Embracing Grace: A Gospel for All of Us

204 Pages·2016·21.21 MB·English

by  Scot McKnight

EMBRACING
^
"Helps us see beyond
variousflat, partial gospels to a
rich, gracious gospel that embraces
"
all the others, and all of us too.
Brian McLaren
SCOT McKNIOHT^^
Author of The Jesus Creed
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Gospel for All of Us
MCKNIGHT
SCOT
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PARACLETE PKESS
Brewster. Mj\s4ilui>flt\
—
EMBRACING GRACE: A GospelforAllofUs
2005 FirstPrinting
Copyright 2005 by Scot McKnight
ISBN 1-55725-453-2
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised-
Standard Version ofthe Bible, copyright 1989, Division ofChristian
Education ofthe National Council ofthe Churches ofChrist in the United
States ofAmerica. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Library ofCongress Cataloging -in- Publication
McKnight, Scot.
Embracing grace : a gospel for all ofus / Scot McKnight.
p.cm.
ISBN 1-55725-453-2
1. Grace (Theology) 1. Title.
BT761.3.M35 2005
234—dc22 2005016853
9876 5432
10 1
All rights reserved. No portion ofthis book may be reproduced, stored in an
electronic retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
—
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief
quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission ofthe publisher.
Published by Paraclete Press
Brewster, Massachusetts
www.paracletepress.com
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
FOR
Laura and Mark
Lukas andAnnika

CONTENTS
I' R t) I, O G 11 I-
A GOSPEL FOR ALL OF US
ix
N R O n U C T O N
THEIGOISPELS AMOI NG US
xi
1
PERFORMING THE GOSPEL
3
THE BEGINNING OF THE GOSPEL
16
THE STORY OF THE EIKON
27
CRACKED EIKONS
37
THE EPIC OF THE EIKON
52
PAGE AFTER PAGE
64
7
A MISSIONAL GOSPEL
74
8
STORIES OF THE GOSPEL STORY
90
9
THE DIVINE GOSPEL COMEDY
107
10
A FIVE-FOOT GOSPEL
118
11
DIMINISHED BY EXCLUSION
128
12
ENLIVENED BY EMBRACE
140
13
DANCING GRACE
152
14
A FAMILY OF EMBRACING GRACE
165
A C K N O W 1. E D G \4 E N T S
177
WORKS CITED
179
O
God, who wonderfully created,
and yet more wonderfully restored,
the dignity of human nature:
Grant that we may share the divine life ofhim
who humbled himself to share our humanity,
your Son Jesus Christ;
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Phyllis Tickle
The Divine Hours: PrayersforAutumn and Wintertime
Of Man's First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one Greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat.
John Milton
Paradise Lost
There are two occasions when the sacred beauty
ofCreation becomes dazzlingly apparent, and they occur together.
One is when we feel our mortal insufficiency to the world,
and the other is when we feel the world's
mortal insufficiency to us.
Theologians talk about prevenient grace that precedes grace
itselfand allows us to accept it. I think there must also be a
—
prevenient courage that allows us to be brave that is,
to acknowledge that there is more beauty than our eyes can bear,
that previous things have been put into our hands and
to do nothing to honor them is do great harm.
Marilynne Robinson,
Gilead
To put it another way, ifthere is no point in the story as a whole,
there is no point in my own action.
Ifthe story is meaningless, any action ofmine is meaningless.
... so the answer to the question "Who am I?" can only be given
ifwe ask "What is my story?" and that can only be answered
ifthere is an answer to the further question,
"What is the whole story ofwhich my story is a part?"
Lesslie Newbigin,
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society