I recommend that you take the time to read this op-ed article. It is interesting. I think what I find interesting about it is how those outside of our faith can see the basics of our faith better than we often can.
While I disagree with Brennan on the key point that he appears to be unconvinced of Christ’s deity and therefore assuming a universalist position, I wonder at how clearly he sees the core ideas of our faith. The quote from Ghandi stating that Jesus’ message can be encapsulated by the Sermon on the Mount intrigues me.
I don’t necessarily agree with that claim, but it intrigues me, because this whole thing really is much simpler than we paint it to be. My seminary career was suffocated by people who couldn’t just present the simple Gospel: they had to have every semantic nuance in pristine order, for fear that the hearer (typically other “followers” whom they wanted to out-spiritualize) wouldn’t understand it clearly. But it is clear. It is clear without theological attempts to better define it, without philosophical attempts to correlate it, and without apologetic attempts justify it.
The Message is simple. Ghandi recognized that, at least in an incomplete form. How is it that we miss it, and, in doing so, drive seekers into the insanity that we’ve condemned ourselves to in our Evangelical subculture?
Geez, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.