “what does it mean to be a Christian?”[2] The answer is given in the form of a youtube video that combines a number of videos from Emergent leaders, including Brian McLaren, that seeks to answer that question.[3]
In the video, Campolo reveals the social aspects of Emergent Soteriology. Campolo defined Christianity while a on the show, “the Hour,” with by George Stroumboulopoulos as:
The fact is there are 2,000 verses in Scripture that talking about caring for the poor. And I don’t care what else your into, if you ignore what the Bible is really about, helping poor and oppressed people, you’ve missed the message of Jesus . . . I see you’ve got the white band of Bono, and here is a guy who is a rock singer who has done more to articulate what Christianity is really about than most we preachers. In fact he says to be Christian is to commit to the poor and oppressed. The only description that Jesus gives of judgment day is how we treated the poor. On that day, He’s not going to ask you theology questions . . . Here’s what it’s going to be, 25th chapter of Matthew, “I was hungry, did you feed me? I was naked, did you clothe me? I was sick, did you care for me? I was an alien, did you take me in? What you’ve failed to do to the least of these, you failed to do unto me because I’m not up in the sky somewhere. I’m waiting to be loved in people who hurt. And as you relate to people who hurt, your relating to me.” There is no Christianity that does not tie us up with the poor and the oppressed of the world.[4]
In this one quote, Campolo makes it clear what he thinks the gospel is: helping poor and oppressed people. Nowhere in the video is there a referenced to the cross or the atonement. Rather, the video, endorsed by Emergent Village, answers that to be a Christian means to love one another by helping the poor, the oppressed, and by serving in the kingdom of God.[5]
Also, while promoting one of his books, McLaren spoke at a conference taking questions during a panel at the event. The panel was asked “what is the good news?” McLaren answered:
I think this is where it gets interesting because one of the ways that what we do become colonization, when we’re going to represent a religion and trying to make converts to a religion . . . but the good news isn’t the good news of Christianity, it’s the good news of the Kingdom of God. And I think that Fatmire [Muslim peace activist also present at the conference and sitting next to him on the panel] working for peace, is an agent for peace, and I’d much rather her be working for peace being who she is than . . . becoming a person in a church worrying about the list over there on that wall. [on “the list” are things nonessentials like speaking in tongues, etc.]
So, to me there’s something we really have to grapple with about whether the border of a religion is the border of the Kingdom of God. And I think that’s a question we’d be wise to raise. I liked what you said about there not being despair when you’re among the extremely needy people. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we found out that God is present where ever there’s suffering because God is there bringing healing and God is really present wherever people are working against injustice because that’s the work of God, where ever people are working for peace. And then we find that the place that God isn’t is where you have a bunch of affluent people who are self-absorbed . . . and that wouldn’t surprise me why they would get depressed, because, in some way, it’s not that God isn’t present but they’re snoring through the presence of God.[6]
Here, McLaren connects the gospel with the kingdom of God which brings peace to the world moving beyond the borders of religion and propositions. The kingdom is found in helping “the extremely needy people” because that is where God is present.
. . . to be continued.
[1] Gibbs and Bolger write, “It would be a serious mistake to interpret the foregoing conversations as simply a return to the liberal, social gospel of the 1920s,” in Gibbs and Bolger, Emerging Churches, 152.
[2] Steve Knight, What Does It Mean to be a Christian?.
[3] thekeynote00, What Does it Mean to be a Christian?.
[4] No transcript exists of this interview. However, the entire interview is available online and was taken from The Hour, Tony Campolo.
[5] The primary reference to the kingdom of God comes from the mouth of Brian McLaren in the video. McLaren says, “All of us are a lot more out of sync from what Jesus would have really wanted than we realize. Maybe we made little turns along the way and we have no idea how far we are out of sync from what Jesus really wants . . . I think you can contrast the kingdom of God with every kingdom or regime or ideology of this world by saying ‘worldly systems are - are unified by their love of power. The kingdom of God is about the power of love.’”
[6] Transcript from this speech is from, Michael Krahn, Brian McLaren: What is the Gospel?, who was at the conference and recorded the event. The same transcript is also available from Benjamin Euler, The Gospel According to Brian McLaren.
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accomodation to the Kindgom of God - Chapter 1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.1
Thesis| Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 2.3
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 3.1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 3.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 4.1a
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 4.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.2
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.3
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.4
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 5.5
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 6.1
Thesis | Brian McLaren and Emergent Soteriology: From Cultural Accommodation to the Kingdom of God - Chapter 6.1a
For more:
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 1
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 2
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 3
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the Emergent Church - Part 4
Theology - The Clarity of Ambiguity: The Erosion of the Perspicuity of Scripture in the emergent Church - Part 5
Theology/Reviews - "A New Kind of Christianity" - A 11 part review and critique of McLaren's book
Reviews - McLaren - A Generous Orthodoxy
Reviews - McLaren - A New Kind of Christian
Reviews -McLaren - A Search For What Makes Sense: Finding Faith
Reviews -McLaren - Adventures In Missing The Point
Reviews - McLaren - Church On The Other Side
Reviews -McLaren - Everything Must Change
Reviews -McLaren - Finding Faith
Reviews -McLaren - More Ready Than You Realize
Reviews - McLaren - The Justice Project
Reviews - McLaren - The Secret Message of Jesus
Reviews -McLaren - The Voice of Luke
Theology - Revelation and the Ambiguity of Justification: McLaren Adds to the Confusion
Theology - Does McLaren Reject Penal Substitution?: A Review of the Evidence
Blogizomai - Where is He Now? McLaren on the Question of bin Laden's Final Destination
Theology - Hamilton: McLaren and Whole Foods Stores
Theology - SBTS and McLaren: A Response to SBTS Panel Discussion
Theology - The Evolving God: McKnight's Critique of McLaren
Theology - The Future of the Emergent Church: McLaren Weighs In
Theology - The Immutability of God: Its Truth and Relevancy - Introduction
Theology - The Postmodern Social Gospel: Brian McLaren Proves My Point
Theology - Where to Begin?: 10 Emergent Must Reads
Theology - Who Isn't One?: Brian McLaren and Social Christians
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Narrative Question - Part 1
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Authority Question - Part 2
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The God Question - Part 3
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Jesus Question - Part 4
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Gospel Question - Part 5
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Church Question - Part 6
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Sex Question - Part 7
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Future Question - Part 8
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: The Pluralism Question - Part 9
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: Where Do We Go From Here - Part 10
Theology - A New Kind of Christianity . . . Indeed: Some Final Thoughts - Part 11
0 comments:
Post a Comment