Don Miller is interviewed by that bastion of conservative evangelical publishing, The Wittenburg Door. This is not a new interview, but I just saw a pointer to it on Brian Baute’s blog (also at Church Marketing Sucks). Whether or not you’ve read Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, the interview is an interesting addition to the book, covering an extra question or two on several chapters, just where the book leaves you wanting to ask an extra question or two.
On the subject of the discussion around the links and comments, I tend to agree generally with Rick’s comment…. what is it with deciding whether Jesus is cool enough or not, and if he needs our help in the matter? If Jesus needs a makeover in order to be palatable, he isn’t a scandelon any longer. Not that we need to go making Jesus more offensive for people (that’s already been tried), but if we reinvent him to make him more appealing, we weaken his message. Catch-22. Of course, we could just trust Jesus to offend or draw people on his own….
Scandelon. I remember that.
I suspect that the Pharasees were cussing Jesus out for playing to the cool crowd in His day too. He had the hearts of the People. Just like Absolom. AND He turned them all off when He told them to drink His blood and eat His flesh too. He had them, then he trashed their little dreams.
I think Rick is right. We repackage Jesus to the local and current culture but we are not familiar enough with His deeper significance to take out the trash when it’s time to do so.
I liked Don’s book, but I didn’t get the feeling that he was in the position to take out the trash either. He was too enmeshed with the Reed culture. They are very oppressive. Or should I say, aggressive. But I do understand the need to meet people where they’re at, which is why Jesus repackaged Judaism to begin with. Ooops. Did I say that?