{"id":450,"date":"2009-07-24T08:57:23","date_gmt":"2009-07-24T13:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=450"},"modified":"2009-07-24T08:57:23","modified_gmt":"2009-07-24T13:57:23","slug":"sharpening-iron-a-review-of-the-jesus-paradigm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/sharpening-iron-a-review-of-the-jesus-paradigm\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharpening Iron: A Review of The Jesus Paradigm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Listen to the MP3<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In his new book.\u00a0 The Jesus Paradigm<\/a>.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 David Alan Black issues a bold challenge to the church.\u00a0 His fundamental premise is that the Church lost its way around the time it became allied with the Roman Empire following the rise to power of Constantine.\u00a0 and for the most part has been doing things wrong ever since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the reformation was an important corrective.\u00a0 it still retained many of the errors.\u00a0 and thus was still locked into a pattern for the church that was based more on the world’s way of doing things rather than the biblical pattern.\u00a0 For Dr.\u00a0 Black.\u00a0 what was needed was not a reformation but a restoration more in lines with the approach taken by the Anabaptists.\u00a0 a restoration of the Church back to what it originally was and was meant to be.\u00a0 A Church not based on the way the world works and views things.\u00a0 but a church that follows the model found in the Bible.\u00a0 a church truly centered on the teachings of Jesus.\u00a0 not just in theology and morality.\u00a0 but in its organization.\u00a0 structure.\u00a0 and practice as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

My view of The Jesus Paradigm<\/a>is best summed up by Proverbs 27:17.\u00a0 “As iron sharpens iron.\u00a0 so one man sharpens another.” Calls for change are never easy.\u00a0 and calls for changes so large as to constitute a paradigm shift are extremely difficult.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 Black’s challenge is no different.\u00a0 In fact many will find much they disagree with.\u00a0 I certainly did.\u00a0 But the true value in Dr.\u00a0 Blacks’ book is not the suggestion he makes.\u00a0 but the effective way he calls.\u00a0 and even challenges.\u00a0 the reader to think deeply and seriously about the Church.\u00a0 its structure.\u00a0 and its role in both the world and the life of the believer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Dr.\u00a0 Black writes.\u00a0 “Churches today have to make a choice to follow contemporary patterns of ecclesiology or use the early church as a model.” (p 40) He believe that the division between church leaders and members is far to stark.\u00a0 Not only being unscriptural.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 Black argues that this has resulted in a “responsibility redistribution.” \u00a0For example.\u00a0 the Bible is fairly clear that parents have the responsibility to bring up their children “by training and instructing them about the Lord.” (Eph 6:4 ISV<\/a>) Yet the current church structure has encouraged parent to abdicate their responsibility turning it over to church leaders to deal with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rather than the current structure that is so common and widespread as to be taken for granted.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 Black believes that churches should move towards an “every-member ministry” where “most jobs that are currently salaried positions will be filled by volunteer help”(p 2).\u00a0 and where “new believers will be asked to specify a regular community involvement… in addition to their commitment to a ministry in the church.” (p 3)<\/p>\n

Such suggestions are such a stark departure from the norm.\u00a0 that many might be tempted to reject them out of hand.\u00a0 But the way Dr.\u00a0 Black lays out the biblical and historical evidence in support of his position will permit no such kneejerk rejection.\u00a0 In some respects.\u00a0 there is nothing new in Dr.\u00a0 Black’s biblical evidence.\u00a0 For the most part he simply quotes familiar verses.\u00a0 But again this is one of the strengths of the book.\u00a0 for often these verses are so common that we have passed over them without much thought as to what they are really saying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For example.\u00a0 in 1 Thess 5:14 Paul writes “We encourage you.\u00a0 brothers and sisters.\u00a0 to admonish the unruly.\u00a0 comfort the discouraged.\u00a0 and uphold the weak.”\u00a0 As Dr.\u00a0 Black relates.\u00a0 “I well recall how shocked I was when I first realized that Paul was exhorting.\u00a0 not leaders.\u00a0 but the brothers to ‘admonish the unruly.’… Every time Paul wrote to a church in order to deal with its problems.\u00a0 he never appealed to the leaders.\u00a0 Instead.\u00a0 his constant request was for the whole church to deal with its trouble.” (p 70)<\/p>\n

Perhaps the weakest part of the book is Dr.\u00a0 Black’s comments on the relationship between politics and the church.\u00a0 But this was not because I disagreed with Dr.\u00a0 Blacks general position that “Christians today must maintain an ultimate commitment to Christ and eschew loyalty to a political party.” In many ways I agree there must be some sort of separation.\u00a0 even if I do reject the recently developed constitutional concept of a strict separation of church and state.\u00a0 This is why I do not write about political issues on my consider.org blog<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nor is it because I disagreed with some of the political positions he took.\u00a0 which I do.\u00a0 Rather it is because he did not remain consistent with his own position.\u00a0 Thus if I were to attempt to rebut some of the positions he takes.\u00a0 I would need to do it on my political blog (Hushbeck.com\/blog<\/a>) and not on my Christian blog (consider.org\/blog<\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still.\u00a0 overall.\u00a0 while I found much to disagree with in The Jesus Paradigm<\/a>.\u00a0 the process of working through the book.\u00a0 of struggling with and considering the criticism Dr.\u00a0 Black has concerning the state of the Church.\u00a0 the corrective measures he suggests.\u00a0 and most importantly the biblical and historical evidence he lays out.\u00a0 helped clarify many of my lingering doubts and nagging problems I see in the modern church.\u00a0 It moved my thinking.\u00a0 and my understanding forward.\u00a0 And what more could one ask for in a book other that the Bible?\u00a0 In short.\u00a0 it is an important book that should be not only read.\u00a0 but seriously considered by anyone interested in the state and direction of the modern church.<\/p>\n

This is Elgin Hushbeck.\u00a0 asking you to\u00a0Consider Christianity<\/a>:\u00a0a Faith Based on Fact<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note: as a matter of full disclosure.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 Black was my professor of among other things NT Greek.\u00a0 and The Jesus Paradigm was published by Energion.\u00a0 which also published my three books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Listen to the MP3 In his new book.\u00a0 The Jesus Paradigm.\u00a0 Dr.\u00a0 David Alan Black issues a bold challenge to the church.\u00a0 His fundamental premise is that the Church lost its way around the time it became allied with the Roman Empire following the rise to power of Constantine.\u00a0 and for the most part has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8,11,32],"tags":[715],"class_list":["post-450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christianity","category-culture","category-reviews","tag-jesus-paradigm-david-alan-black-church-restoration-reformation-proverbs-2717-1-thess-514-church-and-state-every-member-ministry"],"yoast_head":"\nSharpening Iron: A Review of The Jesus Paradigm - Politics and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2009\/07\/sharpening-iron-a-review-of-the-jesus-paradigm\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharpening Iron: A Review of The Jesus Paradigm - 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