BLOG 8/21/18. OUTRAGEOUS, COMPELLING, AND TOTALLY PERSUASIVE
I haven’t made it a practice to promote books on this Blog—after all “of the making of many books there is no end.” But Bob Ekblad has done it again. I mean, like, I’m a guy who has written a book in which I named Jesus as a ‘subversive’, which raised a few eyebrows, … but here’s a guy who describes Jesus as the commandante of a guerrilla movement, sending out bands of guerrillas to demonstrate and announce the new order (i.e., the kingdom of God) which has arrived. I can’t resist commending it to you.
This latest of Bob Ekblad’s books is Guerrilla Gospel. If the author’s Biblical-scholarly credentials were not so impeccable he might easily be dismissed. But Bob is a gifted dude. He has a Th.D. in Old Testament, is an ordained Presbyterian minister, a social activist who cut his teeth after of the university teaching sustainable farming in Central America, then had a life transforming encounter with God, and then, rather than immersing himself in academia (though he has taught in universities, and in many global scenes), immersed himself in a ministry interpreting the gospel to illegal immigrants, to prisoners, to felons, and to the marginal and broken of his Skagit Valley community in the Washington State.
This explains the background for his familiarity with the idiom and vernacular which he employs in using this metaphor of Jesus as being the leader of a guerrilla movement, and sending out bands of guerrillas to announce the new order. He takes us on a scouting tour through the gospel stories using this imagery in a compelling manner, peeling away all the layers of tameness and traditionalism (that too often obscure our understanding of Christ’s message) and revealing Christ’s invasion of this broken scene for what it is: a radical and transformational new order. He also offers helpful guidelines for Bible study … and so much more. The book is outrageous, compelling, illuminating, liberating, and totally persuasive.
I love it. I commend it. Guerrilla Gospel. ˆDon’t miss it.
