[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”1620325357″ locale=”us” height=”110″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417JA2AtogL._SL110_.jpg” width=”73″]Page 2: Douglas Jones – Dismissing Jesus
Other chapter titles that may not be immediately self-explanatory are “The Way of Deliverance” and “The Way of Foolishness.” In the “The Way of Deliverance” Jones shows that Christ doesn’t mostly offer a set of “ideas to be believed” but rather a life to be lived. We’re to participate in the cross of Christ, which means liberation for the poor, the oppressed, the weak. This life may not look very wise in the world of Mammon. Jones explains in “The Way of Foolishness” how faith gives us a special perception into the ways of God, ways that are counter-intuitive to our usual wisdom. “Christians see past the triumphal arches of Mammon to the victory of the Lamb of God.”
Other chapters—compellingly presented with extensive scriptural support include: “The Way of Sharing,” “The Way of Enemy-Love,” and “The Way of Community.” In each, Jones offers a beautiful and convincing portrait of Jesus’s alternative way.
As Jones explains how much we diverge from the way of Jesus, the question arises “Why do Christians do so poorly at living what Christ taught?” In the second part of the book, Jones identifies ten reasons: Superficial Providences, Unconquerable Sin, Automatic Heaven, God the Accuser, The Left-Right Political Distinction, Impersonal Conservatism, Absolute Property, Nice Mammon, American Mars, and Broad Way Illusions. In each of these, Jones succinctly dismantles barriers to the way of the cross.
Although many of them are potentially contentious (in “American Mars” for instance, he makes the case that the United States fights most of its wars in order to maintain our affluence), I suspect his chapter “God the Accuser” may provoke the most reaction from many Christians. He explains the common understanding of what Christ’s death accomplishes as the “penal atonement” view, and suggests that this keeps many Christians from seriously considering the call to carry the cross. Jones believes it does so because it claims to guarantee a place in heaven through belief alone, teaches that Christ’s crucifixion was so unique that it would be impossible to imitate, and that the whole goal of Christ’s cross was that we would not have to die.
Jones offers an alternative view, the “restorative substitution” view, and argues that this is more true to scripture because it sees the primary problem as death and Satan rather than the Father’s wrath. It also makes more room for us to participate in the cross of Christ. An interesting and new point to me is Jones’s assertion that the penal atonement view ends up emphasizing individual sins (because it is all a matter of individual appropriation of Christ’s death) but the restorative justice view allows for a more corporate and biblical view of sin since we all participate in the struggle against death and Satan.
Jones makes his case for restorative substitution plainly, succinctly, and convincingly (a rare feat when it comes to treatments of atonement theory). Don’t tell the publisher this, but I’m tempted to copy the chapter and email it all my friends.
In the final and shortest part of the book, Jones imagines what the way of the cross might look like. As he noted earlier in relation to the Sermon on the Mount:
People who finally stumble or are dragged to the way of the cross often attempt to live this sermon on their own. They might repudiate mammon and begin trying to deliver the homeless. They might give up on savings and live simply by themselves. They might refuse violence and give more charity to the poor. But in a very important way, this misses Christ’s teaching. This sermon is not a code for individual behavior. It is given to the church, and the church has to take the lead in living it in community. People who try it on their own quickly burn out. It is made to crush the individual but give life to the church. One person cannot live the life of the Trinity.
Jones imagines what such a church community might look like using the historical example of Basil’s response to an influx of poor people into Caesarea following a drought. Basil drew on the entire city of Christians to serve and love the incoming immigrants.
Jones’ vision for church community is extremely idealistic, and he admits that he would have more authority if he was relating his own experience rather than just beginning the search for such a community life. Still, in the final two chapters entitled “Getting There,” and “The Spirituality of Descent” Jones offers helpful, practical ways of participating in communities that are seeking to follow the way of the cross.
Some might be tempted to feel a sense of self-righteous solidarity with Jones in his critique of modern Christianity. But if we are honest, we all fail to adequately follow the way of the cross and the book lays bare the hypocrisy of us all. But ultimately I didn’t experience the book as a “downer.”
Mother Teresa, while explaining that she was married to Jesus, confessed that “he can be very demanding sometimes.” I suspect she wouldn’t have had it any other way. There is something in the radical call of Jesus that is beautiful and supremely worth loving. I think we are built to know that only something as drastic as the vision of Jesus is adequate to heal the pain of the world.
Although Dismissing Jesus is a convicting book, perhaps somewhat paradoxically I found myself responding with hope and joy as I read it. How beautiful that God would use the way of weakness, that Jesus would reveal “a foot washing God,” that the salvation of the nations would lie in the practices of mercy and love. As the wisdom of the twelve-steps cautions, we are always looking for an “easier, softer way.” But as Jones notices, “The easy path doesn’t build the right sort of community. It doesn’t build a community of self-sacrifice and virtue.” If you are looking to build such a society, pick up Douglas Jones’s Dismissing Jesus and read.
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Tim Otto is part of the Church of the Sojourners in San Francisco. You can find him on Twitter @SojoTimo
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
 Reading for the Common Good From ERB Editor Christopher Smith "This book will inspire, motivate and challenge anyone who cares a whit about the written word, the world of ideas, the shape of our communities and the life of the church." -Karen Swallow Prior Enter your email below to sign up for our weekly newsletter & download your FREE copy of this ebook! |
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