The Cross Is Not Enough: Living as Witnesses to the Resurrection [Paperback]

Ross Clifford (Author), Philip Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2012

If Christ had not risen from the dead, if God's plan for redemption had ended at the cross, what would our faith look like? Have we become so fixated on the cross that we have lost an understanding of the centrality of the resurrection? And if we ignore the resurrection, what effect does that have on our worldview, our evangelism, and our Christian practice?

In The Cross Is Not Enough, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson explore how the resurrection of Christ has been understood in times past and restore this linchpin doctrine to its rightful place as the basis of our hope, our worldview, and the way we live our lives. They compare Christianity's unique understanding of resurrection to other world religions and explore why the resurrection connects so readily with the human psyche.
Pastors, teachers, students, and anyone involved in ministry will benefit from this insightful and engaging treatment of Christianity's most important doctrine.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The resurrection is the center of Christianity. Without it, there is no life.

As crucial as it is, the cross of Christ is not the center of Christianity. What effect does forgetting the importance of the resurrection have on our worldview, our discipleship, our ethics, our evangelism, and our Christian practice?

In The Cross Is Not Enough, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson explore how the resurrection of Christ has been understood in times past and restore this linchpin doctrine to its rightful place as the basis of our hope, our worldview, and the way we live our lives every day. They compare Christianity's unique understanding of resurrection to other world religions, explore why the resurrection connects so readily with the human psyche, and trace themes of resurrection through movies, books, music, and other aspects of popular culture.


"Without the resurrection, Jesus' death would scarcely have atoned for anyone. Clifford and Johnson show how the resurrection is the answer to the aspirations of proponents of most of the major world religions and much of the current popularity of 'new spiritualities.' A must-read!"--Craig Blomberg, distinguished professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

"Clifford and Johnson argue that the Good News of Christianity is not just the cross--that Jesus died for our sins. The Good News is the cross and the resurrection--Jesus died and he rose from the dead. They make a compelling case, one that influences every aspect of Christian living and thinking."--Terry Muck, dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and evangelism professor of missions and world religions,
Asbury Theological Seminary

"Clifford and Johnson are right to want to explore not only how the resurrection has been understood in the past but also why it can contribute to the care and growth of the whole person. A resurrection-centric worldview is concerned not only with proofs of an empty tomb but also with a distinctly Christian form of holism."--Michael Frost, Morling College, Sydney; author of Exiles; coauthor of The Shaping of Things to Come and ReJesus

"Clifford and Johnson go beyond evidential studies in order to relate Jesus' resurrection to a holistic, full-orbed approach to Christian theology, mission, and discipleship, as well as the daily life of the believer."--Gary R. Habermas, distinguished research professor, Liberty University and Theological Seminary


Ross Clifford is the principal of Morling Theological College in Sydney, Australia. A former lawyer and pastor, he is cofounder with Philip Johnson of the Community of Hope.

Philip Johnson is a visiting lecturer in apologetics and alternative religious movements at Morling Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

About the Author

Ross Clifford is the principal of Morling Theological College in Sydney, Australia. A former lawyer and pastor, he is cofounder with Philip Johnson of The Community of Hope.

Philip Johnson is a visiting lecturer in apologetics and alternative religious movements at Morling Theological College in Sydney, Australia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Baker Books (January 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801014611
• ISBN-13: 978-0801014611
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,079,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Cross Only Has Meaning Because of the Empty Tomb January 5, 2012

By David P. Craig TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a pastor for over twenty-four years now, I am amazed at how fresh and new and exciting the depths of my understanding of the gospel keep getting - largely due to books like this one. This insightful book offers a very refreshing and much needed look at the necessity of a paradigm shift in our thinking through the lenses of the resurrection rather than through the cross as the appropriate symbol of the church in today's world. In this book the authors make the very effective case that the resurrection is the lynchpin upon which Christianity stands or falls: without it - there is no atonement for sin, no justification by faith alone, no empowerment for living a holistic life, and no basis for ethics, spiritual growth, human rights, and missions.

One of the most important contributions this book makes is how they cogently and with convincing evidences show how a theology of the resurrection was in the thoughts and heart of the worldview of the most missional Christian of all time - the apostle Paul. The authors also demonstrate how resurrection theology is present in all of Biblical revelation. This book is not so much a case for the evidence of the resurrection, but a case for the necessity and reality of our belief and application of the ramifications of the resurrection for all of life.

I immensely enjoyed this book and will be adding it to an increasing list of books that I will be reading on a yearly basis to remind me of the importance of the resurrection lenses through which I should be seeing all of life each and every day - until Jesus returns - of course, made possible because of His literal bodily resurrection from the dead. As a result of my reading of this book I believe and feel even more empowered and equipped to live out and share the past, present, and future realities of the gospel consisting of the death, burial, resurrection, and return of Jesus Christ the Lord.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Refocusing On the Resurrection for the Church to Move Forward January 30, 2012

By GLW

Format:Paperback

"Until we refocus on the resurrection all the chatter about a new day for the church is paralyzed". (pg 15)

Strong words. I believe that recovering the centrality of the resurrection will be one of THE most important endeavors our theologians make in the next decade. Authors Clifford and Johnson explain why. The Church has been lagging in its effectiveness due to its lack of resurrection-focused preaching and living. We have heard a considerable amount of teaching on "cross-centered living" but rarely on the resurrection-focused life that apparrently ignited the early church for the first 500 years (beginning with Acts which does not "unpack atonement theories" btw). The cross was not their symbol because it was not their focus. It was not, in their estimation, the "last word" in the Story of God. It was clearly the resurrection.

This book exposes how presently "there is much confusion and vagueness about how the resurrection connects". (pg 48)

The Cross Is Not Enough because you can have the cross without a resurrection but the resurrection will always encompasses the cross. Therefore it is, as they say, the "lynchpin" of our faith. And this is not for apologetic reasons but because it is foundational to seeing how life works personally and as a faith community, and therefore for the world. Scott McKnight wrote his "A Community Called Atonement" but I reckon these authors would say we need to rebuild "a community called Resurrection"!

The resurrection's implications go far beyond that of the vindication of Christ's atonement or evidence for the sceptic; it is the reality woven into the universe. It is the worldview in which we are to swim and breathe. Therefore, the authors contend, we need to see how its truth is found everywhere and draw our broken and dying world into it. It can then offer hope to a world that has lost hope, in this world and for the next. But that very future expectation infuses our present with the hope needed to begin the renewal and restoration NOW as a foretaste and glimpse of what God can and will do for this universe. This is the "holistic" view of the resurrection the authors believe will be the way to a more holistic Gospel. This means a world more effectively and directly drawn into the heart of the Good News: Out of death comes life.

They continue to unpack throughout the book specifically how the resurrection effects all of life, recognizing signs of the resurrection found in:
1. CREATION: the natural world that testifies to the resurrection
2. CULTURE: art, music, TV, and novels in pop and high culture; current views on the afterlife, cultural myths, metanarratives (I loved the chapter entitled "Cultural Expressions of Death-Refusing Hope".)
3. THE OLD TESTAMENT: underestimated but clearly present

There is also a chapter on tracing resurrection thought through CHURCH HISTORY.

The authors ask, "If there is any kind of legitimate worldview, what would be the shape of it?" The authors believe it will encompass who we are and what we love. We are shown how the resurrection connects very well with the stories and symbols present in our culture. There are "God-given triggers to be found in myth, culture, and other religious stories" that point us and our world to the legitimacy of and inherent human need for resurrection.

I thought I understood the centrality of the resurrection but I thank Clifford and Johnson for retraining my spiritual eyes to see the integral and essential presence of the resurrection in all of life.

I hope I have given you some reasons to feel the urgency to read this book. I believe it will challenge your current paradigm or perhaps renew with fresh insight the one you hold of the resurrection as central!

QUOTES FROM THE BOOK:

"By our lack of clarity and our failure to positively share the truth of the resurrection we actually help to create the cultural space into which alternative afterlife views now pour". (page 48)

"We must place the Resurrection in the very front of our confession or we must lay aside our Christian name. Even in its ethical aspect Christianity does not offer a system of morality, but a universal principle of morality which springs out of the Resurrection." Quoting Brooke Westcott (page 221)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary January 26, 2012

By S Payne

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is superb book is both practical and applicable, and Biblical challenging. Indeed, the book as presented starts with the practical and ends with a Biblical overview. Each chapter gives the reader much to think about, and the extensive footnoting will provide further material for the reader to delve into. For the novice reader there is much practical material to keep you engaged. For the academic or pastor, both this practical material and especially the basic premise of the book that the resurrection (compared to the crucifixion) is being downplayed in Evangelical circles -and the Old Testament will highly challenge some basic assumptions you may hold.
In short, an extraordinary book!