A resurgence of the Social Gospel is energizing many evangelicals, but what does the Bible say about the role of humanitarian works in the Christian life? As new covenant believers, Christians are called to a specific central task: to be ministers of God's message of salvation for sinners. At the same time, the New Testament justifies nearly every concern of the revitalized Social Gospel. Care for the poor and needy, reconciliation of social and racial divisions, and nurture for the sick and abused -- all can be biblical and Christ-honoring activities.
- Fair and Balanced
“Humanitarian Jesus” by Ryan Dobson and Christian Buckley is a two-part discussion about the “social gospel.” The first part discusses the history of the social gospel and the way people approach the social gospel. Part two consists of interviews with various people and their views of how they reconcile the gospel and social justice.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to “Humanitarian Jesus.” The authors approach was original and seemed “fair and balanced.” The authors discussed how the Christians should approach the plight of the needy. They give the example of giving a homeless person a sandwich or a gospel tract. What should a Christian do first? The authors argue that conservative Christians focus more on evangelizing, but ignore the physical plights of the less-fortunate, while liberal Christians are quick to help those in need but sometimes compromise the need to share the gospel.
I especially found Part Two interesting. It was good to hear from the people themselves how they approach the social gospel issue. The authors interview, without bias, various people, some of which I have admired in the past and some of which I totally disagree.
Johnny Heller narrates the whole book. He has good pacing and expression. Even though he did a good job narrating Part Two by changing his accent or way of speaking to match that of the interviewee, I think it would've been better to have a second person narrating the interviewees.
“Humanitarian Jesus” is a thought-provoking book. Missions and outreaches have been a burden in my heart, but it wasn't until recently that I realized how important it was to evangelize also. You can't have one without the other. Sharing the gospel, but not caring about the physical needs is hypocritical. However, just taking care of people's needs without sharing Christ with them is incomplete. The true gospel is about telling others about Jesus, but actions of love must also be proof of the Christian faith.
That's exactly what this book tackles. The first half of the book is Buckley's argument for finding a delicate balance between both social justice and evangelism (he says both are needed explicitly). And yes, Buckley wrote the whole thing. He says that in the introduction. Dobson helped him get the interviews that comprise the second half. His name probably helps sell copies, but I don't think he was particularly involved.
Buckley is an excellent writer and is definitely on the more conservative end of the missional/social justice spectrum. However, unlike the negative and unfair stereotype of conservatives being unwilling to consider alternatives, Buckley does a great job of looking at all the options when engaging humanitarianism.
This is particularly seen in the second half, in which Buckley interviews a very wide variety of well-known (on the order of Franklin Graham and Tony Campolo) and not-so-well known Christian leaders who also engage in humanitarian work. I found the second half much more interesting and engaging. This is where the reader (or listener) gets to hear from the people who are actually doing the work and how they approach the balance of humanitarianism and evangelism.
The views are on both extremes and everywhere in between. And that is a good thing. It helps the reader/listener really engage all the nuanced issues in the arena of missional living. As Buckley states, the goal of the book is not necessarily to convince people of one perspective or another, but to get people to look at their views again and understand the complexity of the issues. For that, I have a lot of respect. And the book achieves that.
- I started Humanitarian Jesus immediately after...
I started Humanitarian Jesus immediately after Jesus Manifesto. In most ways, Humanitarian Jesus was exactly what Jesus Manifesto should have been. The first section of the book focused on Christ and why Christianity without a focus on Christ ceases to be Christianity. But unlike Jesus Manifesto, Humanitarian Jesus keeps the focus on practical theology.
One good example of the good theology, and practical working out of issues is the fine line that is maintained on evangelism.
"Evangelism is not just sharing the gospel of salvation. And evangelism is not just meeting needs...Evangelism is allowing Christ to so live in and through us that who we are, what we do and what we say is the very expression of who he is...Christ did not meet needs and live among the people just so he would have the chance to evangelize. He met needs and lived among the dying because that was part of the truth of the gospel...We should meet needs because it is part of who Christ was and if we are in Christ it should be part of who we are."
The authors walk a narrow line. They define evangelism as both "who we are and what we do" and "a message the requires a response." They are pushing back against people that want to only view evangelism as a written or spoken message, or those that want to define evangelism as only action. Evangelism is both action and word, done in conjunction.
The second section is just as important to the project. Section two is completely focused on interviews of people that are attempting to balance evangelism and social action (or ministry or social justice.) Also important is that those being interviewed will not agree on terminology, or the way that things work out or the theology of why they are doing what they are doing. But that is part of the conversation.
This is not a perfect book. I would have chosen a few different interviews. Still too much focused on the White Guy. But overall this is a much better book than several others I have read on similar topics lately.