Bringing the Kingdom

Progressive Reflections on Scripture

Kevin Brown

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781532619557, 9781498245913
• eBook ISBN: 9781498245906
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

People have used the Bible for a variety of purposes over the course of the past two thousand years; unfortunately, many of those uses have reinforced power structures and systems that oppress and dominate those without privilege. Worst of all, people have used the Bible as a means to divide humanity into those who are worthy of salvation and those who are not. However, if we look at the lectionary readings, especially the gospels, we can see that God actively seeks to undercut and subvert systems of power, and God calls Christians to do the same. Through an examination of Jesus's teachings, with support from a wide variety of other parts of the Bible, we can see that ideas of social justice and true liberation run throughout God's message to humanity. Rather than focusing on who gets into heaven and who doesn't, Jesus seeks to proclaim God's love for all humanity. By reading the Bible this way and attempting to live up to Jesus's call, we can seek to bring the kingdom to our world, as it is in heaven.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Introduction
• It’s the End of the World As We Know It
• The Harbinger of Things to Come
• Do You Hear?
• A Song for Progressives
• More Than a Good Story
• Taking Action
• Border Crossing
• Tipping Points
• Good News
• Hearing the Call
• Exceptionalism
• Not Pie in the Sky By and By
• Hide It Under a Bushel? No!
• Are We Sure We Want Transformation?
• It’s Just That Simple
• True Transfiguration
• Spiritual Practices
• The Real Problem of Evil
• The State of the World
• Turning Over the Tables
• Why Evil Exists
• Reconciliation
• The Walking Dead
• Street Theater
• The Body and the Blood
• The Cross
• The Empty Tomb
• Having Faith
• Being Human
• Abundant Living
• New and Improved
• When the Spirit Moves
• Looking in the Right Place
• Nobody Likes Me
• The Wind Blows All the Walls Down
• Not Going It Alone
• Breaking the Law
• How to Stand Up
• Not What We Want to Hear
• Being Neighborly
• Bringing the Kingdom
• We Can’t Always Get What We Want
• Getting and Spending
• Feeding the Hungry
• Not the Warm and Fuzzy Jesus
• Surely He Knows Better
• Who Do We Say He Is?
• What to Worship
• What We’ve Lost
• Ending the Cycle
• Radical Grace
• Doubts and Questions
• Hearing the Margins
• Not One of Us
• Questions Even Jesus Didn’t Answer
• Can’t Buy Us Love
• Always Reforming
• The Heart of God
• A False Choice
• We Shall See
• The Generous Widow
• True Community
• The Sheep and the Goats
• Books and Movies I’ve Read and Seen That Have Helped Me