Customer Reviews

The Myth of a Christian Religion: Losing Your Religion for the Beauty of a Revolution

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Greg Boyd completes many of the thoughts engaged in The Myth of a Christian Nation. While you again get Boyd's intelligent and thoughtful approach to scripture, this time his pastor's heart seems to engage much more. The books is a solid re-enforcement to the first work but takes more practical steps to speak into a number of American cultural issues. The first section of the book ties together this work with the previous and one and defines Boyd's position in how we are to approach others and entities as believers of Jesus. Boyd in his useful terms gives us again the picture of power over (manipulation, strength, control) and power under (love, surrender, service) and how operating from this position puts us often in direct conflict with the way that the world works. We are called to manifest the beauty of God by sacrificially loving and serving those around us. He writes that there is no way to do this without "revolting against everything in our lives that keeps us self-centered, greedy, and apathetic toward the plight of others." The American church shares and even celebrates much of what it seems early followers of the way stood against. The kingdom of God must display the sacrificial character of Jesus. Boyd says, "To the extent that any individual, church, or movement looks like that, it manifests the Kingdom of God. To the extent that it doesn't look like that, it doesn't. It's that simple." The book then discusses twelve areas where Boyd believes that followers of Jesus must revolt against the powers. The twelve focus areas are idolatry, judgment, religion, individualism, nationalism, violence, social oppression, racism, poverty/greed, abuse of creation, abuse of sex, and secularism. In each section Boyd takes his ideas of sacrificial calvary type love and shows what this means for how we interact with others. The book makes you think and dig. Whether you agree with Boyd or not, the book will lead to some great discussion and stretching.

This book is certainly one of the most enlightening and freeing Christian books I've ever read -- and I've read plenty in my 30 plus years as a Christian. Other reviewers have rightly talked about the message and the impact this book has had on people and their understanding of how the Kingdom of God is really supposed to operate, so I don't need to add anything more on those lines.

I do want to add a very curious reaction I had after reading the first four or five chapters of this book, something very surprising. I've been reading the Bible now for decades and, particularly in the Gospels, I've always run across these sayings or actions of Jesus that just didn't seem to sit well with what I've been taught about the nature of Christianity. For instance, the whole Sermon on the Mount -- is one to read that as absolute instruction "when your enemy strikes you, turn to him the other cheek", or is that just metaphor for some kind of deeper understanding? And really, what's the point of turning the other cheek? How does having bruised cheeks benefit the kingdom? And what about phrases like "the world will know you're my disciples by the love you have for one another"? And what about Jesus washing of the disciples' feet? Frankly, these events and sayings of Christ never seemed to sit well in the jigsaw puzzle that is my Christian understanding. Teachings about the Sermon on the Mount always seemed to be reaching for something that wasn't really there.

But after reading about half the Boyd book, suddenly the jigsaw puzzle rearranged itself and all these confusing sayings and historical activities suddenly fell neatly into place. Turning the other cheek is an extension of the power of the cross. It's all about the cross, self sacrifice, loving your enemy, denying self, humble service, etc. That is the power of the cross and that's the power that will save people. Squabbling about abortion, legalizing morality, judging, condemning, Gay bashing, etc. -- these things have been completely ineffective, if not detrimental, to the advancement of the Kingdom, because they reflect the power of man and the flesh, not the power of the cross. The cross wasn't just for Jesus and his disciples; it's a way of life for all of us if we're serious about our Christianity.

The Myth of a Christian Religion is Gregory Boyd's follow up to The Myth of a Christian Nation. The book takes Boyd's opinions and views of a Christian nation even further, stating that Jesus did not come to start a new religion, but to bring the kingdom of God to earth.

Boyd basically expounds on many of the themes he covered in Myth of a Christian Nation, but focuses less on America and more on the individual spiritual condition. His passion and caring exude from the chapters, and we see more of Gregory Boyd than in previous works.

Boyd calls on readers to revolt against a variety of things: idolatry, judgement, religion, individualism, nationalism, violence, social oppression, racism, poverty, greed, abuse of sex and creation, and secularism. Boyd is quick to use the example of Jesus in response to any opposition to his views, showing that Christians are called to follow this example.

This is a great book to add to your collection. It is less eye opening than Myth of a Christian Nation, but is a deeper and more personal work.

Gregory A. Boyd is hardly a new voice in religious circles although he certainly has developed something of a reputation for being on the outside of many circles looking in. Boyd is an evangelical pastor with a distinguished past of academic accomplishments including training with honors at Yale and Princeton Theological Schools. He has served in the past as a professor at Bethel University.

Boyd is probably best known in the theological community as a leading proponent of what is termed 'Open Theism' which seeks to reconcile some difficult elements of the Biblical Text by seeing God as less than all-knowing and all-powerful (although some see this as a voluntary limitation rather than one inherent to God's nature) and therefore God sees the future as a series of possibilities rather than from a position of transcendent knowledge or certainty.

As a result, Greg Boyd hasn't been all that warmly embraced by those elements of "orthodoxy" in Christian evangelicalism that hold to more traditional positions, particularly the reformed and Calvinistic schools.

Starting from this position, it shouldn't be particularly surprising that Boyd has some things to say about the state of 'traditional' Christianity. In fact Boyd has many things to say, and his latest book, 'The Myth of a Christian Religion,' follows nicely on the heels of his prior book, 'The Myth of a Christian Nation,' which addresses the religion comingled with nationalism that is the bread and butter of the so-called Religious Right in the United States.

Some additional background that may be helpful is that Boyd reports in an interview for the New York Times from 2006 that about 20% of his congregation left when he took a stand against explicitly or implicitly endorsing conservative political causes from the pulpit. In that context, this book can be somewhat seen as an apologetic work pointing out the inconsistencies of religion-based nationalism as opposed to the Kingdom of God that Jesus preaches in the Gospels.

As such, Boyd appears strongly aligned with a growing number of authors who address these types of issues in different literary Genres. This reviewer noted marked similarities to some degree with such authors as William P. Young, Wayne Jacobsen, C. Baxter Kruger, Jim Wallis, Malcolm Smith, Frank Viola and George Barna to name a few.

The book is divided into 12 chapters and each stands somewhat alone as an essay addressing the conflicts that exist within the Gospel of the Kingdom as opposed to the popular forms of teaching and belief that have been traditionally accepted, almost without question or critical thought in much of the modern American church. The theme of most of the chapters is one of revolt, or Jesus as the revolutionary; the undeniable point being that much that comfortable christians and congregations embrace today has little to do with what Jesus taught and the early church modeled. The subjects include Christ and Caesar, Idolatry, Judgment, Religion, Individualism, Nationalism, Violence, Social Oppression, Racism, Poverty and Greed, Environmentalism, Gratuitous Sexuality and Secularism. Wrapped through all of these topics is the supremecy of Christ and the inadequacy of philosophic thought and religious systems to replace a basic relationship with Jesus.

Boyd has a real gift for putting together precisely and succinctly in a pithy and provocative manner the arguments against much of how Christianity has been defined and presented by the evangelical movement over the past 40 years. He does it in a manner however, that while still provocative is not mean-spirited or merely an opposing political ideology. One comes away with the impression that the left, were it more in vogue wouldn't fare much better as the target of Boyd's scrutiny.

The reviewer read the book in the Kindle version and the only real constructive criticism that arises is that the separation of the the Action Guide, which comprises about 25% of the material would have been easier to use if each section had followed the chapter in question.

5 Stars. A very worthy read and in the vein of these books as well.

The Shack
So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore
Revolution
Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices
The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church

Bart Breen

Having lurked on Greg's blog, emailed him periodically, and devoured the scholarly (The Jesus Legend) versus the standard (Lord or Legend) version of his previously work, I was beyond excited when I viewed the bibliography for The Myth of a Christian Religion. Having read it and a number of the books the bibliography references, I have to say that I am incredibly underwhelmed at the book itself. According to Greg, the original manuscript was twice as long and was rejected by the publisher. Cutting 50% of a work is significant, and it's really noticeable.

Fortunately, all is not lost. Some of the ideas here are simple but they are going to be earth-shattering for some segments of society; start them easy, I suppose. The action guide is really where the meat of the matter is; inciting personal transformation in simple, pragmatic ways.

Finally, the bibliography. If you want a deeper view, dig into the bibliography; almost every book is fantastic that Boyd references; I strongly recommend Jacques Ellul's The Subversion Of Christianity for a start.

No matter what one thinks of Boyd's theology, it would be difficult (if not impossible) to argue/disagree with Boyd's beautiful vision of the beautiful Kingdom, which is centered on Jesus Christ.

This is a very easy read and incredibly practical. Yet, at the same time, it is very thought-prokoving and convicting (not condemning). It causes one to consider how much his or her life reflects "Kingdom living."

This is a welcome addition to Greg's continuing challenge to Western Christians. It's got a bit of everything I've come to expect from him--honest and thoughtful reflection on important issues, a uniquely pastoral insight, a love and passion for Jesus, and a stubbornly focused vision to bring 'how Jesus lived' to bear upon 'how Christians (ought to) live'. In this small book Greg makes a case for what a lot of people have thought for some time now: that the Christian religion as an organized institution just doesn't work. It gets in the way of real community, obfuscates the truth we desperately need to see and the Jesus we need to reflect to the world, and way too often falls prey to the temptations to power and secular alignments that end up diluting the potent simplicity of Jesus' way of life and his call to people of faith to 'be' Christ in the world they live in. I said "simple," not "easy." And definitely not "comfortable." Greg paints a picture of the Church as a "revolution" that "revolts" against the systemic sinfulness of human society by actively reflecting the heart of God and the way of Christ. He focuses on twelve such issues. For those who have read 'The Myth of a Christian Nation', there's a bit of repetition especially in the chapters on 'Nationalism' and 'Violence', but it's all good. We can't be reminded too often how the Church is most susceptible to secularizing tendencies. The final chapter is an 'Action Guide' with practical suggestions on what you can do in response, because our call is not to passively disengage from the world but to actively confront the powers of the age with the real, lived presence of Jesus.

The hot new phrase is evangelical circles is "biblical... or Christian worldview," yet many Christians cannot clearly define what this means, or simply use the phrase to reinforce their cultural biases. Boyd gives a clear exposition of a biblical/Christian worldview by both challenging those cultural biases and providing a thoughtful reflection on what it really means to follow in the "beautiful-revolutionary," "radical," and transformative way of Jesus. Boyd pushes the reader to think by challenging the weaknesses found in Western (U.S.) Christianity and provides practical examples that speak into a number of U.S. cultural issues. Boyd discusses twelve areas within the dominant U.S. culture where followers of Jesus must "revolt" against the powers of this worldview. The twelve areas are idolatry, judgment, religion, individualism, nationalism, violence, social oppression, racism, materialism/greed, exploitation of God's creation, abuse of sex, and secularism. Boyd's reflections on Scripture are both thought-provoking and convicting, while not being judgmental and condemning. Boyd pushes the reader to think through her/his faith. I encourage you to read this book with others as it will lead to some reflective and lively discussions. Although Boyd has a Ph.D. in theology and has written numerous works for those within the academy, a strength of this book (and a gift of Boyd) is that it is written to a broad audience in a very easy to read style. I also appreciate that Boyd provides numerous practical examples of living in the "beautiful-revolutionary" way of Jesus.

I think this book makes a great partner with Dan Kimball's "they hate church" book [or Shane Claiborne's "Jesus for President"]. The chapters of this book are various revolts against different aspects of secularism and faith; i.e. idolatry, religion, nationalism, violence, oppression, racism.... etc. Reading this book felt a lot like the sermon series [not the book] that Rob Bell did on "Jesus wants to save Christians." The book is very insightful, timely and perfect for both believer and those who are seeking. Awesome book, easily going into my rotation of "have to reads."

Boyd does a terrific job describing the focus of the ministry of Jesus that is found in the Bible-the Kingdom of God. The rule and reign of God in the hearts of his followers. His description of the "power over" methods of the Kingdom of the World versus the "power under" methods of the Kingdom of God is fantastic. He gets to the point quickly and hits hard some cherished idolatry in the American Church-materialism, nationalism, secularism, violence, etc. The Kingdom of God isn't common sense; it isn't practical in a worldly sense. Its practice is, in many ways, completely antithetical to the practices of the Western Church. The "action guide" at the back of the book is further help in making the kingdom tangible in the life of those wanting to walk in the love of Jesus. I bought several copies (and will likely buy several more) to distribute to friends, family, and church leaders throughout the region in which I live.