The Best News You Will Ever Hear. Thomas Jay Oord and Robert Luhn (Boise, ID: Russell Media, 2011). 70 pp. $9.99 (paper).
The Best News You Will Ever Hear is Thomas Oord's vehicle to demonstrate the practical power of an applied Theology of Love which dominates much of his writing and philosophy. A simple approach to an evangelistic message Oord is clearly building a front porch to faith that invites one into an understanding of divine grace and salvation compatible with Theology of Love thinking. This work provides the Wesleyan Christian with a resource for presenting the gospel in contemporary language that is written for the standard reading level with the widest appeal for a North American audience. Its easy reading quality is teasingly deceptive because the work reflects a well formulated depth of Christian theory and thinking.
Wesleyans will especially appreciate the obvious and intentional presentation of God's motive in saving humanity as a refreshing contrast from the "God of wrath" thinking that dominates much of Christian theology. The simple statement "God is not mad at us" creates a venue of divine introduction for a decidedly disenfranchised mass who suffer from too little self having grown up in a society characterized by dysfunction, addiction and abuse.
The book does well to pave a path avoiding other polemics that are irrelevant to core Wesleyan teaching. A fine segment addresses the correlation of creation to science and science to creation. Oord and Luhn provide a simple detour that avoids a traffic jam common to Fundamentalist thinking and argument that is distracting and unhelpful to Wesleyan conclusions. Deftly they bring the seeker back on track to the core problem represented by the Eden narrative: a failure to love perfectly.
The appeal is Christo-centric. Especially helpful for the Wesleyan believer is the authors' introduction of Christ as integrated into living not serving solely as propitiation for the benefit of personal eternal life. Putting it another way, playing on the vernacular of the original language, one might say this presentation of the gospel leads one to epic living as well as epoch living. Equally appealing is a portrait of Christ who suffers with us and not just for us. In a litigious, theodicy-ridden culture God is continually put on trial for crimes against humanity. In simple language, the authors produce an image of a God whose love is so relentless that even the most effective prosecution must concede that if God is to blame for human suffering what more could be done than has been done? The suffering, sorrowing, self-sentencing God has been punished, endured death and conquered Death which should satisfy the angry human heart bent on recompense.
The work goes beyond a simple presentation of the gospel to become a simple presentation of the gospel life. This book will be of interest to congregational clergy, pastoral counselors, Christian chaplains, spiritual directors, deacons, and other lay leaders who work primarily with evangelism and discipleship. It is an ideal resource for training Wesleyans to communicate grace and atonement. The natural flow of the text directs the seeker toward a discipled life. The beauty of this book is that it does not suffer from over-simplification. These are no ABC's for self-written spiritual coupons for grace. This book simplifies the truth that grace has much more to say than "welcome aboard." It invites dialogue. The grace of God found in this book says: "Welcome home. Now that you are part of the family..."
The vibrant Wesleyan thinking church will suffer for not having this book in large quantities to distribute through sports ministries, children's events, bus ministries, primers for evangelism, and any opportunity a congregation makes to communicate its benefit and relevance to the larger community. The great tragedy will be if this book becomes the "best kept secret" of the church library.
The Best News You Will Ever Hear is Thomas Oord's vehicle to demonstrate the practical power of an applied Theology of Love which dominates much of his writing and philosophy. A simple approach to an evangelistic message Oord is clearly building a front porch to faith that invites one into an understanding of divine grace and salvation compatible with Theology of Love thinking. This work provides the Wesleyan Christian with a resource for presenting the gospel in contemporary language that is written for the standard reading level with the widest appeal for a North American audience. Its easy reading quality is teasingly deceptive because the work reflects a well formulated depth of Christian theory and thinking.
Wesleyans will especially appreciate the obvious and intentional presentation of God's motive in saving humanity as a refreshing contrast from the "God of wrath" thinking that dominates much of Christian theology. The simple statement "God is not mad at us" creates a venue of divine introduction for a decidedly disenfranchised mass who suffer from too little self having grown up in a society characterized by dysfunction, addiction and abuse.
The book does well to pave a path avoiding other polemics that are irrelevant to core Wesleyan teaching. A fine segment addresses the correlation of creation to science and science to creation. Oord and Luhn provide a simple detour that avoids a traffic jam common to Fundamentalist thinking and argument that is distracting and unhelpful to Wesleyan conclusions. Deftly they bring the seeker back on track to the core problem represented by the Eden narrative: a failure to love perfectly.
The appeal is Christo-centric. Especially helpful for the Wesleyan believer is the authors' introduction of Christ as integrated into living not serving solely as propitiation for the benefit of personal eternal life. Putting it another way, playing on the vernacular of the original language, one might say this presentation of the gospel leads one to epic living as well as epoch living. Equally appealing is a portrait of Christ who suffers with us and not just for us. In a litigious, theodicy-ridden culture God is continually put on trial for crimes against humanity. In simple language, the authors produce an image of a God whose love is so relentless that even the most effective prosecution must concede that if God is to blame for human suffering what more could be done than has been done? The suffering, sorrowing, self-sentencing God has been punished, endured death and conquered Death which should satisfy the angry human heart bent on recompense.
The work goes beyond a simple presentation of the gospel to become a simple presentation of the gospel life. This book will be of interest to congregational clergy, pastoral counselors, Christian chaplains, spiritual directors, deacons, and other lay leaders who work primarily with evangelism and discipleship. It is an ideal resource for training Wesleyans to communicate grace and atonement. The natural flow of the text directs the seeker toward a discipled life. The beauty of this book is that it does not suffer from over-simplification. These are no ABC's for self-written spiritual coupons for grace. This book simplifies the truth that grace has much more to say than "welcome aboard." It invites dialogue. The grace of God found in this book says: "Welcome home. Now that you are part of the family..."
The vibrant Wesleyan thinking church will suffer for not having this book in large quantities to distribute through sports ministries, children's events, bus ministries, primers for evangelism, and any opportunity a congregation makes to communicate its benefit and relevance to the larger community. The great tragedy will be if this book becomes the "best kept secret" of the church library.
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