GOING DEEPER

In keeping with our emphasis upon the kingdom of God, we are offering four books that approach the topic from different perspectives.

Theology Today notes that The Kingdom of God by John Bright is "one of the most satisfactory books on biblical theology to appear recently in America . . . a passionate appeal to the Church to be the Church." Bright writes in the preface that "the concept of the Kingdom of God involves the total message of the Bible," and he seeks to trace the history of this concept while suggesting its contemporary relevance. The University of Chicago Press calls his style "clear and arresting. Ancient situations are made more understandable to the general reader by apt comparisons with American history and religious life."

In The Upside-Down Kingdom Donald Kraybill writes: "The ‘kingdom of God' permeates all of Jesus' ministry, giving it unusual coherence and clarity. It is the core, the very essence of his ministry." Kraybill goes on to examine the notion that "the kingdom of God points to an inverted, or upside down, way of life," and says that we are to foster it by favoring those suffering at society's margin. Not only does this notion contrast with the prevailing social order of Jesus' time, but ours as well, and it challenges us to live these upside-down values. The Upside-Down Kingdom is designed for individual or group use.

George Eldon Ladd was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California) for many years and gives us a scriptural study of the kingdom of God in The Gospel of the Kingdom. Oswald J. Smith writes in the Introduction that Ladd "conceives of the Kingdom as the rule, the reign, the government of God in this age in the hearts and lives of those who yield themselves to Him, and in the next age over all the world." Particularly outstanding are Ladd's interpretations of Jesus' parables and the Sermon on the Mount, interpretations that are both evangelistic and scriptural. But he doesn't shortchange the importance of making a decision to become a disciple of Jesus and the inherent cost of discipleship: willing submission to God's rule. Since Ladd's death, The Gospel of the Kingdom has become a classic.

The relationship between the kingdom of God and the Church as we know it is probed by Howard Snyder in The Community of the King. He posits that the Church is part of God's dramatic plan to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth to himself and underscores that the New Testament calls this reconciling work the kingdom of God. Pleading for a model of the Church which emphasizes the God-given gifts of all members, Snyder sets forth his theology of the Church and gives practical guidelines for those concerned about church life and growth. Snyder wrote out of frustration and hope about the contemporary Church; his book should help those who feel the same.

—Lynda L. Graybeal