SBG - Part 14, Chapter 13

This is the continuing saga of this little brown blog's unprofessional book review of Stricken by God?...Part 14, Chapter 13...

SBG Book Review
Chapter 13
FREED TO BE HUMAN AND RESTORED TO FAMILY: THE SAVING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CROSS IN A HONDURAN BARRIO
By Mark D Baker
Pages 288-314

Mark D. Baker, author of the essay in Chapter 13 of Stricken by God? is a professor at MB Seminary. This same essay, by the way, can be accessed on the MBBS website here:

“Saving Significance of the Cross in a Honduran Barrio”
http://www.mbseminary.edu/baker/articles.htm

This essay starts out with a reference to Recovering the Scandal of the Cross (by Joel Green and Mark Baker), a work which is said by some to be contrary to the gospel in the Bible (see bottom of this blog post). This reading seems to be a prerequisite to understanding this essay which is to be imagined, says Baker, as a conversation between the Bible, Recovering the Scandal of the Cross, and the context of a Honduran “barrio.” The story is then told of life in the Barrio, a poor neighbourhood called Flor del Campo, where people survive by trying to appear more superior than they are. The men have to be macho (machismo) and the women, long suffering and pure, like the virgin Mary (marianismo). The church is where God is stern and punishing, and there is no authenticity, just more alienation. Baker does not mention if this is a Catholic church or not.

Next we read about Adam and Eve in regards to authentic humanity. When they took the forbidden fruit this reflected their true humanity – what they truly were. Here is a quote (from page 292) from psychologist Margaret Atler…

“ Adam and Eve’s story illustrates ubiquitous human fear of exposure and humiliation…In our minds we have failed to achieve an inner desire to transcend our finite nature; we have overreached and appeared foolish. We have invented an unnecessary obligation to be as God. As a result, we feel the stinging humiliation of not being good enough, of being inferior and out of control.“

Back to the village of Flor del Campo - enter Ramon, who tried to be more macho than was good for him and ended up shooting someone in a bar, and suicidal Alba, who had learned how to survive abuse by her father and slavery. She ran off, got married, went to church, followed the rules, but never measured up.

So Mark Baker then asks the following questions :

“ What is the saving significance of the cross in the context of Flor del Campo? How can it free people to live as authentic humans and allow them to be part of a group of people who are truly family for them? …
“What does the Crucified One reveal to us about the character of God and what it means to be truly human? How did God act through the cross to provide freedom from the powers of alienation and estrangement that have distorted their relationship with God, others, themselves, and creation?”(page 296, SBG)

The answer , according to Baker, is by discovering that Jesus did not cover up his humanity: he lived his life free from alienation...

“We are told he(Jesus) spoke with authority based on status or position, rather it arose from his complete trust in God the Father and this his freedom to be who he truly was. We cannot be sure, but we can imagine that people respected his authority because of the way he looked them in the eye, his tone of voice, and the way he carried himself as a person who was content to be fully himself." (p 298)

(I always thought Jesus spoke with authority because He was the Living Word, the Son of God.) Anyways, says Baker, if Jesus did this, the people of Flor del Campo can do this too. And because Jesus was not stern and demanding, Ramon and Alba will not feel alienated...

“Understanding more profoundly how their humanity is being crucified will naturally awaken Ramon’s and Alba’s awareness of people, forces, and systems that are crucifying them.” (p 299)

There is another Margaret Atler quote (p 302) about the righteous rage of the cross that was not God’s, but our own rage and fear over losing control over our worthiness. Baker writes “In killing Jesus they killed God, their neighbor, and their true selves, and thus graphically displayed their alienation from God, others, and themselves.”

This supposedly is the meaning of the crucifixion of Jesus, which is referred to as whirl pool stopping rock…

“Jesus’ refusal to spin along in the same direction as others created tension and hostility…Jesus acted as a rock…absorbing the energy of the whirlpool and stopping it. In a definitive way the cross broke the cycle of increasing alienation and violence…” Page 307

In summary, Baker says the purpose of this whole chapter is to show how to experience a genuine Christian community and adapt these ideas for those who are enslaved by the powers of alienation.

In a nutshell, I think this chapter is a false gospel which teaches that finding our true selves, by understanding that Jesus knew His true self, is how we overcome the powers of alienation and violence. I've read enough about "alienation" to make me think this is an alien gospel to the one in the Bible, which says that Jesus...

who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phillipians 2:6-11)

The gospel is not about us finding our true selves. It is about dying to ourselves and losing our life, so that we may find it in Christ (see Know Thyself). He died and rose again to shatter the power of the wages of sin – death...not the power of alienation that keeps us from being who we truly are. He died in our place so we don't have to be who we truly are (spiritually dead sinners), so that by believing in Him we can walk in His power and have eternal life in Him.

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. -Colossians 1

Once more, the choice of this essay in Stricken by God? is a reflection of editor Brad Jersak, who has chosen Mark Baker's view as one of the many varieties of approaches to the atonement that might 'serve as an umbrella under which we all might gather.'

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MORE things about Mark Baker

Mark Baker writes here about a book he read that radically changed his perspective on the atonement:

Embracing a wider cross: There are many life-changing ways to understand Christ's death and resurrection (www.mbseminary)


Read a review of Mark Baker’s work:

Mark D. Baker: Recovering the Scandal of the Cross
A review of Mark Baker’s book Part 1
By David Linden
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_1.html
“It is now clear how very deep and crucial this matter is. I say we live in a time when the atonement is fading in the evangelical church. And the evangelical church will be one no longer, if it follows the way of Professors Green and Baker.”

Part 2:
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_2.html
“This doctrine, penal substitution, is that Christ paid for our sins in His death when He underwent the wrath of God for us thereby graciously and lovingly relieving us of the judgment we deserved for our sins. The Father and Son were in complete accord in this transaction on the cross. The Father’s wrath did indeed fall on our Substitute and the Father was thus propitiated by Christ and His holy justice satisfied. Thus He can in full faithfulness to His own nature forgive us our sins, when we believe, since on the cross He has not overlooked them. Remember this is the doctrine repeatedly denied and argued against in this book. The authors are both theology professors, Joel B Green of Asbury Seminary in Kentucky and Mark D. Baker of Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California. It is my sober opinion that both theologians are teaching theology contrary to the heart of the gospel. Mine is not a favorable review of their work.”


Another review of Mark Baker’s book here:

Recovering the Scandal of Liberalism:
Disdaining the Cross
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/scandal-cross.htm


By the way, here is a quote from the book by Mark Baker:

“We believe that the popular fascination with and commitment to penal substitutionary atonement has had ill effect in the life of the church in the United States and has little to offer the global church and mission by way of understanding or embodying the message of Jesus Christ.”