Jesus taught that love for others is the path to God, that you can't love God if you don't love your neighbor. In An Evangelical Social Gospel?, Tim Suttle shows how the exaggerated individualism of American culture distorts the gospel and weakens the church. He reaches back a full century to the writings of the great Baptist pastor Walter Rauschenbusch and offers an imaginative vision for how evangelicals can once again impact the world. Bypassing the culture wars and liberal/conservative squabbling, Suttle offers a way in which the corporate nature of Christianity can be held alongside the evangelical belief in personal salvation. In so doing, Suttle provides valuable theological rationale for the moves many are making toward social justice and helps us rediscover why the nexus of personal and corporate faith is where we find the power to transform lives and cultures alike. His approach to corporate sin and salvation, the kingdom of God, and missional theology are deeply rooted in the life of a pastor, yet informed by a rich theological mind.
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There is a dreadful pattern evident in church history where we continually overcompensate where our Christianity has become imbalanced. We exaggerate the truth that has been neglected, and we keep ending up with a lopsided faith . . . then we wind up with Jesus-lovers that forget justice and justice-lovers that forget Jesus. It is my hope that this book helps cure our bifurcated 'either/or' mentality that keeps separating things that must be held together-loving God and loving people, the great commandment and the great commission, a God that is personal and a God that is social . . . may the pages of this book remind us that Jesus and Justice must kiss, and that loving God and loving people are like the blades of scissors-they've got to stick together. --Shane Claiborne, author of The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
An Evangelical Social Gospel? is a joy to read because Suttle is so deadly serious about matters that matter. The book is filled with delightful surprises, not the least being the recovery of Walter Rauschenbusch to challenge the individualism of evangelical Christianity. But this book is more than critique, it is a wonderful imaginative attempt to develop a folk theology that is faithful to the gospel. --Stanley Hauerwas, author of Working with Words: On Learning to Speak Christian (Cascade Books)
This is a down-to-earth account of how the thinking of a young Evangelical changed his understanding of the Gospel from a message that addressed individualistic sin management to a holistic Gospel that includes a strong emphasis on justice. He makes the teachings of Walter Rauschenbusch accessible to all readers, but undoubtedly this book will have a special appeal to youth who are going through the same growth process that marked the author's life. --Tony Campolo, author of Red Letter Christians: A Citizen's Guide to Faith and Politics
About the Author
Tim Suttle (MDiv from Nazarene Theological Seminary) is a pastor, writer, and musician. He is the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, an experienced church planter, and the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kansas. Tim is also a frequent contributor to the religion section of the Huffington Post.
Tim Suttle is a pastor, writer, and musician. He is the author of several books: An Evangelical Social Gospel?, (2011 Cascade Books), Public Jesus (2012 The House Studio), and Breaking Beautiful a collaborative effort with N.T. Wright due out later this summer. He is also working on a project with Zondervan due out in 2014. Tim's blog Paperback Theology is hosted at Patheos. He writes for The Huffington Post and Sojourner's and his work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and other magazines and journals. He is the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. He has planted three successful churches over the past 12 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan.
Tim's Blog at Patheos: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/paperbacktheology/
Tim's Article's at HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-suttle You can follow Tim on Twitter at: @Tim_Suttle
An Evangelical Social Gospel? has received some high praise from the likes of Stanley Hauerwas, Shane Claiborne, Brian McLaren, Tony Campolo, Paul Raushenbush, John Franke, Christopher Evans - all of whom wrote blurbs for the book's cover. Paul Raushenbush, who wrote the foreword, is Walter Raushenbush's great grandson and the religion editor for the Huffington Post.
Tim holds a B.S. in Life Science from Kansas State University and an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary (summa cum laude). Tim is an experienced church planter having planted three successful churches in the last twelve years in the Kansas City area, and is currently the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, KS. Over his twenty years in ministry, Tim has been a youth minister, worship leader, associate and senior pastor.
Tim was also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. Satellite Soul signed with Ardent/Forefront in 1997 had scores of top 25 radio hits and released four critically acclaimed records. Over about a decade Satellite Soul played over a thousand shows in forty-five states. All/most of the bands records are for sale here on Amazon.com. In 2011 Tim released his first solo project since 1995 entitled Grammatology, which is available on Amazon as well.
In 2003 Tim and the band stopped touring full time in order plant Redemption Church in the Kansas City suburb of Olathe. The church grew from a small circle to several hundred and planted their own daughter church (Vintage Church), in nearby Lawrence, KS. Tim began as the worship leader and associate pastor, and became Senior Pastor in 2008. He is married to Kristin and together they have two boys, Nicholas and Lewis.
I'm a pastor. I appreciate some of the conclusions and notions of those coming out of postliberalism. But I find it difficult to relay this to a congregation. McLaren's too often wryly angry and throws the baby out with the bath-water. Yoder, Hauerwas, & Stone are just too unapproachable for the pew-sitter. But Suttle, a pastor himself, has finally given me a book I can recommend to others - even those within my church - without concern of them wading through axe-grinding arguments or overly academic-speak. His main purpose in reconciling personal salvation with interpersonal relationship, responsibility, and concern comes through clearly and easily.
For sure, Suttle doesn't skirt the prophetic voice, but he offers these challenges to narrative, social responsibility, and Christian community with a personal and pastoral heart. Using the example of the life and ministry of Walter Rauschenbusch, Suttle also interweaves personal anecdotes and plenty of scripture to get across his point that "The Kingdom of God does not come by human effort, but will not come without it." (end of chapter 9)
This book helps to articulate what the very heart of the gospel looks like: a healthy marriage between what has traditionally been called the 'social gospel' while affirming the importance and necessity of inward holiness. To make this point Suttle says, "Martin Luther King Jr.'s gospel is not complete without Billy Grahams... and Grahams is incomplete without Kings." A great book!
My friend Tim is a great story teller and has a tremendous heart for God and for the Church. Tim continues the conversation of what it means to be the church, not just in individualistic ways, but living in and among a community that is socially involved. He states, "Without community we can never be fully human." I encourage all humans to read this book. Aaron
