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No more nice Christians? New books promote less sugar-coated image

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mwkruse
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From the United Methodist Reporter Interactive: No more nice Christians? New books promote less sugar-coated image by Mary Jacobs.

Forget about "gentle Jesus, meek and mild." Bring on the new Jesus, mean and wild.

That's the title of a book — Jesus, Mean and Wild — one of a recent spate of popular Christian books proclaiming meekness, mildness and niceness as appalling symptoms of lukewarm faith. In an age of extreme everything, bland religion is now being branded as nearly sinful by new literary crusaders who are lobbying for a more vibrant and passionate, even untamed faith.

"Being nice just doesn't cut it anymore, not in the new millennium," writes Timothy Smith in his book, The Danger of Raising Nice Kids.

And for heaven's sake, move out of your comfort zone or you'll be left behind entirely.

But are these books truly offering sharp criticism of Christian culture backed by solid theology? Or are they just co-opting the latest pop-culture posturing in a Christian package? We took a look some recent books taking aim at comfortable Christians. We tried very hard not to say anything too nice. …

Comments

4 responses to “No more nice Christians? New books promote less sugar-coated image”

  1. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    What this connects to in my head is the way some people describe current Christian expressions as being too “feminized”, or how Christian men are exhorted to become more “manly”. I used to be a part of that segment of the church represented by these folks. It seems like another world. I wanted to please God so very much, wanted to believe rightly and “Biblically”… and now I feel like I wasted a significant chunk of my life. Touched a nerve because of some other things I read today. I know God sees my heart and doesn’t count it as wasted. Still a matter of grief for me, though. That’s part of the reason the gender discussion is so immediate for me.
    There are two fairly short articles in this journal that might interest you- the hair covering one was referenced by someone in the NTWrightsaid email list, but the one on Paul’s masculinity was good too.
    http://sbl-site.org/Publications/JBL/JBL1231.pdf
    Dana

    Reply
  2. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    Interesting Response, Dana. Thanks for sharing your personal struggle with this. I hadn’t really thought about this article in terms of gender issues. The thing that struck me about this was the common perception of Jesus as an ethereal inoffensive passionless prince of niceness. Jesus was the picture of compassion and gentleness when it was appropriate, visionary on other occasions and he was confrontational when it was called for. One thing he never seemed to be was nice for the sake of everyone just getting along. These don’t strike me as particularly masculine or feminine traits, but rather traits that everyone should develop as imitators of Christ.
    BTW, thanks for the link! I loved the article about masculinity and Paul. The understanding of the Romans and physiognomy adds a whole other layer to understanding the cultural context of the NT.

    Reply
  3. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    Yes, the Jesus of niceness is nothing really new, at least since the Victorian era. I think it’s part of the inability of many people with a “high view of scripture” to think about what it means for Jesus to be a human being. There are also those who think of Jesus as only human, who make him out as “nice” too. Wright’s “Jesus and the Victory of God” certainly straightened me out, I think… 😉
    Dana

    Reply
  4. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    Amen Dana. Some day I am going to sit down and actually read Wright’s whole trilogy instead of cherry picking stuff.

    Reply

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