One thing I have learned in my research is never to ignore the introduction and conclusion to a book. In these places the author will often set out his thesis such that one can have a good framework to approach the details of the argument. (If one is in a hurry and the intro and conclusion are well written, you can simply work with those to get the basic argument of the book.) Gomes in the introduction states fairly clearly what his thesis is: On p. 3 he writes, "Now I write another Bible book, with the radical suggestion that we use the Bible to go beyond the Bible and embrace that to which it points: the gospel, or the good news... I suggest that Jesus came into the world not as a Bible teacher directing us back into a text, but as one who proclaimed a realm beyond the Bible. He proclaimed his good news against the conventional wisdom of his day, taking up with unacceptable people and advancing dangerous, even revolutionary, ideas, nearly all of which remain to be discovered and acted upon.” On p. 4 he writes, "My argument... has taken me to the conviction that in order to take seriously the gospel, that is, the content and direction of Jesus' own preaching and teaching, we must dare to venture beyond the Bible itself and into the uncharted territory of the gospel." I would restate his thesis with the following series of statements:
(1) Jesus came preaching the gospel;
(2) the gospel is a entity beyond the Bible;
(3) our present responsibility as Christians who follow Jesus is not to focus on the Bible but on the gospel.
There is logic to his thesis: What was important to Jesus ought to be important to us. There is also, however, a lack of definition. He does not suggest yet at any point what the gospel is or of what it consists. He does indicate on p. 2 that the gospel Jesus preached was "new" and "confrontational," and that Jesus’ death was an indication that "the world to which he preached the glad tidings was not prepared to hear them or to take seriously the one who proclaimed them." Even so, it remains for Gomes to set out the exact content of the Gospel. So this will be one of the key items I will be looking for as I work on this book.
Some other comments: Gomes has a clear, engaging writing style. The book is not difficult to read or process. It is clear that he is arguing about something that means a great deal to him.
Next topic: the conclusion.
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