Re: Being a disciple of Jesus is not enough

“So I think we need to define identity and praxis with reference not to the Gospel stories - or to the story of the early church, for that matter - but to the trajectory of the whole narrative.”

I am having trouble with this statement. I tried to take some time a read other dialogues on this site and I have begun to understand more of what you are saying (and have many of the same questions that have been asked there). But the point I keep coming back to is best stated in the above quote.

For me the whole trajectory of the narrative from Genesis forward is the Gospel story. We have no identity without it. We have no real mission other than proclaiming it. Proclaiming it may take many forms depending on the context, but to find a mission or identity outside of the Gospel story is in my mind pushing the envelope to far in an attempt to be relevant. Or an attempt to discard its authority (I do not think this is your purpose).

Scripture is the recorded accounts of God in action among His people and the world and that is not just remembering something about when it was written but it still effects us now. It is through the Scripture that the living, resurrected Christ intends to be with his people, here, now.

To write the story off as non-formative for us today or to state “basically that the Jesus discipleship model provides us with the wrong overarching framework for our understanding of Christian praxis today” is in my mind heading down a path that leads to some very bad theology.

Lastly, your book was delivered this morning so I will get to it shortly and maybe I will realize that my thoughts here have been wrong or overly critical.