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Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us

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Scot McKnight's *Embracing Grace* is a redeeming book and the object of redemption is "the gospel."

The USAmerican (or "western") gospel is a shrivelled specimen of the gospel presented in the Bible and lived and proclaimed by Jesus, the apostles and early church.

One line in the book captures a boatload of truth. Scot writes about the younger generation of Christians who are aware of a bigger gospel than the previous generation could imagine. Scot states, "That gospel comes in the shape of a community."

Think about that. The gospel comes not in the shape of a sermon or a pamphlet or 3 steps to this and 4 steps for that. A community.

Weaving together the grand story of God's redemptive purpose, McKnight brings together the broken strands of God's creation design for humanity. Sin shattered the eikons of God, that is, sin corrupted men and women who bear God's image and who exist to live a life of love with God, with each other and with creation itself. This design includes being content within ourselves as well.

The western monkey-wrench that clogs up the process of God's gospel of restoration is our renegade worship of the idol of "individualism." Sin made Adam and Eve primarily individuals which was a devastating crack in God's majestic Eikons. We've been in a deep, gooey mess ever since.

In McKnight's unfolding of the marvels of the biblical gospel we appreciate the wonder of the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness is breath-taking, no doubt. But forgiveness is the foothills of the Rockies. Restored relationships are the peaks of the gospel. Sin destroys relationships as well as muddies up our lives. The gospel is about restoring relationships with a joyful, divine Community called God the Father, Son and Spirit. The gospel is about restoring us to one another in a wholeness of life called Shalom. "Any gospel that stops short of Shalom distorts the gospel." The gospel is about restoring us to creation (which to this day is groaning because of sin). Get Embracing Grace and read it. I feel I'm flailing to describe it.

A community of restored Eikons loving God and people for the sake of the world is what Jesus' redeeming work is about. Heaven when we die? Yeah. Sins forgiven? Yeah. But to reduce the gospel to the foothills of redemption is a sad reduction, indeed. Jesus Christ is a much more majestic Person and had in mind a much more majestic Purpose than to prop up the sappy, reduced gospel prevalent in the West.

Scot is right. There is a young wave of Christians who will not settle for the foothills where it's quite comfortable and safe and clean and boringly painless. They would rather hazard the climb to the peaks and adore a more beautiful and mysterious God, breathe a cleaner version of salvation air and see more expansive vistas of God's wonderful and wounded world. And they will do this even if they die trying.

Scot McKnight's *Embracing Grace* helps them (and all of us) in that climb.

In this wonderful book, Scot McKnight provides a fresh picture of a gospel of restoration. Humans were created as images ("eikons" is the term Scot prefers) of God, and the gospel is the message of Jesus acting to restore "cracked Eikons" to their original state. According to McKnight in the introduction, "The gospel is the work of God to restore humans in union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community for the good of others and the world" This restoration is an active process, intimately entwined with living a 'Kingdom lifestyle' in line with the life of Jesus and his teachings, summed up in the "Jesus Creed" of loving God and others (see Scot's other excellent book for more about that.) Hence the restoration also involves the healing of relationships with God, other people, and creation as a whole, and thus cannot take place in isolation. McKnight identifies western individualism as one of the biggest stumbling blocks preventing us from completely embracing this gracious gospel. Individualism is essentially a process of exclusion, diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus which is one of embrace, towards God and others. Scot quotes quite a bit from Miroslav Volf's "Exlusion and Embrace" a book that I've had on my wishlist for quite some time, but have now finally gotten around to ordering, as a result of reading this book.

This is a very powerful, deeply thought out, yet easy to read book. Scot McKnight has the knowledge and depth of a theologian (which he is) with the heart of a pastor - actually more than that - the heart of an eikon being restored to it's true state. His writing style is engaging and never bogs you down. In fact he's almost too down to earth at times (what on earth is "tohu va-bohu" Scot?? My only slight frustration with this book was seeing this strange unfamiliar word written over and over again)

Anyway read this book. And then read it again. Let the concept soak into your mind. One can only imagine the sort of results we might see, personally and communally, if this kind of wholistic gospel was embraced by many more Christians.

Until I read this book, I had only heard "of" Scot McKnight. I knew that lots of the "emergent" guys have a lot of respect for him. Now that I've read this book, I know why. It's amazing. McKnight is both thoughtful and engaging. He weaves plainspoken theology with short biographical profiles into a tapestry of God's incredible grace. He presents grace not as the magic pill that takes care of our sin problem, but rather as the enabling force of God's love that we as a community are to reflect to the world. I highly recommend this book to anyone longing for hope, for community, for purpose, and/or faith. McKnight's discourse on grace is so heart achingly beautiful that I frequently found myself wiping tears from my smiling face. Thank you Scot for this gift to Christianity and the World. AE

There's a rare, rhythmic pulse that pervades this book, an ancient beat that doesn't usually accompany today's most popular Christian literature. It's a catchy tune too, like one of those radio jingles that you can't get out of your head. I had almost forgotten that the gospel is supposed to have this kind of unforgettable impact on me, on us. After reading Embracing Grace, it's hard for me to recall the last time the gospel looked so big, so beautiful, so extraordinarily relevant to our times.

The emerging generation is fed up with plastic presentations of Jesus and impersonal propositions that one must believe in order to be "in." They are in search of a more holistic gospel: one that both reflects the overall story presented in the Bible and also one that allows us to experience God in day-to-day life.

In his book, Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us, Scot McKnight presents us with the biblical story of God's grace in such a way that we can authentically live it out in true community.

You won't find some re-hashed narrow presentation of mere propositions in this book. What you will find is the more holistic story of God's embracing grace to restore us to our original design as his image-bearers -- presented by a biblical scholar who knows the grand story, and who has the gift to explain it in terms that we can understand and experience in the reality of our daily lives.

I purchased Scot Mcknight's book, "Embracing Grace - A Gospel for All of Us because I read, "the Jesus Creed" about loving God and loving your neighbor. What does Loving God with all of your strength look like and what does Good News look like to your neighbor?..... "Embracing Grace" gives you some practical glimpses. It also gives some ideas of what the Kingdom of God looks like when we are "embracing grace".

Scot writes with fresh metaphors that allow the Gospel to be seen in new ways. His chapter on the Missional Gospel and cracked Eikons is worth the whole book.

From Dancing Grace - Chapter 13, "The embrace of faith, like any embrace, is visible." I think the world is still awaiting that visible expression of love from the people of God. This dance of faith begins with a Person - Jesus Christ and encompasses His big, integrated, holistic heart for creation, the world, society, community, our neighbors, family and each of us. Anything less than this is not the Gospel. McKnight captures this and shares practical stories of what it looks like.

I have been working in relief and development for the past 27 years in Asia and was reading this book while visiting projects in northeastern Cambodia. When we first went there in 1990, 40% of children were dying before reaching the age of five, primarily from malaria, bad water and preventable childhood diseases. We began serving the health needs of a remote province that was where the Khmer Rouge began their assault on the country and after 17 years, there has been a growing impact upon both the spiritual and physical health of 100,000 people. This small, team has embraced this local part of the Khmer world that God is restoring. The leaders of this team and local community were encouraged to hear Scot's thoughts on the Gospel among us and what it looks like to our neighbors. I think that you will be encouraged too.

If you have not read Scot McKnight, do yourself a favor - get this book.

I'm a little late in reading this book from Scot McKnight, but I wanted to add my two cents worth of review to what others have already said.

Scot presents the Gospel as community. He does a great job of bringing to light new concepts for us in the "Western" church as to the fact that The Gospel is not an individualistic life style but a Community lifestyle. We in the "West" are to into ourselves. The Gospel is not just about us as individuals, it is about how the church should provide a growing loving community that meets the needs of all who walk through their doors.

In Philippians 2 the Apostle Paul states that we should humble ourselves and consider others as more important than ourselves. Unfortunately the "Western Church" has fallen into a consumer mindset, i.e. what does the Gospel have for me. Instead we should be asking what does the Gospel ask me to do in response to God's lavish love? How can I serve the Lord by serving others.

Chapter 8, Stories of the Gospel Story, is my favorite chapter. In this chapter Scot tells us about five different stories of the Gospel. These five stories express the Gospel from these five viewpoints, recapitulation, ransom, satisfaction, substitution and example. You really need to just read through it to understand how each shares about the Gospel work and gives us a great foundation on how we should live our lives.

BUT, the most telling quote of the whole book for me also came from Chapter 8. Scot states that the early theologian Irenaues "put it all together in a formula that is impossible to improve: 'our Lord Jesus Christ, who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are, that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.'" Read that a few times and let it sink in. I think that Scot is right this formula can't be improved on, it captures the essence of the Gospel.

This is book is short, to the point, and will make you think. I know you will enjoy it, unless of course you think the Gospel is just an individualistic thing that only applies to you and that there is no need to look out for the welfare of others.

We are saved by grace through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Enjoy!

"The Gospel is more like a piece of music to be performed than a list of ideas to endorse."

With those words Scot McKnight launches the reader in to an extremely helpful and often times much needed reminder of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ actually entails. This book represents a clear synopsis of the overall narrative of Scripture, which allows the reader to make sense the message and actions of Jesus within a context of the developing story.

For McKnight, the Gospel is about the restoration of cracked eikons. McKnight begins with the story of Genesis, which is where any explanation of the Gospel must begin. For too often the Old Testament has been discarded as the history of Israel, containing only archaic laws and commands, which were clearly replaced by the ministry of Jesus. McKnight traces human beings need for the Gospel all the way back to the garden of Eden, where human beings are created in the image of God [Genesis 1], and are subsequently cracked [Genesis 3], and in need of restoration.

Jesus represents the true eikon, the one in whom all things are contained. In Jesus we see a true reflection of what it looks like to be human. From the Genesis story we also see a clear reflection of what the Gospel is all about. The death and resurrection of Jesus provide restoration of not only the cracked eikon, but also of the entire world. The Gospel is bigger and greater than we have made it out to be, involving not just our own personal salvation, but the restoration of the entire world.

The reality of judgment must also be faced when speaking about the restoration of cracked eikons. Exclusion is the way in which McKnight chooses to speak about the reality of judgment for those who choose to reject the restorative power of the Gospel, and instead choose their own path. In the garden Adam and Eve were excluded from fellowship with God, and allowed to pursue their own selfish ambitions, we too face the same sort of choice. We are free to choose our own path apart from God, only to end up excluding ourselves from God's restorative justice. All of this, McKnight rightly points out, happens in the context of community.

McKnights chapter on theories of the atonement is worth the price of the entire book. The atonement accomplishes so much that no single theory can possibly contain it. McKnight carefully walks through different theories of the atonement, pointing out the teachings of each one, and the validity each one possesses for a well-rounded theology of the cross. Any student of theology would do well to read McKnight's chapter on the atonement. If more pastors were to glimpse the broad brush with which McKnight understands the atonement preaching on the Gospel would improve exponentially.

An excellent read, I highly recommend it for any serious student of theology.

I join my voice to the other reviewers. the book is simple and full of grace.it made me know a little bit more what a great and good thing the gospel is.