Healing the Gospel: A Radical Vision for Grace, Justice, and the Cross [Paperback]

Derek Flood (Author), Brian McLaren (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2012

Why did Jesus have to die? Was it to appease a wrathful God's demand for punishment? Does that mean Jesus died to save us from God? How could someone ever truly love or trust a God like that? How can that ever be called ''Good News''? It's questions like these that make so many people want to have nothing to do with Christianity.

Healing the Gospel challenges the assumption that the Christian understanding of justice is rooted in a demand for violent punishment, and instead offers a radically different understanding of the gospel based on God's restorative justice. Connecting our own experiences of faith with the New Testament narrative, author Derek Flood shows us an understanding of the cross that not only reveals God's heart of grace, but also models our own way of Christ-like love. It's a vision of the gospel that exposes violence, rather than supporting it--a gospel rooted in love of enemies, rather than retribution. The result is a nonviolent understanding of the atonement that is not only thoroughly biblical, but will help people struggling with their faith to encounter grace.

Editorial Reviews

Review

''In this readable and balanced book, Flood gently--yet firmly and provocatively--challenges and enriches our understanding of the cross. He shows how the New Testament writers (and their earliest interpreters) present saving death as God's act of restorative rather than retributive justice, as an act of nonviolent, enemy-loving, reconciling, and healing love. Such amazing love beckons us to follow in the way of Jesus and justice. It is a book to read, mark, and digest.''
--Michael J. Gorman, author of Apostle of the Crucified Lord

''Quietly, deftly, brilliantly, Flood takes on the story of the Christian doctrine of atonement, turns that story on its end, and then lays out before us a beauty almost beyond theology. Read it for yourself and see.''
--Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence

''There has been a spate of books on atonement this past decade. None of them treat the salvific healing of Jesus's death better than this one. It is well-researched yet easy to read, full of insight, and sure to be a go-to book on the subject.''
--Michael Hardin, author of The Jesus Driven Life

''Healing the Gospel brings the latest insights in biblical scholarship to the ongoing and lively atonement debate. Flood's work is biblical, straightforward, and accessible for the lay reader. He surveys the restorative justice of the wondrous cross with fresh eyes, engaging many head-scratching texts with utmost clarity. A great contribution!''
--Brad Jersak, author of Stricken by God?

''In this provocative book, Flood exposes the grave deficiencies of the penal substitution model of atonement, pinpointing its shallow treatment of the depth and the gravity of sin . . . Armed with astute interpretations of Scripture, he focuses on the love of God and reinterprets justice as restorative . . . Finally, after centuries of suffering under a legal perception of atonement, Flood has shown us that the good news is truly good news!''
--Sharon L. Baker, author of Razing Hell

''On a cresting wave of reaction against violent atonement theory, Healing the Gospel charts a sea-change course back to Jesus's ministry as a model of gracious restoration, moving far beyond the traditional, abusive contours of penal substitution as explanation of Christ's death . . . Jesus dies to show us God's enemy-love, which changes everything. A splendid, stirring, and essential book!''
--Anthony Bartlett, author of Cross Purposes

''Anyone concerned about the connection between theology and violence in American society will welcome Flood's Healing the Gospel. In a readable format, he explains why we should abandon violence-accommodating, penal substitutionary atonement, and replace it with atonement imagery that reflects the restorative justice Jesus lived.''
--J. Denny Weaver, author of The Nonviolent Atonement. --Wipf and Stock Publishers

About the Author

Derek Flood is a writer, artist, and theologian. He holds a master's degree in systematic theology from the Graduate Theological Union, and is a featured blogger for the Huffington Post and Sojourners magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Cascade Books (August 6, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1620321629
• ISBN-13: 978-1620321621
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Derek Flood is an author, theologian and artist and a regular contributor for the Huffington Post, Sojourners, Red Letter Christians, and at his website: www.therebelgod.com.

A long time voice in the post-conservative evangelical movement, Derek's focus is on wrestling with questions of faith and doubt, violence in the Bible, relational theology, and understanding the cross from the perspective of grace and restorative justice.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good News! September 18, 2012

By Andrew Cyril Mark TWEEDY

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Healing the Gospel. A radical vision for Grace, Justice, and the Cross by Derek Flood (Cascade Books, Eugene, Oregon 2012)

Influential blogger and artist Derek Flood has produced a timely and prophetic book which deserves to be widely read and considered. The book began life as a series of blog articles and the final text has been carefully honed through years of testing and dialogue with friends and critics. It is short (only 100 pages) and accessible, both for the theologically trained and the general reader.

Troubled by the emphasis on retribution and guilt in some traditional understandings of the gospel, Flood finds in the pages of the New Testament a healthier gospel which is truly good news. With surgical precision he exposes the weaknesses of the prevailing `penal substitution' model of the atonement, including its uncomfortable fit with the biblical narrative, its shallow engagement with the roots of sin, and its unintentional support for contemporary acts of `redemptive violence'. Flood makes a strong case that "The New Testament, in contrast, is actually a critique of punitive justice. It presents it as a problem to be solved, not as the means to the solution" (p.6). Combining the classic Christus Victor and Healing views of the cross and, with an artist's vision of the big canvas and eye for detail, he paints a beautiful picture of the victorious and healing grace of God, a picture which will stir a response in many readers.

Biblical justice is shown to be restorative, to be about God in Christ making things right. Sin is primarily a sickness to be healed rather than a crime to be punished. Flood builds his case through careful engagement with the biblical text, and with reference to how it was understood by the early Church Fathers and the Reformers. His teaching style is lively and never turgid, even when he provides a close re-reading of key texts like Romans and Isaiah 53. As well as a few of the writer's own drawings, the book includes clear charts and tables and a well researched Appendix on the meaning of some of the key Greek words. A scripture index and subject index are also helpfully included.

Apart from the usual quota of annoying typos such as you find in most books these days (my personal bugbear!) this is an outstanding book which will be high on my recommended list for enquirers, new christians, fringe church members, stale church members and those who have been hurt or disillusioned by church. With the added benefits of being concise and well structured, it will also provide excellent study material for small groups.

Rev Andrew Tweedy
St George's Church Barcelona
18th September 2012

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I finally feel God's love January 24, 2013

By readin'on

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A read a quote from this book on a discussion group, "God does not love us because Christ died for us, Christ died for us because God loves us." The truth of that reversal did not fully get into my head, but pulled my heart to immediately buy the book. And it has been a revolution of revelation...

While the reviews of this book are excellent I want to write to others who feel this all looks like more words... All my 30 years of being a Christian I read and heard the words God loves me, He died for me. Therefore, how can I give less to Him? The last few years I was faced with the fact that while I had experiences that proved that I belonged to God and He was in my life I did not feel it. I knew about Him, but was not truly walking in a close fellowship with Him characterized mainly by a lack of peace. I read dozens of books exclaiming, defining and demonstrating this love and security; then, blamed myself and my background on my inability to grasp it. Or worse, my unworthiness.

Quietly and inwardly, I also found I was unable to share my faith anymore because all of a sudden it did not make sense. Come to God, the one who kills for you, the one who needs vengeance satisfied. How could I admit to anyone that I could not explain the gospel? My fear, and many would like to accuse, is that I was in a state towards backslidding. However, God is faithful and preparing me to receive Himself in truth...

Now, a burden I thought was mine to bear forever is gone. Derek finally shows so clearly how the cross truly is love, not payment. I "see", as well as feel, God's love. And it has healed my soul. A deep peace and security has flooded within me. Perhaps it is the author's soul of an artist that allows him to get to the heart of love in the gospel message using the words of a theologian, which frequently seem to obfuscate rather than clarify. For me, a wall between head and heart is breached.

This book is a beautiful, clear discourse that addresses and aligns New and Old Testament verses that have been used throughout evangelical proselytizing. Flood does not build, or tear down, by extracting verses here and there. He reaffirms that Jesus and history are told in stories and one must look at the whole narrative.

Concerning the negative reviews here I say first, what I see is a theologian arguing over a verse (or two) again; and second, I see the word "punish". Until most of us can get the idea of a punitive God out of our brains and hearts we cannot fully appreciate and even enjoy the tremendous power and healing of a forgiving God. This goes beyond a mere intellectual analysis. It goes deep into the spirit and heart.

This is also about simplification. Jesus did not give theological debates and I suspect he was clarifying similar concepts as Flood when in the synagogues. Jesus told us to come as little children. Focusing on His love will never fall short. It has moved mountains of demonic strongholds. Thank you, Derek.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Clarity and Excellent Biblical Insight! October 18, 2012

By Avid Reader

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Finally, a book written with the central focus on the truth about God, his nature, and his methods, a book that shines light into the darkness and brings healing truth within reach. This book reveals that God's justice is not like human justice and powerfully exposes that the historic penal view, models its God construct and sense of justice on human values and principles and not God's character of love.

When Jesus came how refreshing it must have been to see and hear him reveal God as a being who loves, heals, sacrifices self to restore, save and deliver. What a contrast one must have seen in Jesus when compared to the religious leaders of his day who promoted selfish human ideas of punishment and legal exactions.

Likewise, Derek Flood has found the heart of the gospel, the nature of God's character of love and refocuses our attention upon God's methods that heal and restore, which mortally exposes the fallacy and deficiency of the penal view, and thereby leads us back to genuine victorious living as partakers of God's healing solution.

Derek, if you read these critiques, don't be discouraged by those who so adamantly attack your view in order to defend penal substitution. I encourage you to consider Kohlberg's stages of moral development. Each one of us are at different places of development and each person has limitations on what they can comprehend based upon their level of development.

You have presented a view at the highest stage of moral development, (Stage 6). According to Kohlberg only about 25% of people ever reach stage 6, the majority live at stage 4, which is the stage of law and punishment (thus the infatuation with the penal view that so many have). And, according to Kohlberg, people are only capable of comprehending ideas that are within one level of the stage they are currently operating within. Therefore, those who are criticizing your book are just like those religious leaders in Christ's day when confronted with the beauty of what Christ taught, "though seeing they do not see, though hearing they do not hear."