Raised with Christ is not an academic tome on the resurrection, for that N. T. Wright's The Resurrection of the Son of God (2003) remains unsurpassed, and is likely to do so for a very long time! Warnock's book is aimed at the wider Christian community and aims to show the pervasiveness of the resurrection throughout the New Testament and the relevance of the resurrection in the life of the Christian today.
The book's opening sections elaborate on Warnock's chief contention that the resurrection is neglected among contemporary evangelicals. There is then some more familiar material on the evidences for the physical bodily resurrection of Jesus, before the rest of the book concentrates on the present implications of the resurrection. These include some excellent material on the place of resurrection is confirming our justification. One senses that Warnock is most comfortable in the more practical applicatory sections of the book. He's good on the transformative power of the resurrection, but I did get the impression that the actual focus of the book became a little blurred somewhere around chapters 12 through to 16. Here Warnock has some excellent material on the minstry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian, there's nothing wrong with it whatsoever, but its link to the resurrection is tangential, aside from the obvious point that the risen Christ sends the Holy Spirit! There lots of good material in these chapters, especially on experiencing the risen Christ in our own lives and experience, but quite a lot of this section read like a defence of the Baptism of the Spirit, along the lines of Martyn Lloyd-Jones than anything else.
The book is rounded off with a terrific description of the way in which Jesus' resurrection is an intimation of our own final resurrection - the eschatalogical significance of the resurrection in other words. Maybe this seciton might actually have been expanded somewhat?
Warnock's main influences are clear on most pages of the book: Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones and John Piper are his most frequently cited authors, but there's a liberal sprinkling of Jonathan Edwards too!
This is an excellent read, warmly recommended for close study over the Easter period.
2 comments:
The first wholly new interpretation for 2000 years of the Gospel and moral teachings of Christ is on the web. Redefining all primary elements including Faith, the Word, Law, Baptism, the Trinity and particularly the Resurrection, this new interpretation overturns all natural law ethics and theory. At stake is the credibility of several thousand years of religious history and moral teaching.
Using a synthesis of scriptural material from the Old and New Testaments, the Apocrypha , The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Nag Hammadi Library, and some of the worlds great poetry, it describes and teaches a single moral LAW, a single moral principle, and offers the promise of its own proof; one in which the reality of God responds directly to an act of perfect faith with a individual intervention into the natural world; 'raising up the man' correcting human nature by a change in natural law, altering biology, consciousness and human ethical perception beyond all natural evolutionary boundaries. Intended to be understood metaphorically, where 'death' is ignorance and 'Life' is knowledge, this experience, personal encounter of transcendent power and moral purpose is the 'Resurrection', and justification for faith. Here is where true morality and perfect virtue, called righteousness begins.
Here then is the first ever viable religious conception capable of leading reason, by faith, to observable consequences which can be tested and judged. This new teaching delivers the first ever religious claim of insight into the human condition, that meets the Enlightenment criteria of verifiable and 'extraordinary' evidence based truth embodied in action. For the first time in history, however unexpected, the world must now measure for itself, the reality of a new claim to revealed truth, a moral tenet not of human intellectual origin, offering access by faith, to absolute proof, an objective basis for moral principle and a fully rationally justifiable belief!
This is 'religion' without any of the conventional trappings of tradition. An individual, virtue-ethical conception, independent of all cultural perception in a single moral command, and the single Law finds it's expression of obedience within a new covenant of marriage. It requires no institutional framework or hierarchy, no churches or priest craft, no scholastic theological rational, dogma or doctrine and ‘worship’ requires only conviction, faith and the necessary measure of self discipline to accomplish a new, single, categorical moral imperative and the integrity and fidelity to the new reality.
If confirmed, this will represent a paradigm change in the moral and intellectual potential of human nature itself; untangling the greatest questions of human existence: consciousness, meaning, suffering, free will and evil. And at the same time addressing the most profound problems of our age.
Trials of this new teaching are open to all and under way in many countries. For those individuals who will question their own prejudices, who can imagine outside the historical cultural box, with the moral courage to learn something new, and test this for themselves, to stand against the stream of fashionable thought and spin, an intellectual and moral revolution is already under way, where the 'impossible' becomes inevitable, with the most potent Non Violent Direct Action any human being can take to advance peace, justice, change and progress.
Published [at the moment] only on the web, a typeset manuscript of this new teaching is available as a free [1.4meg] PDF download from a variety of sites including:
[www].energon.org.uk
What do you think of when you look at the cross and the crucifix? Do they hold sacred and religious value for you?
After reading Ogechukwu’s book, your perception may change; the church’s use of these symbols has, for centuries, concealed facts regarding their true origins. Ogechukwu reveals those findings in this stunning expose.
His research includes historical accounts of Christianity’s conspiracy and divulges the true meaning of the cross—a satanic symbol.
Ogechukwu states:
“For centuries after Christ, the church and other religions that use cruciform symbols have misrepresented the physical nature of Christ's death with a satanic symbol (cross), and a pagan idol (corpus). This secret has been concealed by the church for centuries after Christ."
What reason did the church have for shifting the cross’ meaning from one of evil to one of goodness?
This easy to read, enlightening and academically sound book regarding the symbolism and meaning of the cross leads to a stunning conclusion. Learn more about the real nature of Christ’s death and religion’s role in the change in symbolism. Ogechukwu wants to reveal the truth in hopes of releasing humankind from what he calls the “painful knowledge bondage” of cruciform propaganda at http://www.eloquentbooks.com/TheSecretBehindTheCrossAndCruifix.html
Post a Comment