Rezensionen
Když je všechno v plamenech von Brian Zahnd
I have come to most of the same "conclusions" (I hold that word loosely these days) the author shares in this book on my own over time but had not heard anyone else speak about having similar views / values until very recently. I found this a thoroughly encouraging read.
The title to this work captures what Brian Zahnd is trying to do. The reference to “the wood between the worlds” is to the wood of the cross, which stands between the world that is and the world that is to come. The language is poetic, pointing to the author’s project of exploring the theological meaning of the cross. He resists the attempt to reduce that meaning to technical prose statements, contending for a “kaleidoscope” of the “infinite number of ways of viewing the cross of Christ as the beautiful form that saves the world” (p. 3). And why his focus on the cross? He believes it is the interpretive center of all scripture that offers a lens through which one may interpret the rest of scripture.
What Zahnd offers us is a series of theolgical meditations couched in poetic language. Each chapter begins with a poetic epigraph. One of the key ideas in this work appears in an early chapter, “The Singularity of Good Friday.” Zahnd proposes that on Good Friday “the sin of the world coalesced into a hideous singularity that upon the cross it might be forgiven en masse” (p. 17). The cross is not where God punishes sin or appeases his anger but where God in Christ endured sin and death inflicted by humanity, revealing God’s love in revealing God’s forgiveness. In another chapter, reflecting on Elie Wiesel’s Night, he speaks of a God, who is in the Christ, was on the gallows, the focal point of human suffering.
Another chapter centers on John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” He speaks of all the Trinity as “co-crucified” in Christ rather than the idea of the Son as an object of the Father’s wrath. He contends that the cross reveals the supreme love of God. Zahnd portrays with great eloquence the beauty of God’s love revealed on the cross. I feel however that this is but a partial truth–that Zahnd (as many other contemporary writers) caricatures and then eviscerates the model of penal substitutionary atonement. He accepts the caricature of penal atonement as God punishing the Son and makes the only wrath that of human beings brought to focus on the cross. Gone is the idea of the cross as the place where God’s love and justice meet. I do not believe he does justice to the thoughtful proponents of theories of penal substitution that see this as a work of the Triune God working in harmony involving many of the elements the author dissociates in his portrayal of penal atonement and embraces for his own view. In his view, there is both identification with suffering and forgiveness, but no judgment, only love,
This criticism noted, I would also hasten to say that this work sparkles with insight. He challenges us to consider and live into the grotesque beauty of the outstretched arms on the cross, living lives of cruciform love. He offers a fascinating study of Pilate in literature, in contrast to Christ, and our likeness to Pilate in our embraces of violence. He offers a compelling treatment of the choice between the cross and power in a chapter on Tolkien’s One Ring and the illusions about wielding its power. He renders an interesting introduction to the work of Rene Girard on the scapegoat and, in a subsequent chapter, citing James Cone, on how the lynching tree became the cross for Blacks, and they became our scapegoats.
There is a beautiful reflection on Mary, neglected by Protestants, on the swords that pierced her life, culminating with the cross. He discusses Yeats “centre that does not hold” and how the cross is the place where the center does hold. He considers the slain Lamb on the Throne in the place of the Lion in Revelation and how he conquers, not by violence, but undoes death by dying.
Zahnd’s theopoetics certainly challenges tired theological formulations with theological imagination. The title image of the cross as the wood between the worlds is a compelling one. His focus on the cross as central to biblical interpretation challenges our “flat” approaches to the Bible. I think he gives the lie to caricatures of penal theories but I wonder if a reading of the best and not the caricatures might further enrich the kaleidoscope. What he does do is offer a rich collection of theological meditations, one that may make for nourishing Lenten reading.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
Em O que fazer no pior dia da sua vida, Brian Zahnd olha para a vida de David para descobrir um padrão de fé que podemos aplicar para ultrapassar com coragem os obstáculos da vida.
Na história de David encontramos um modelo intemporal para encontrar o poder restaurador de Deus no meio duma profunda tragédia. Junte-se a Brian Zahnd e veja o que David fez no seu pior dia.
Verá David chorar mas não ficar amargurado. Vê-lo-á reorientar a sua visão e tornar a ganhar a sua paixão.
Ao longo desta viagem aperceber-se-á que o grande trabalho de Deus na vida de David não foi ocasional, relativo a um só milagre, mas um modelo de fé para todos os que enfrentam o pior dia das suas vidas.
Ninguém quer enfrentar dificuldades
Mas quando elas chegam (e elas surgem sempre), podemos recuperar... podemos vencer.
Não há dúvida que os tempos estão difíceis. Que o digam as pessoas que perderam o seu emprego, a sua casa, algum familiar. Muitos, perante estes acontecimentos, estão também a perder a fé.
Brian Zahnd procurou na Bíblia as respostas e descobriu na vida do rei David uma inspiradora história de esperança e um padrão para a plena recuperação. Em O que fazer no pior dia da sua vida, ele revela os passos que devemos dar para recuperar – e recuperar tudo.
MAS JÁ ENCONTRAMOS JESUS, O PRÍNCIPE DA PAZ?
Quando é que admitimos a vingança como uma parte aceitável da vida Cristã? Como é que a violência e o poder se infiltraram naquilo que entendemos por fé e graça? Para aqueles que se sentirem perturbados por esta tendência para a espada, talvez haja um caminho mais excelente.
O que é que acontecerá se a mensagem de Jesus divergir do rufar dos tambores de guerra que de contínuo escutamos à nossa volta?
Tomando como exemplo a sua própria caminhada de proclamador da guerra em direcção à pacificação e o seu estudo aturado sobre a paz nas Escrituras, o autor e pastor Brian Zahnd reapresenta-nos o evangelho da Paz.
I've never been part of a culture that saw war as a good thing (albeit occasionally a necessary evil) but I still found quite a bit to think about in this book. The author is not a pacifist as such, and has great admiration for those in the armed forces. But he believes that his role is to promote peace, not just between individuals but between ethnic groups and countries.
Some of what he writes is controversial, some a tad hard to swallow - is Jesus really ruling the world now, considering what a mess we're making of it? - but I found it an excellent read, and will no doubt be thinking about some of what Zahnd wrote for some time.
Definitely recommended.
Full review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-farewell-to-mars-by-brian-zahnd.h...
The first thing I noticed was the Rachel Held Evans and Sarah Bessey reviewed the book favorly. Sarah Bessey being the author of the book “Jesus Feminist” and Rachel Held Evans being someone I responded to already when she said that Calvinism made her cry. So, it was no surprise that her review and praise would be featured in a seemingly anti-calvinist book.
The next thing you will find is that the foreword was written by Wm. Paul Young, who wrote the Shack and Lies we Believe about God, in which he admits to being a universalist. These associations mentioned below do not make Zahnd automatically wrong, but I think I could reasonably assume how the book was going to go based on who likes his work. (1 Corinthians 15:33)
Young goes on to figure out the great question of why Edwards could paint such beautiful pictures of God such as in his work “Charity and its fruits” but portray a vindictive God in his sermon. Young went on to blame this sermon on Edwards personal issues, such as being ostracized by his own congregation (due to his insistence on fencing the Lord’s table) and his advocacy for the indigenous tribal people, specifically the native americans.
It’s a foreword, so I don’t expect Young to interact on a deeper level than what he did say, however, it seems a bit disingenuous to not acknowledge that there are plenty of christians who argue that God can be just and wrathful and loving at the same time, God isn’t limited to one attribute.
In the first paragraph, Zahnd recounts the time about his little arts and crafts project, where he used photocopies of Edwards sermon and made his own little booklet complete with highlights and all. That actually sounds pretty cool to me, I may copy his idea and do that myself someday. However, he ends the paragraph by referring to those as his “ANGRY GOD days” in comparison to his “Loving Father” days apparently. I suspected that I would encounter this false dichotomy often throughout this book.
On page 3 his made a statement that made me want to facepalm:
“If Edwards could scare people into repentance , maybe I could too. Evangelism by Terrorism. Conversion by coercion.”
This is not only a pitiful exaggeration but it misunderstands the sermon entirely. Edwards was not in the pulpit with a scary mask on trying to scare the unbelief out of people, he was merely telling people of the reality of what scripture teaches. HIs imagery was vivid and poetic, that is probably why it resonated in the mind more than your average matter-of-fact sermon. To compare poetic language that is simply restating truths of the Bible to “terrorism” is absurd, there is no comparison. As far as coercion, the sermon is just words, Mr. Zahnd, no one was forcing anyone to anything. They willingly attended the service, they willingly heard the words and they willingly reacted the way they did.
Zahnd then insults the literary nature of Edwards writing by finding it strange that Edwards sermon is taught in schools as a good example of descriptive writing. Here’s the thing, even if you don’t agree with the method of preaching or the doctrine Edwards is defending, it would be far from reasonable to deny that his writing was anything short of descriptive.
Zahnd then quotes Edwards famous spider portion of the sermon, but doesn’t understand the disconnect when he makes snide remarks such as it making God into some “sadistic juvenile”. If Zahnd would have read Edwards observations on Spiders, he would realize that Edwards found their intricate webs as evidence of their design by God and that he thought they were a beautiful creation. This isn’t some “you’re like a bug, gross!” childhood insult, it actually has a double meaning. Today, we commonly have people who like and people who dislike. Spiders are commonly disliked but some people like them. What makes spiders worthy of dislike? Well, they scare people. So, as an analogy, you’re appeal that Edwards scared people into the kingdom would be equivalent to you calling him a spider. Edwards is using this same type of analogy when he compares us to spiders. Not that we scare God obviously, but that our sin is as repugnant to God as someone who hates spiders.
On Page 4, Zahnd questions whether God abhors sinners (Hey, Zahnd read Psalm 11, Proverbs 15, Romans 3, Romans 9, or Revelation 2 sometime) and scoffs at the idea of an eternal hell calling it “God’s torture chamber” and “the eternal auschwitz”. Besides being a disgusting comparison, the major difference is that we are all guilty before God (Romans 3:23) and the Jewish people were innocent against the depraved behavior of the concentration camps. You should probably apologize to people affected by the holocaust for comparing some mere words about Hell you disagree with to such a horrific event.
On Page 5, Zahnd refers to Edwards sermon as a “Horror-genre sermon” which I find funny but also kind of agree with because the reality of Hell is horrific but also because horror is my favorite genre, so it makes sense why I like it. (besides the fact that it is merely teaching biblical truth.)
Zahnd shows a misunderstanding when it views sermons like the one Edwards famously preached as a way to “scare someone into the altar call” perhaps not realizing that Charles Finney popularized the altar call and that Edwards would have been against such emotional manipulation. (Even though I’m sure you will accuse him of it for writing the sermon.)
Zahnd consistently repeats the false dichotomy that a God who desires to show his just wrath can’t also be a loving God. This limiting concept is due to Zahnd’s apprently over antrhompizing the emotions of God as if they were filled with the faults that humans have with them. It reeks of greek mythology level of reasoning, where a God can only have one feature, “The goddess of wisdom” or “the god of war.” In page 18, he reviews some biblical passages that are very clear that God is wrathful or displaying wrath and chocks them up to metaphor. How convient that somethign thtat would contridct your entire premise for the book is a metaphor.
On page 34-35, Zahnd gives a nod to his master, Marcion, in disparaging the old testament and seeking to run away from any idea that God had commanded the slaying of the cannaites and used the example of Jesus not reading the vengeful part of Isaiah’s text, the implication he gives is that Jesus was different and that God’s intention wasn’t vengence.
Veenence is mine saith the Lord
Vegenence is wrong, saith the Zahnd”
Zahnd tries to deny that he is anything like Marcion on page 60, but he ends his defense of himself by admitting that “I don’t regard the old testament as the perfect revelation of God” though earlier he says he believes its the word of God, I wonder how its the word of God and also not a perfect revelation from God? Inquiring minds would like to know.
Chapter 4 in his work can be summed up as “hey this thing happened in the Old Testament” “But man, God is love!”
Pg. 101 Zahnd attempts to critque Calvin’s view of the cross, but he ends up Roger Olsoning it and just calling God a moral monster for pouring out his wrath on Jesus in our place. (Because that totally didn’t happen, right?) He says “Punishing the innocent in order to forgive the guilty is montrous logic” Well, Jesus is innocent, we are guilty, what exactly happened on the cross, Zahnd? What was in that cup that Jesus prayed that he wouldn’t have to drink?
On Page 145, Zahnd denies that those who reject Christ will go to hell, because his feelings or whatever.
In the final paragraph, on page 207, Zahnd attempts to use Edwards words against him. That every tree that does not bear fruit will be axed down. He tries to reverse it and say that the tree of Edwards preaching, a.k.a. The “poisionious tree of angry-God theology” is now gone from his life in favor of being in the hands of a loving God. He started with the false dichtomy and ended with it, I congrulate him on his consistency to this fallacious premise.
In reality, God is love, God desires to show his wrath and God is not a moral monster. I will not pretend that there are easy answers to these questions, but what Zahnd presents is emotion over fact, false dichotomies and snide jabs at people who actually believe things in the Old testament aren’t just all metaphors when it contradicts “muh love” theology.
Constructive critcism is supposed to say something nice about something too. So, Zahnd, the cover was nice.
🌞
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own. If you're interested in reading “Sinners in the hands of a loving God” keep an eye out for it starting August 15, 2017.
Christians have too long allowed Christianity to act as the chaplain of our nation, and others, somehow expecting God's blessing on us as we go to war against evil in the world. The problem is, war is not how evil should be battled, but rather by peace. We are to be the peacemakers of Christ's kingdom.
The theme is that as Christians we need to forgive. Nothing new - and, indeed, I found the book a bit slow-going at first. It starts with a prologue and then a prelude pointing out how some evangelicals and pentecostals are far from forgiving. Early chapters cite Scripture references about forgiveness, pointing out how crucial it is to the Christian faith, but this was not new to me.
However, it becomes quite thought-provoking later on, pointing out in particular that God's idea of justice is about reconciliation, not vengeance or even 'fairness' in the sense we tend to think of it.
I don't think I'd have paid the full price for it, but overall I thought it a good read. I would recommend it particularly to anyone who thinks that God is judgemental in the negative sense, or that the purpose of Christianity is to stand against 'sinners'.
Some of my favorite quotes from this book are:
Instead of angry protesters shaking our fists at a secular culture, we should be joyful singers transforming the secular with the sacred.
Christianity as the ongoing expression of the Jesus story lived out in the lives of individuals and in the heart of society is a beauty that can redeem the world.
The cross is the beauty of Christianity because it is at the cross that we encounter cosuffering love and costly forgiveness in its most beautiful form.
When we lose sight of the subtle beauty of the cruciform we become seduced by the power, prestige, and pragmatism of politics.
Christ persuades, not by the force of Caesar, but by the beauty of love.
True morality consists in how well we care for one another, not what sort of behaviour we wish to impose on one another.
If Christ can transform the Roman instrument of execution into a thing of beauty, there is hope that in Christ all things can be made beautiful.
Ultimate truth is not power enforced through violence, but love expressed through forgiveness.
The vision of God is always grossly distorted when viewed through the bloody lens of violent pragmatism and vehement nationalism.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the Father's validation and vindication of His Son.
In a nutshell: Everyone will experience things in life that seem unfair, that will have them asking why bad things happen to good people, and asking why God is letting something like this happen at all. Sometimes it feels like you will never recover, and those are the times when you need this book. While you may never fully understand why an event in your life happened, Brian Zahnd has written a book that will help you get through the event and recover. He shows us that it is ok to cry - yes, REAL men (and women) do cry, and it is part of the healing process. The author uses the biblical story of King David to illustrate the process of having faith and recovering from a tragic event so that you can succeed and have victory in life.
Extended Review:
Content: Following a Foreward, Preface and Introduction, the Chapter of the book include: Weep, Don't Get Bitter, Encourage Yourself in God, Reorient Your vision, Regain Your Passion, Attack!, Recover All, Celebrate Recovery, Give to Others. The book also contains a Conclusion and end notes.
Readability: An easy, quick read. The author provides examples, inspiring passages from the Bible, and encouragement for readers. The book is small in size, and the chapters are not overly long, so they are do-able, even in the face of fear, loss, and disappointment.
Overall: Through this book, the reader will experience the inspiring story of King David, and will begin their own journey of recovery and faith through the tough times they currently face, and may face in the future. For me, this book is a keeper - you never know when you will need it for yourself or a loved-one.
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