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      Copyright © 2009, David Alan Black

      All Rights Reserved

      Cover Design: Jason Neufeld, jasonneufelddesign.com

      Electronic ISBN

      978-1-938434-18-1

      Print ISBNs:

      ISBN-10: 1-893729-77-X

      ISBN-13: 978-1-893729-77-3

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939435

      Dedication

      To the memory of Jacques Ellul

      From the Editors

      The Areopagus is a hill in Athens that was once the meeting place of a Greek council. Paul preached on that hill while visiting Athens, presenting the Gospel to the Athenian council and converting one of them (Acts 17). It thus provides an excellent name for this series of booklets that examines important issues in understanding Christian beliefs and developing sound Christian practice. Each booklet is intentionally short — less than 80 pages in length — and provides an academically sound and biblically rooted examination of a particular question about doctrine or practice or an area of basic Christian belief.

      The Areopagus series is orthodox in doctrine but not bound to the doctrinal statements of any denomination. It is both firm in conviction and irenic in tone. Authors have been chosen for their ability to understand a topic in depth and present it clearly.

      Each book is rigorous in scholarship because we believe the church deserves no less. Yet the volumes are accessible in style as we also believe that there are many pastors and laypersons in the church who desire to think deeply and critically about the issues that confront the church today in its life and mission in the world.

      In keeping with these convictions, the authors in this series are either professors who are also actively involved in ministry, pastors who have not only thought through the issues but whose ministry has been guided by their convictions, or laypersons whose faith and commitment to the lordship of Jesus Christ and his church have contributed to the Great Commission Jesus gave to all of his followers (Matt. 28:18-20).

      The Areopagus Critical Christian Issues series is not only meant to help the church think differently. We hope that those who read its volumes will be different, for the Gospel is about the transformation of the whole person — mind, heart, and soul.

      We take the words of the apostle Paul seriously when he says to the Athenians that God “has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

      Allan R. Bevere

      David Alan Black

      Preface

      The older I get, the more I realize what I don’t know. This is a liberating insight. Authors never reach an end to conversations and debates, nor should they.

      In the following pages I attempt to reopen an old debate. Neither a professor of philosophy, nor of theology, I attempt little more than brushing lightly those areas normally reserved for specialists. My thesis is simple: I argue that the economic and political necessities of our time are best served when God’s kingdom comes first. The doctrine of Christ crucified for us puts an end to religion as power. The last word in human affairs is represented by a man hanging on a cross (1 Cor. 2:2).

      In this book I have attempted to listen attentively to the New Testament, even to what at first blush does not suit me. I have sought to expound the distinctive contribution of the New Testament to the theme of the kingdom of God — what it is, how to enter it, and how to walk worthily of it as its citizens. The character of this kingdom is widely different from what is commonly envisaged today. Its glory is revealed only through suffering — a point that Jesus’ disciples, then and now, have been slow to understand. This truth has tremendous implications for church life. The kingdom of God is in no way imperialistic. It has no political ambitions. It conquers not by force but by love. It is this humble characteristic of the kingdom that is a stumbling block to so many today. Christ’s claim to our total allegiance is one we seek to avoid at all costs. But there is only one way to victory and peace, and that is the way of the Lamb:

      They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were bought from among humanity, the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouths was found no lie (Rev. 14:4-5; all translations in this book are my own).

      This understanding of the kingdom is good news for everyone. The rule of God has been inaugurated. The time has been fulfilled. And the work is all God’s.

      I hope that this book will be the first in a series of short studies that encourage fresh discovery of and lively debate with important critical issues in the church. The aim is not to produce monographs in the technical sense but a useable series of pamphlets with guidance at essential points. This explains the brevity of the present work. As this book goes to press it is my fervent prayer that it will awaken new interest in the subject of the kingdom of God and stimulate believers of all denominations to reflect more deeply on the purpose for which the church exists.

      Acknowledgments

      In everything I write I discover how much I owe to my teachers. I must single out here the lecturers at Basel under whom I had the privilege of sitting: Bo Reicke, Markus Barth, Jan Milic Lockman, Martin Anton Schmidt, and Bernhard Wyss. Most important of all I should mention a mentor who, via his publications, has been my discussion partner for several months now. No one has caused me greater joy in my studies of the New Testament than Jacques Ellul, and it is to his memory that this book is dedicated. This volume is a natural outgrowth of its predecessor, The Jesus Paradigm, also published by Energion Publications. I want to say thank you to its owner, Henry Neufeld, who has worked closely with me on formatting and design to produce books that are not only visually pleasant but that deal with issues that confront today’s increasingly complex and broken world. Finally, I want to thank my fellow pilgrims all over the world — from Bucharest to Beijing — who have been an anvil on which I have forged my ideas. The kingdom is truly universal in scope, and I am grateful to have witnessed its expressions among many different nations of the world.

      Chapter 1:

       Introduction

      There is perhaps no clearer example of the church’s misguided appropriation of the world than the god of nationalism. Instead of simply following Jesus, whose kingdom is marked by powerless love, we have attempted to use Christianity to support worldly power. And this means that the church has lost its way — a transgression that carries with it an obligation on the part of every Christian to find his or her way back to the correct path. Experience has shown that once the church has become just another worldly “archy” (power), once it has allowed itself to be subverted by politics, it has achieved a “victory” at the expense of the Gospel.

      This is the message of two profound Christian thinkers whose writings impacted a previous generation of Jesus followers. It has only been recently that I added the works of Jacques Ellul and Vernard Eller to my library shelves, and their contribution to what they call “Christian Anarchy” has played no little role in the writing of my latest book, The Jesus Paradigm. Picking up on something Kierkegaard once said, these philosopher-theologians remind us that the Gospel is something intolerable, for it requires us to renounce the illusions, the misplaced hopes, and the blind cul-de-sacs of religious archys. “Christendom,” wrote Kierkegaard, “is an effort of the human race to go back