I’m really enjoying Rubel Shelly’s latest book, I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Christian…and I Liked Him Better Then. Not because he’s saying something I’ve never heard before, but because I see this book as another important marker on the path Rubel has been guiding me down with his writing for the past twenty years.
The first Rubel Shelly book I ever read was his groundbreaking I Just Want to be a Christian. It was THE BOOK that broke me out of the exclusive, sectarian version of the Christian faith in which I was raised. Rubel taught me, and so many others like me, that being a Christian was more about following Jesus than belonging to the “right” church. He helped me see that Jesus is bigger and better than the “Church of Christ.”
In “I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Christian,” Rubel follows the same trajectory by challenging us to see the difference between Jesus and today’s Christianity that makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. Jesus is bigger and better than “Christianity” as we know it.
I find the two titles placed side by side to be amusing. The same guy who once wrote “I Just Want to Be a Christian” has now written “I Knew Jesus Before He Was A Christian. . .and I Liked Him Better Then.”
What happened between these two titles?
I’d say it was twenty-five years of taking the life and teachings of Jesus seriously.
As long as Rubel keeps paying attention to Jesus, I’ll keep paying attention to what Rubel writes.
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
Sounds good. I like the title a lot. I’ve “unintentionally” upset family by saying Jesus wasn’t a Christian. In a good way of course.
Wade, I go back with Rubel all the way back to 1970 when he was about as far right as you could get. He baptized me and I have great respect for him. He greatly helped me move away from my own rightwing and caustic views of my youth. Having said that, I encountered a book written by Dr. Rick Oster, from Harding Grad, that takes Rubel to task over his 2005 book, The Jesus Proposal. I would have ignored the book if it had been written by anyone else. Oster is a careful thinker and has his PhD from Princeton. No one that I know of questions his scholarship. There is a story as to why a book published this year is dealing with a book written in 2005, but I will skip that. The book is only available online. The easiest way to find it is to go to the Grad School’s website, and click “Community” and then click “Faculty,” then find Oster and you will find the link to the book. I would love to hear a reaction to the book from someone like you or any of your other readers. You can download two copies for three bucks. I don’t think I have ever commented, but I have enjoyed your blog for a number of years now.
Thanks for sharing this. I’d love to know the story behind why a book published this year is dealing with a book written in 2005. Seems pretty odd.
Not as odd as you might think considering Oster’s schedule. He is still working on his massive commentary on Revelation which hopefully will be coming out soon. I think he wrote this 85 page book initially for himself sometime after The Jesus Proposal came out. Others read it and then he sought a publisher, but ultimately went the one line route. He could give a much fuller explanation, and if my memory is correct he speaks to this question somewhere in the book itself.
He is not a combative person at all and is doing little if anything to promote the book. That is one reason why I was a bit surprised when I first saw it. Anyone who knows him knows he is a relentless scholar and seeker of truth. I remember well over 25 years ago when he was “put on trial” for his misunderstood views on the Holy Spirit, and his detractors could not answer his arguments and they quietly went away. He is no right wing radical. I am just trying to get a few people like yourself to read it and give their reaction. I think it could lead to some healthy discussion.
Well–that story is not as exciting as I hoped it would be! 🙂
Quest for the Gospel Contemporary Proposals from the Churches of Christ is the book’s title, and it was also copyrighted in 2009. That puts it a bit closer to 2005.