Douglas M. Jones Iii

In Dismissing Jesus: How We Evade the Way of the Cross, author Douglas Jones says the 21st-century church has reflected the world too much, at the cost of neglecting the teachings and priorities of Jesus Christ. This is seen especially in middle-class American churches, in which people seek to have Christ as well as all the trappings of the middle-class. These churches have abandoned the exclusive worship of Jesus in favor of syncretism, adding idolatry of Mammon to the worship agenda. Mammon, which Jones defines as "the broader cult of domination, unsacrificial wealth, violence, and greatness" (12), is so ingrained in our culture that we are blind to its effects. We are on the wide path that Jesus describes in Matthew 7, one that leads to destruction.

The remedy that Jones offers in this book is to return to the narrow path, which he labels the "Way of the Cross." It means a rejection of the ways of the world, in favor of complete submission and obedience to Christ. It means a focus on the heart of Jesus, reflected in the acts of weakness, renunciation, deliverance, sharing, enemy love, foolishness, and community. By embracing the priorities of Christ, and rejecting the ways of Mammon, we will be made more in his image than in the image of the world.

The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 looks at characteristics of the Way of the Cross, found in the teachings and actions of Christ. Part 2 highlights the obstacles in our way of following the Way of the Cross. Part 3 gives readers a glimpse of what a Christian community truly united on the Way of the Cross looks like.

Dismissing Jesus is not a book you skim through, nor is it a book you nod and agree with. This book will challenge you, stretch you, and make you truly think about whether you more reflect the ways of Mammon or the Way of the Cross. By far his strongest chapters are those explaining the Way of the Cross in Part 1. Each reads as a wonderful sermon, packed with rich exegesis and challenging application. He does a fine job unsettling all types of readers, especially in Part 2, when he goes to war against the embedded practices of Mammon in our lives. Perhaps the best compliment I can give Douglas Jones is to say I must read this book again soon, for it will take another reading to process everything in the book.

Overall, Dismissing Jesus is a very powerful book for the 21st-century church. As I said above, I will be processing and working through the implications of this book for some time to come. Douglas Jones has written a much-needed book for the 21st-century church, and I pray that pastors and church leaders will read it and heed to the changes that Jones, and ultimately Christ, calls the church to make.

I received a review copy from Cascade Books in return for an unbiased review.… (altro)

I'm a big fan of many of Doug Wilson's books. Though I disagree with his FV positions, I think his books on the family are, hands down, the best books out there on the topic. That's why I'm so disappointed in Angels in the Architecture.

First the good - and there is some. Wilson is a very good writer, and even when I disagree with his point he makes it well (I don't have the same high praise for Jones). The theme of the book is an important one. Most Christians have false ideas about Medieval Christianity (as most also do with the Puritans). The idea of using Medieval thought and practice as a starting point for recovering a legitimate Christian aesthetic is appealing to me.

Christians have forgotten the importance of (and the joy found in) home-life, music, art, fiction, good meals, good wine, good sex, and even work. I applaud the author's aims to encourage us to think more critically about the right use of each of those gifts. In fact, the first five chapters are all valuable toward this end.

But, as Wilson tends to do sometimes, he and Jones take it all a bit too far. Joy and laughter aren't just one response to truth - they're the ones that demonstrate gratitude. The KJV isn't just an excellent English translation of the Scriptures, it's the only one English-speaking Christians should be allowed to use. Fiction isn't just good, it "transfers truth in a far more powerful way than anything else," and "parents who don't enjoy fiction must have some serious spiritual problem."

Chapter 11, on raising children, is seriously flawed in more ways than I can properly detail here. Chapter 12, on the intrinsic superiority of the rural to the urban, is utter nonsense and an exegetical nightmare.

I was looking for a good book on the topic referenced in the subtitle: "A Protestant Vision for Middle Earth." Unfortunately, I'm still looking.… (altro)

While the current trend in theology - particularly cut of the recent Anabaptist and/or emerging cloth - is to view Christendom and Constantine as evils of the highest order, Wilson and Jones make the case that modernism has bankrupted itself as well in its rejection of medieval virtues. Most importantly, they set out a vision of Christendom - the City of God - as one built upon the culmination of principles that were developed in the medieval period but were not given their fullest expression due to the eruption of the Enlightenment. These principles reveal a vision of "the good life" - one of celebration, beauty, goodness, and truth - built upon the reign of God. The medieval project was imperfect, according to Wilson and Jones, but it was They reject the notion that this City of God will be built by the sword, tyranny, and coercion (in this sense, they are closer to the Sattler/Simons Anabaptist vision than the current Anabaptists) . Rather, they see a reformation in worship and life of Christians - with a return to medieval virtues such as agrarian calm, poetic knowledge, celebration, rightly ordered hierarchies, anti-Statism, etc. - as the catalyst for the triumph of the City of God over the City of Man. One could consider this vision, from a political perspective, as a kind of traditionalist anarchism.This is a good introduction to a worldview that is entirely alien to our own. Whether we recognize it or not, we are programmed - though not incurably - to accept Enlightenment myths of the primacy of rationalism, of traditional knowledge as useless knowledge, and of progress as a virtue. I would quibble with aspects of Wilson and Jones argument, though these are mostly secondary and tertiary points. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to those interested in exploring what Christendom could look like.… (altro)