In last week’s post I shared McLaren’s suggestion that the Christian story has been hijacked by a philosophy that was essentially pagan and which emphasised the destruction of the body and all material things but the salvation of a disembodied, eternal soul with god.

The Hebraic worldview
Is there an alternative understanding? Yes, says McLaren, if we read the Bible from the Hebraic worldview. Our problem is that we have read back to Jesus and his good news through the lenses provided for us by the Reformers, the medieval theologians and Greek philosophy. It would be far better if we understood him by reading forward from Abraham, Moses, and the prophets. After all, Jesus was a Jew and any true understanding of him must include this Jewish context.

What do we see if we read Jesus and the good news forwards from the Hebrew Bible? One key thing to note, suggests McLaren, is that what we have is a story rather than a set of philosophical beliefs – a story that invites us to participate in its account. The story begins with a humanity that has room to grow and develop. Creation is made in such a way that humanity can add to it as they grow out of the garden they have been placed in. They are mandated to fill the earth in a creative way that mirrors the image of God that is in them.

Second chances follow each failure
When things go badly wrong, however, God responds not by destroying all that has gone bad but by giving them a second chance to fulfil their commission, albeit having had to face the serious consequences of their fall. But in his mercy he provides for them clothing that covers their shame and gives them another opportunity to live out their calling.
This pattern is repeated many times in the early chapters of Genesis: after every failing there is a consequence but there is a second chance too. Even when choosing to flood the earth God still gives humanity the opportunity of a fresh start in Noah and his family. And it is worth noting that although death is the serious consequence of having to leave the Garden of Eden, there is nothing in these early chapters about humanity having to face an eternal punishment for their sin.

This cycle of opportunity to participate in God’s story, failure, and second opportunity, is then broken in Genesis 11 by the introduction of Abram. Through Abram God calls a people into being – the nation of Israel – in order that his light and promise could be shared with all nations. One nation would bring blessing to all. The remainder of Genesis tells the story of how God builds up this nation-for-nations and brings them to their own land. It ends, however, with Israel finding itself in the land of Egypt – ultimately as captives.

A meta-narrative in three dimensions
McLaren sees in Genesis the first of three dimensions of the biblical narrative. If the first is about setting the scene where God invites and restores humanity to participate in his plans for creation, then the second, as seen in Exodus, is about how God liberates humanity when they have been held captive by an oppressive enemy. God does not abandon humanity to this oppression but rather intervenes to save and set free.

The third narrative then moves on to set the scene for a kingdom where there is no oppression, no death, and no fall. It is a kingdom where the peace of God – shalom – flows like a river and fills the earth. It is the kingdom spoken of by Isaiah when he sings of the wolf living with the lamb and the leopard lying down with the goat (Is 11); it is about a new heaven and a new earth (Is 65). With our Greco-Roman lenses we have learned to read these promises as something far off in the future, in some heavenly realm that is beyond history but McLaren suggests that the biblical narrative invites us to participate with God in the setting up of the kingdom within history here on earth. It provides us with a vision of hope for the future.

So let’s allow McLaren to sum up this very different meta-narrative in his own words:
If the Genesis story sets the stage by giving us a sacred vision of the past, and if the Exodus story situates us in the sacred present on a pilgrimage towards external and internal liberation, then the story of the peace-making kingdom ignites our faith with a sacred vision of the future, a vision of hope, a vision of love. It represents a new creation and a new exodus. (Page 85.)


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