Asphalt Jesus -- Review
Eric Elnes, Asphalt Jesus: Finding a New Christian Faith Along the Highways of America. Foreword by Diana Butler Bass. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2007. xiv +224 pp.
A team of walkers crossed the nation carrying with them a message of hope and grace. Led by the pastor of Scottsdale United Church of Christ, Eric Elnes, a Princeton educated biblical scholar, the team of walkers -- which took on the name of CrossWalk America -- sought to engage Americans of all stripes, in cities and in rural areas with the gospel of Jesus. In an age when most Americans think of Christianity in its more conservative and at times strident colors, this group offered a different perspective.
Elnes was a contributor to the writing of the Phoenix Affirmations, a set of twelve principles that defined the nature of Christian love as it applies to God, to neighbor, and to self. It is a set of principles that espouses respect for others, speaks prophetically, and calls for humble action in the world. Among its more “controversial” elements is a strong affirmation of the full inclusion of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender persons. While affirming the centrality of Jesus Christ, it also “controversially” recognizes that God might have other sheep and that God might speak through other voices to those sheep.
Asphalt Jesus is part travelogue – we as the reader travel along and meet a cast of characters, some conservative, others liberal. Some closed to new ideas, but many others, even if they’re conservative, demonstrate an amazing openness to the message of grace and hope carried by the walkers. The journey begins on Easter Sunday 2006 in Phoenix and 141 days later, it ends in Washington, DC. It’s not an easy journey, but it’s a fruitful one.
Asphalt Jesus is also part exposition of the Phoenix Affirmations. Each chapter picks up one or more of these statements, often using the conversations and encounters as the foundation for the exposition. The purpose in this exposition is to share a new way of being Christian. It is an invitation to those with moderate to liberal theologies and practices to speak up, to make their voices heard, for this voice is not being heard by the broader public.
What this book does is offer hope to the church that even in rural and conservative areas of the country, there is deep hunger for spiritual things. Elnes speaks of the “spiritually homeless,” people who have longings for God and yet don’t find their answers in churches. These aren’t just skeptics, they are people with doubts and questions, who find that when they enter churches those questions and doubts are not honored. They, by and large, are people who want to bring both intellect and heart into the church, hoping to find a place where science and faith are both respected. There are those places, in most communities, but as Eric reminds us, too often we have muted our voice, believing that the status quo needs to be tended to in order to survive.
This is, then, an invitation to embrace a faith that is “vibrant, inclusive, and compassionate.” It is a risky proposition, but it seems worthwhile. To understand this faith, Elnes speaks of three Holy Week related metaphors – Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday. Good Friday faith is marked by a sense of anger. It is found on both the religious right and the religious left. It is an energetic faith, and may even have its place in appropriate contexts, but when it is the dominant message, it becomes poisonous. The second metaphor is that of Holy Saturday and its primary energy is “angst.” It is a feeling of despair – like that felt by the disciples after the death and burial of Jesus. It is a common sensibility in Mainline Protestantism, a feeling darkness and loss. There is sacred value in this dark night of the soul, but when it is dominant it sucks the energy away from the gospel. Finally, there is Easter Sunday.
The defining energy of Easter Sunday is awe. It is the energy that empowered a group of six walkers and their team to cross a country on foot. It is a sensibility found increasingly among evangelical Emergent congregations and even in reinvigorated liberal and progressive ones. Elnes writes about this new emergent movement of “awe-filled Christians” and describes them as tending to be “joyfully and unapologetically Christian, yet they appreciate other faith traditions, as well, refusing to deny the legitimacy of other paths God may create for humanity. They tend to treat Scripture as authoritative, though they do not read it literally. They also tend to value prayer, reflection, and community dialogue, as well as care for the poor, more highly than their peers” (p. 170).
One doesn’t have to agree with every aspect of this book to find it compelling and even spiritually moving. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s written in such a way that it can be read by lay as well as clergy. A study guide is found at the end of the book, written by another of the walkers, C. Howie Howard. This should prove useful for congregational discussion.
The goal in all of this – it is too incite the silent lambs, that they might speak out and reclaim their place in the world, so that the spiritually homeless, the seekers after God, will know that there is a safe place to inhabit. It is a call to join the journey forward, knowing that God is present and still speaking in our midst – knowing that Eric is UCC, he’ll appreciate that last reference to the God who continues to speak anew. It is therefore, a signpost on the journey toward transformation, and a most worthy one it is.
A team of walkers crossed the nation carrying with them a message of hope and grace. Led by the pastor of Scottsdale United Church of Christ, Eric Elnes, a Princeton educated biblical scholar, the team of walkers -- which took on the name of CrossWalk America -- sought to engage Americans of all stripes, in cities and in rural areas with the gospel of Jesus. In an age when most Americans think of Christianity in its more conservative and at times strident colors, this group offered a different perspective.
Elnes was a contributor to the writing of the Phoenix Affirmations, a set of twelve principles that defined the nature of Christian love as it applies to God, to neighbor, and to self. It is a set of principles that espouses respect for others, speaks prophetically, and calls for humble action in the world. Among its more “controversial” elements is a strong affirmation of the full inclusion of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgender persons. While affirming the centrality of Jesus Christ, it also “controversially” recognizes that God might have other sheep and that God might speak through other voices to those sheep.
Asphalt Jesus is part travelogue – we as the reader travel along and meet a cast of characters, some conservative, others liberal. Some closed to new ideas, but many others, even if they’re conservative, demonstrate an amazing openness to the message of grace and hope carried by the walkers. The journey begins on Easter Sunday 2006 in Phoenix and 141 days later, it ends in Washington, DC. It’s not an easy journey, but it’s a fruitful one.
Asphalt Jesus is also part exposition of the Phoenix Affirmations. Each chapter picks up one or more of these statements, often using the conversations and encounters as the foundation for the exposition. The purpose in this exposition is to share a new way of being Christian. It is an invitation to those with moderate to liberal theologies and practices to speak up, to make their voices heard, for this voice is not being heard by the broader public.
What this book does is offer hope to the church that even in rural and conservative areas of the country, there is deep hunger for spiritual things. Elnes speaks of the “spiritually homeless,” people who have longings for God and yet don’t find their answers in churches. These aren’t just skeptics, they are people with doubts and questions, who find that when they enter churches those questions and doubts are not honored. They, by and large, are people who want to bring both intellect and heart into the church, hoping to find a place where science and faith are both respected. There are those places, in most communities, but as Eric reminds us, too often we have muted our voice, believing that the status quo needs to be tended to in order to survive.
This is, then, an invitation to embrace a faith that is “vibrant, inclusive, and compassionate.” It is a risky proposition, but it seems worthwhile. To understand this faith, Elnes speaks of three Holy Week related metaphors – Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday. Good Friday faith is marked by a sense of anger. It is found on both the religious right and the religious left. It is an energetic faith, and may even have its place in appropriate contexts, but when it is the dominant message, it becomes poisonous. The second metaphor is that of Holy Saturday and its primary energy is “angst.” It is a feeling of despair – like that felt by the disciples after the death and burial of Jesus. It is a common sensibility in Mainline Protestantism, a feeling darkness and loss. There is sacred value in this dark night of the soul, but when it is dominant it sucks the energy away from the gospel. Finally, there is Easter Sunday.
The defining energy of Easter Sunday is awe. It is the energy that empowered a group of six walkers and their team to cross a country on foot. It is a sensibility found increasingly among evangelical Emergent congregations and even in reinvigorated liberal and progressive ones. Elnes writes about this new emergent movement of “awe-filled Christians” and describes them as tending to be “joyfully and unapologetically Christian, yet they appreciate other faith traditions, as well, refusing to deny the legitimacy of other paths God may create for humanity. They tend to treat Scripture as authoritative, though they do not read it literally. They also tend to value prayer, reflection, and community dialogue, as well as care for the poor, more highly than their peers” (p. 170).
One doesn’t have to agree with every aspect of this book to find it compelling and even spiritually moving. It’s not a perfect book, but it’s written in such a way that it can be read by lay as well as clergy. A study guide is found at the end of the book, written by another of the walkers, C. Howie Howard. This should prove useful for congregational discussion.
The goal in all of this – it is too incite the silent lambs, that they might speak out and reclaim their place in the world, so that the spiritually homeless, the seekers after God, will know that there is a safe place to inhabit. It is a call to join the journey forward, knowing that God is present and still speaking in our midst – knowing that Eric is UCC, he’ll appreciate that last reference to the God who continues to speak anew. It is therefore, a signpost on the journey toward transformation, and a most worthy one it is.
By the way, the title of the book has a double meaning. In one sense it speaks to the reality of putting one's feet to the asphalt in sharing the message of Jesus. But it also speaks to the experience of walking into warm new asphalt, which hung to the shoes of the walkers as they approached Hereford, TX.
Comments