Jesus and the End of Religion

Interesting quote from Jonathan and Jennifer Campbell in an interview at Leadership Network regarding their new book, The Way of Jesus:

"Hope lies in going deeper than what most religions offer. We have seen the gospel embodied in a variety of ways. The more we experience the power of God at work in Western and non-Western contexts, the more we appreciate the power and simplicity of the gospel to take root in any culture or among any people.

The gospel of Jesus answers the spiritual and relational longings of all cultures (specifically the needs for identity, love, community, truth, and power). Only as the church dies to itself and lays down the image it thought it was to be or has become will it have the opportunity to be organically reborn as the Body of Christ in new and different cultural realities."

Interesting quotes (including: "passionately love the Church, passionately hate Christendom") from as.it.is, a blog posting discussing "emergent", a growing movement that certainly recognizes the need for a shift from religious Christianity to faith and mission centered in Jesus.

A while back I posted some thoughts concerning "Religion and the division of reality". I don't intend for this blog to become a highly technical writing, but occasionally I will attempt to tackle some of the foundational philosophical and theological issues concerning Jesus and the End of Religion. Here's some more:

While Jesus and his early followers certainly confronted religion as no one else, it would be misguided to assume that this struggle was new to them. In fact, it can be demonstrated that the Hebrew faith had its roots in the rejection of religious systems, towards a radical new understanding of God.

The Hebrew faith, and its early leaders Abraham and Moses, came out of the religions of the great centers of the ancient world: Mesopotamia and Egypt. Both of these cultures had highly elaborate religions which held that natural things mediated the presence and power of gods. On the other hand, this new people was monotheistic, believing in One transcendent God (i.e. Yahweh) and a simple practice of faith. God was not to be confused with creation (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).

To their neighbors, the Hebrews appeared as irreligious since they lacked the idols and concrete expressions of God, although Abraham and Moses still had a simple, austere religion. They lived in the presence of God (Deuteronomy 4:7) by faith (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:13).

The ultimate sign of rejection of the religions around them, can be found in two exoduses that the Hebrew people made from these religions. Abraham left Mesopotamia. Moses led Israel from Egypt.

These children of Israel (i.e. Jacob - another early patriarch) were distinct, anticipating God's kingdom on earth; but tried to sacralize space and time in order to bring God nearer to them. They were constantly attracted to religions around them since these systems offered stability, order and continuity. The Law, cultic system, and the provision of a king (1 Samuel 8:5-22) were established as concessions to their immaturity.

After years of religious failures the prophets tried to rescue the faith of Abraham and Moses, opposing the temple cult, sacrifices, and festivals which had taken the place of justice (Isaiah 1:10-17, Hosea 6:6, Micah 6:6-8). They anticipated a new world order!

Much talk today about yesterday's "Grand Opening" of the new digs for Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Having moved into the former Compaq Center, Lakewood is now considerded to have the largest church attendance in the United States.

Size isn't the real issue here.

Beyond the media coverage of this mega-church is the concern of what lies beneath the growth of Lakewood: Prosperity Gospel. Pastor Joel Osteen proclaims a message that is focused on achieving success in life. The grandness of their new building confirms this image of prosperity and success. Unabashedly, Osteen wants people to hear a message that feels good.

It's working.

Despite their success, it is difficult to reconcile the "fluffy" message of Lakewood with the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Another example of how the Christian religion has lost touch with Jesus.

Link on the story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8565629/

Some related links (even if dated), both from business magazines:

An article from a Forbes special on "Christian Capitalism"
And, "Meet the Prosperity Preacher" from Business Week.

Sounds really negative, but actually isn't. It's the provocative title of an exceptional book that I just read by Mark Regele.

The subtitle of Death of the Church is: "The Church has a choice: to die as a result of its resistance to change or to die in order to live." Regele is not anti-Christian, but points out how the institutional church is dying in North America. He provides valuable historical, sociological and theological analysis to demonstrate this fact, and challenges the church to find a new role in society.

The analysis is brilliant and is a must read for church leaders. The only weaknesses in the book are that it is 10 years old, and is limited on mapping out new directions (although a basic framework is provided).

For the purposes of this blog, it is noteworthy that Regele does address the confusion of Gospel and Religion. He admits that "we shape the Gospel around our own culture. This is not necessarily wrong." The problem, however, is that this "becomes dangerous when two things occur. First, we forget that we have done it. And second, we believe that our rendition of the story, with all of the traditional and cultural trappings we have added, is the Gospel. When this happens, we have turned the Gospel into our own religion." (p. 209)