Peter J. Gomes, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus

I subscribe to a number of podcasts, one of which is NPR's Book Tour. A recent edition featured Peter J. Gomes reading from and discussing questions about his most recent book, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What's So Good about the Good News? I was very intrigued by it and decided to get a copy through the DTS library. (The book is new enough that the library had not yet catalogued their copy at the time I looked for it.) I received the book at the end of last week. Over the next few weeks as I read through the book I will make several posts about it.

There are two main reasons that I wanted to read through the book and then start some public dialogue about it. First, for the book to be highlighted by NPR means that it has some traction with the public. Gomes is a New York Times bestselling author; he has a long tenure of teaching at Harvard University, and he is often described as one of America's foremost preachers. Many people will read what he writes and listen to what he says. For that reason, this book deserves our attention. Second, and I want to state clearly that I say this before I even crack the book, from the podcast it sounds very much like Gomes is advocating what many would call a "social gospel," emphasizing much more the necessity for social action on the part of believers and much less doctrinal correctness. (My hunch from reading the dust jacket is that Gomes would argue that the latter, namely, the pursuit of doctrinal correctness, is a problem he is in fact trying to correct.) If so, this book needs public critique.