Minority Reports: Voicing Neglected Biblical Texts

The stuff that comes after modernism isnt all bad. Postmodernism not needing everything to be buttoned up can leave things dangling; it can pay attention to the obscure marginal and particular. The postmodern dynamic invites one to revisit biblical texts that do not fit into tidy cherished theological constructs: I call these texts the minority reports. Popular theology infers that God is just pretending when he changes his mind or gets frustrated saddened and affected by humans--this understanding is guided by concepts of Gods omni-attributes. But these wise and well-intentioned concepts fail to portray a God who will not be domesticated. Certain biblical narratives trace YHWHs hiddenness suffering changeability and hostility--this awkward shadow side of YHWH is sometimes selectively overlooked. The fear of God is gone. Instead we have the ever-tolerant universal God who is in danger of evaporating into spirit light and love. As a theologian I use Hebrew block logic: competing truths in the Bible are kept intact; synthesis isnt necessarily sought. God chooses us and we choose God; God is self-sufficient all-powerful and all-knowing needing no creature. Yet he chooses to limit his omni-ness in the human arena and makes himself vulnerable to humans. He hyphenates his name with Abraham Isaac Jacob--and the church--at a risk. Mark Klitsie has written a bold probe into the nature and character of God in the Bible. In protest against the flattened omni-God of much modern rational thought he exposits a God with whom serious disputatious engagement is possible. Klitsie happily appeals to Jewish interpretation most especially that of Abraham Heschel. The result is a God who is a match for the complexity and ambiguity of human life. --Walter Brueggemann Columbia Theological Seminary Klitsie invites his readers to wrestle like Jacob of old with a God who will not be contained. Klitsie welcomes engagement and disagreement and surely many will disagree with some of his conclusions--yet it is in the crucible of disagreement that strong minds are forged. This much however is sure: Klitsies devotion to a God worthy of respect devotion and worship shines forth from every page. --Phillip G. Carnes Executive & Leadership Coach; Adjunct Faculty George Fox Evangelical Seminary Klitsie rushes in where angels fear to tread at least when it comes to arguing for a concrete incarnational and messy theology. He invites us to reexamine the Bible and--in true postmodern manner--hunt down marginalized neglected unpopular Scriptures including references to genuine divine pathos. Such an enterprise leads us to a genuine synergistic relationship based upon divine kenosis. I highly commend this book for all who wish to see God again with fresh eyes. --Vaughn Baker Author; Senior Pastor Silver Creek United Methodist Church Azle Texas Mark Klitsie has degrees from University of Port Elizabeth South Africa (BSc HDE) and Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena California (MA ThM). He is a world traveler having studied at Francis Schaeffers LAbri in Switzerland exposed himself to Islam in Egypt and Syria lived in an ashram in India and studied Judaism in Jerusalem. Mark lives with his wife and children in Gardnerville Nevada.