Theologian challenges a Christian view
It takes a brave man to quarrel with traditional Christian understanding. He's even braver to take on an author whose book has sold 25 million copies.
The book is "The Purpose Driven Life," California pastor Rick Warren's best-selling proclamation that "life is really about living for God, not myself." The Don Quixote charging this spiritual windmill is Kirk B. Jones, an adjunct professor at Andover Newton Theological School.
Jones grants that Warren wrote a "wonderful book." But to Warren's simple contention that "it's not about you," Jones has an equally straightforward reply: "I object."
An American Baptist with several church pastorates on his resume, Jones argues that traditional theology and theologians such as Warren set up God as omnipotent parent, in charge of making all our decisions.
"On the one hand, that lets us off the hook," he says. "It kind of comforts us."
But it also makes people quasi-infantilized dependents relying on a deity whose true desire, Jones believes, is "to see us . . . explore all kinds of wonderful possibilities."
The God-is-my-daddy approach can paralyze believers at times of pivotal life choices, Jones says. He speaks from personal experience.
In a new book, "Holy Play: The Joyful Adventure of Unleashing Your Divine Purpose" (Jossey-Bass), he recalls his own indecision years ago when he couldn't make himself leave a rewarding pastor's job, which he felt had been God's calling, even though he felt a craving to pursue doctoral studies.
His vocational logjam didn't break until a stroll on the banks of the Hudson River during a trip to New York. He had intended to pray and wait for the proverbial sign of God's will. Instead, he says, an inner voice said to him, "Know this: Whichever path you choose, I will be with you."
He left his pastorate.
"We're living in a time where, we're told, we're going to change jobs seven, eight times" in a lifetime, he says. That calls for creative, thoughtful decision-making in which theology teaches: "God is not a domineering parent. God is our partner, our creative partner." That means that purpose "is not just something we receive from God but something we create with God."
Basing our choices on our innermost longings rather than some divine sign is not wrong, Jones says; to the contrary, it affirms "God's greatest gift to us, which is human freedom," he says.
A spokeswoman for Warren declined to comment.
Traditional Christianity doesn't always point in this direction. Stories in the Hebrew Bible seem to show God drawing up detailed blueprints for the architecture of human lives, in the prophet Jeremiah's case, before his birth: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Get to the New Testament and Jesus instructs listeners to say as part of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy will be done." And what of the calls to Mary to bear the savior of the world and to Jesus to lay down his life, the ultimate sacrifice that, as he makes clear in Gethsemane, is a submission to God's will, rather than his personal choice?
Jones interprets those passages differently. In each case, he believes, a careful reading shows that the human agent's willing participation was essential to God's plan. The angel doesn't leave until Mary consents; Jesus is free to object to the divine mission. "My sense is that he knows that, even if he backs down, [God's] love is still unconditional," Jones says.
The Scriptures also show divine plans being modified to accommodate human concern. When God charges Moses with persuading the Pharaoh to free the Israelites, Moses pleads that he's a lousy speaker, so God agrees to send the eloquent Aaron with him. Abraham negotiates a deal to spare Sodom from divine destruction if there are innocent people in the city.
To the question of whether he's battling a straw man -- there seems to be any number of successful Christians who have pursued full lives -- Jones says the runaway success of Warren's book documents how many people hunger for a spiritual road map. But its notion of a divine plan for every human doesn't satisfy everyone, says Jones.
The father of four, Jones says a parent will understand his view of God as a collaborator. "I don't get a thrill out of making my kids do anything," he says. "I get a thrill out of watching my kids grow and aspire."
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