Review: Embracing Grace Part 3

EIKON if YUKON (a little humor there)

Chapter 2-- The Beginning of the Gospel

McKnight affirms that if we're to get the gospel right, we have to begin at the beginning. Thus, Chapter 2 sweeps us back to Genesis 1:1 and into the creation story.

Because the concept of "the image of God" is vital to the gospel, McKnight introduces the phrase Eikon of God. Adam and Eve were "Eikons." Eikon is the Greek term for the Hebrew tselem which means "image." Scot does this because the phrase "image of God" has been over-used and diluted in eons of theological debate.

"When God made humans [Eikons of God], he gave them hearts, souls, minds, bodies, and wills to make them individuals; God gave them other individuals just like themselves so they could live in community; and he gave them a world in which to live. ... The gospel is about every one of these dimensions of human life--the human's relationship to herself and himself, to God, to others, and to the world and to the society in which we live."

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood:
The Life of "Fat Freddy Rogers"

After a brief overview of a fat, lonely kid named Fred Rogers, who went to seminary and then founded the kids' TV show "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," Scot notes, "Mr. Rogers, so I believe, gave a generation or two of kids a profound sense of their specialness, their Eikonic status, and showed that we were made to live out this life in our neighborhood."

INDIVIDUALISM IS THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE
TO THE GOSPEL OF EMBRACING GRACE

Why? Because individualism excludes from the discussion of the gospel our relationship to God and to others, leaving us on our own to determine who we are.

Eikons Are Made to Embrace

We're designed to relate: to relate to God, to others, and to our world.

Scot McKinght closes Chapter 2 with this: "Humans are by nature Eikons: that is who we are. By nature, we are designed with the inalienable right to be embraced and to embrace: embracing God who made us and embracing ourselves, embracing others, and embracing our world."

"The gospel that tells our story begins with this beginning."