Fun Reading: Ella Minnow Pea

Do you want some fun reading?

Mark Dunn's Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel of Letters fits the bill.

You will meet Ella Minnow Pea who lives on an island named Nollop after the famous Nevin Nollop who was the creator of the immortal phrase "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." Nollop is off the coast of South Carolina.

The blurb from the Philadelphia Inquirer on the back jacket states, "A curiously compelling...satire of human foibles, and a light-stepping commentary on censorship and totalitarianism."

Julie and I both convulsed with laughter reading this "zany book."

Part 4-- A Community Called Atonement: Praxis

The fourth and final part of Scot McKnight's book A Community Called Atonement is the most creative stuff I've read under the umbrella of "atonement." Even Scot himself writes, "I stand here on the threshold of a doorway that few enter: atonement is something done not only by God for us but also something we do with God for others" (117). Part 4 of the book is titled "Atonement as Praxis: Who does Atonement?"

"We are summoned to participate with God in his redemptive work" (117).

Scot adds this caveat: "But lest I be accused of something worse than heresy, let me make it clear up front: I do not believe humans atone for others and I do not believe humans can atone for themselves. Atonement is the work of God---in Christ, through the Spirit---but God has chosen to summon us to participate in God's work, even though we are cracked Eikons or, to use Paul's words, 'clay jars,' (2 Cor. 4:7)" (118).

The church not only has an atoning message (or Story to tell), the church is an atoning community in the world. The church is God's Spirit-empowered people who bring about healing in human relationships so that people live their Eikonic-purpose: to love God, love others, love themselves (properly) and love the world. All that sin did to crack the image (Eikon) in human beings, God now restores to those so cracked in and through the church--the new society of human beings "in Christ."

Praxis includes justice. But whose justice? "But justice for the Christian is not about freedom or liberty, rights, individualism, or the pursuit of personal happiness. ...Christians can't let the U.S. Constitution (or John Stuart Mill or Karl Marx) define what 'justice' means. We have to define justice in a way consistent with what Jesus meant by 'kingdom'" (124). The ecclesial community is a just community and stands for and extends God's justice in the world.

An ecclesial community (church) sharing in the perichoretic life of the Trinity will be missional more than attractional. "Sent" is a key word (see John's Gospel). Jesus and Paul envisoned the church sent into and engaging the world in beneficiary ways, in Jesus Creed ways---loving God and loving others. And we do so, not with the agenda to get the world "saved" but because that's simply what the Jesus Way means.

"Whenever the Bible replaces the Trinity, we have bibliolatry" (143). This is Scot's way of saying we have a (Trinitarian) God-centered faith, not a Book-centered faith. Scot affirms Eugene H. Peterson's Eat This Book.

Scot concludes section four (and his book) with a brief word about the "atoning" nature of baptism, the Lord's Supper and prayer.

With so much pious junk food for the soul available in the market place, it is good to have devoured A Community Called Atonement and to feel the vitamins and minerals of excellent teaching. Thanks, Scot.

Part 3-- A Community Called Atonement

In Part 3 of A Community Called Atonement "Atonement as Story: Whose Story?" I had the feeling that Scot McKnight was a skillful and knowledgable tour guide taking us to some of the most interesting "places" in the land called Atonement.

Why did Jesus choose Passover rather than Yom Kipper as the backdrop for his atoning mission? Doesn't the Day of Atonement logically fit Jesus' saving intent? We are treated to atonement in the story created by Jesus, and it is fascinating with some tidbits thrown in about the actual meal Jesus ate with his disciples---a "Passover-like meal." Interesting, indeed. With this excursion into the Jesus story, the vast panorama of atonement captures our minds. Only in Part 3 of the book is Mark 10:45 introduced as crucial.

Question: Why did Paul go a different way than Jesus with his atonement story? Why did Paul not feel obligated to mimic Jesus' details? Why did the Early Church Fathers feel free to create their own stories of atonement and not mimic either Jesus or Paul? Why does Paul haul us into a courtroom? Why is Paul obsessed with "death"? (Scot calls Paul a 'mortician.') We have to know the story that Paul is trying to tell. We get McKnight's take on the theological hot potato called NPP or New Perspective on Paul.

Scot walks us through what I will call the Atonement "hall of fame," that is, the various theories of the atonement. Scot likens the theories to golf clubs. Rather than picking one club as the best or dogmatically asserting only one as "the biblical view," Scot puts them all in the golf bag that he calls Jesus' identification for incorporation. Scot shows how each club is needed and each club is biblical. We must listen to them all if we are going to hear the beautiful and robust orchestration of the music of atonement. Scot values penal substitution, yet points out a couple of weaknesses in that theory which makes it too restrictive to tell the whole story of atoning grace.

Next: Part 4

Part 2- A Community Called Atonement-- More than "Me" Theology

Part 2--Atonement and Image: With Which Image?

This part of Scot McKnight's A Community Called Atonement I would title "Atonement Theology for Dummies." Scot has a pleasant and peaceful style and a "new kind of scholar's" ability for making complex theological concepts clear and accessible to the rest of us.

In an evangelical culture of rampant individualism..."you [Jesus] took the Fall, and thought of ME above all..." suggests a popular Christian song. Me, me, me. Well, sorry to burst the "me" bubble, but Jesus had more on his mind while on the cross than "me." Scot unpacks the robust scope of Jesus' atoning work. Of course, by virtue of their union "in Christ" individuals do benefit from Jesus' saving life and death and resurrection and the giving of the Spirit at Pentecost. Yet, all those aspects of Jesus' atoning work have a community in mind, a specific people--the people of God. "Before another word be said, notice the essence of this act of God: Pentecost comes not simply to regenerate individual Eikons but to recreate an ecclesial community of faith in which the will of God manifests inself in worship, fellowship, and the missio Dei" (75).

In this section of the book Scot delivers us from the horribly reduced and anemic "gospel" testimony that squeaks out, "Jesus died for my sins so I can go to heaven." In place of that withered reduction Scot offers the perichoretic acts of God that invite us into a reality "in Christ" that literally renews the cosmos! We are caught up into something huge, grand, sweeping, and, at times, ineffable.

Scot offers a crux et ("the cross and...") view of atonement. While emphasizing the pivotal and strategic cross work of Christ, Scot shows how Jesus' incarnation (and earthly life), his death on the cross, his resurrection (and ascension) and the giving of the Spirit are all part of the story of atonement. Most of us have been taught atonement only in terms of sacrifice and blood (and those are important features of atonement, yet not the whole story).

Using Scot's controlling metaphor, we need multiple golf clubs in our bag to understand atonement. It surprises many that penal substitution is just one club in the bag.

Next: Part 3