Dr. Jones and Mark Driscoll

January 29, 2008

Dr. Peter Jones, who was just at our church for our annual Christianity and Culture conference, recently gave an excellent lecture at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. His lecture was called Pastoring in Today’s Zeitgeist, and it can be found here.

While listening to Jones I saw Mark Driscoll’s book, Vintage Jesus, will be published at the end of February. Driscoll is the pastor of Mars Hill Church - and some may consider him the shock-jock of Reformed Christianity. The book, I’m sure, promises to be excellent - and shocking.

Here’s one of the opening paragraphs:

Roughly two thousand years ago, Jesus was born in a dumpy, rural,
hick town, not unlike those today where guys change their own oil,
think pro wrestling is real, find women who chew tobacco sexy, and
eat a lot of Hot Pockets with their uncle-daddy. Jesus’ mom was a poor,
unwed teenage girl who was mocked for claiming she conceived via the
Holy Spirit. Most people thought she concocted a crazy story to cover
the “fact” she was knocking boots with some guy in the backseat of a
car at the prom. Jesus was adopted by a simple carpenter named Joseph
and spent the first thirty years of his life in obscurity, swinging a hammer
with his dad.

If you’re offended, keep in mind the book is endorsed by some folks you probably would be careful not to offend.

J.I. Packer, a theological heavyweight says, “This book reveals Mark Driscoll as a highly powerful, colorful, down-to-earth catechist, targeting teens and twenty-somethings with the old, old story told in modern street-cred style. And Professor Breshears ballasts a sometimes lurid but consistently vivid presentation of basic truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.”

And, Matt Lindland, an Olympic silver medalist in wrestling and top-ranked mixed martial arts fighter says, “This book presents an honest view of Jesus without giving in to the pressure to soften him up. I had to grapple with the real vintage Jesus. This is a Savior worth fighting for.”

I wouldn’t want to offend either of those guys.

Posted by Aaron | Filed Under Blog, Books, Church and Culture 

Comments

One Response to “Dr. Jones and Mark Driscoll”

  1. John Balliet on May 22nd, 2008 4:08 pm

    The Vintage Jesus series is excellent . I have been posting the videos as I watch them (7 videos so far) over at http://uprisingyouth.org , a youth resource site that I maintain.

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