{“The Decade of Evangelism” [continued (3)]}[5th January 1991]

[Redbook8:169][19910105:1005c]{“The Decade of Evangelism” [continued (3)]}[5th January 1991]

19910105.1005

[continued]

This*leads one to the third and perhaps most crucial factor in my gut reaction ** against the Decade of Evangelism, which is that like almost all Christian Gospel-bashing it puts Jesus before what he said.

Whatever one thinks about the relative importance of the Man and the Message – and here I think that the Churches have got the emphasis the wrong way round, although the statement has to be qualified*** – pushing Jesus first (eg ‘The good news about Jesus’, as I heard the Bishop of Taunton say this morning) attracts only the dimmer personality.# In the more sophisticated, who {do} need to be involved, it produces I suspect (as it does in me) only the slight ‘yuk’ sort of reaction aroused by the tiredest of childish clichés.

But Jesus’ words have their own authority, now as then, and the essentials of his message can stand before him. ‘The authority of the words is the words themselves.’#*

*[See last previous entry]

**[See last previous entry but one]

***(ie because who Jesus was is contained in what he said)

****(BBC R4 ‘Today’ c[irca] 0745)

#[!]

#*([2], per xS)

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