The King Jesus Gospel - Around the Web 3

Some King Jesus Gospel news from around the web.

Ben Witherington continues his dialogue with Scot McKnight

"Ben: Another major stress in this book is that the four Gospels in fact contain the Gospel, and that Jesus and Peter and Paul preached basically the same thing— namely King Jesus, and his becoming King on earth as in heaven.    This will seem strange to the soterians who thinking the Gospel is justification by grace through faith.   Are you simply focusing on the person of Christ rather than on his soteriological benefits?

Scot: Yes, I think – with John Dickson, that fine young evangelical pastor down in Sydney, and Pope Benedict’s exceptional study on gospel – that the Gospels are the gospel. Dickson even says the fullest preaching of the gospel in the NT is the Gospels. I agree.

 Here’s a big point, and I’ll move on: these books were not called “gospel” because they did a search in the library on genre questions and decided that “gospel” is a little more accurate than “biography.” No, they called these books “The [one and only] gospel according to Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John.” They were not giving us a genre classification so much as a substance declaration. They were saying these books tell us the gospel. Liturgical churches make this clear every week because they not only stand for the reading from the Gospels, and they sit for everything else, but they call that reading not a “reading from the Gospels” but simply “The Gospel.” That’s exactly right."

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Trevin Wax offers part 2 of his review which focuses on points of concern.

"Overall, The King Jesus Gospel has been one of the most thought-provoking, challenging, and stimulating books I’ve read this year. Scot McKnight is prompting some good (sometimes strong) conversations."

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Also, three more reviews which were not part of the blog tour.

Daniel Kirk "The book is sure to generate significant conversations, especially in the more traditional, conservative evangelical world toward which the argument is largely directed. It is written so as to be accessible to everyone, and would be a great conversation starter for many small groups and pastoral staffs."

Charlie Dean "Read this book if: you like a nuanced theological conversation, if you’re not happy with what many churches call “evangelism,” and if you’ve got this inescapable feeling that there’s more to the “gospel” than “getting one’s but into heaven."

and, Mike Goldsworthy "This is the first theological book in a long time that I’ve had a hard time putting down. I found myself reading passages out loud to Allison regularly, scribbling notes and at times just wanting to shout, “yes” as I was reading it. I’d be willing to say that anyone who teaches or preaches the Bible regularly needs to read it. It’s that important."