Proclaimer Blog
Book of the year! Jesus outside the lines
Jesus outside the lines is my favourite Christian book of this year!
OK, so it’s my only Christian book of this year so far and so wins the title by default, but – nevertheless – it’s a worthy winner. It’s written by a Presbyterian minister in the US (Scott Sauls) who is tired of the angry polemic that Christians are constantly throwing around. He argues that we draw some (not all) lines too sharply and end up, therefore, throwing out true Christian tolerance. Moreover, even when we do hold proper convictions, the way which we present them is not always as biblical as we would like to think.
There is some really good material here and I found some of the chapters very convicting. True, it is written into a US setting, as will become clear in a moment. But it doesn’t take much of a thinking brain to take the US lessons and apply them here, even if the issues are not always quite so sharp this side of the pond.
He starts with politics – which for most US readers is black and white, or rather red and blue. We don’t, of course, have the same political divides. And evangelicals in this country are more likely to support a range of parties. Nevertheless, it feels like things are polarising and so his points are well made.
Chapter 2 applies the same principles to whether we are for the unborn or the poor. Again, this is a particular debate formed in the crucible of US politics where – to simplify – concern for the unborn is often seen as a feature of the right whereas concern for the poor one for the left. And, again, the lines are not drawn so starkly for us, but even so, Sauls’ approach is worthy of careful reading as he tries to steer us the Master’s Way.
Other chapters hit home a little more. Institutional church versus personal faith is helpful (though I don’t think I’ve ever seen Don Carson referred to as Donald before!). Money greedy versus money guilt is also a useful corrective – challenging the assumption that anyone who works in the city and earns a good salary must be greedy (this is essentially a chapter on contentment).
Then part II of the book comes closer to the bone as it deals not with moral hot potatoes but Christian essentials. One of the most difficult chapters of the book comes in the middle – affirmation or critique. The premise of this chapter is a rejection of the kind of Paul Washer relational evangelism where you just tell everyone how bad they are. It’s not – note – a kind of semi Pelagian manifesto. Far from it. But Sauls argues that Jesus affirms as well as critiques, and that this affirmation element has disappeared from our relational activity. I think Sauls is onto something here, but I can already hear the knives being sharpened. It’s a fine line, I think – and one that got me thinking and praying, though I was not, in the end, fully convinced by his arguing which (speaking personally) would rather let me off the hook somewhat when it comes to personal evangelism. I can think of others, however, for whom this would be essential reading.
Chapters on hypocrisy (“I’m a Christian hypocrite!”) and chastity (he’s for it, don’t worry!), suffering and self-esteem are excellent. Overall, this is a needed book, encouraging Christians to retain convictions and yet present themselves and relate to others in a way that is still, well, Christian. I think that even if the touchpoints are different for us in the UK, this is still a message we need, and therefore a book worth reading.