Rev. Susan J. Hetrick
One of the challenges of being a follower of Jesus is keeping his message honest, relevant, and unadulterated. People have been struggling with this ever since Jesus was around. Almost as soon as he ascended, Jesus’ followers began squabbling over what he said versus what he really meant, and whether or not one had to be circumcised in order to join their community. (Seriously. It’s in Acts 15.)
Fast-forward to the 21st century. Jesus followers – now commonly known as Christians – have added and subtracted so many things from Jesus’ original message that it’s hard to know what to think. You could probably look it up in the Bible, but the Bible is so loooong! Especially if you’re a Millennial who is used to 30 second soundbites and 140 character tweets.
Scott Douglas noticed this problem. So he wrote a book, called#OrganicJesus: Finding Your Way to an Unprocessed, GMO-Free Christianity.(Yes, the hashtag is part of the title.) He also began tweeting the Bible, but that’s not the point.
#OrganicJesus is a fun and informative read. It’s fun because it has lots of attention diverters like Useless Polls (which are in fact, useless) and WikiBreaks (which contain fascinating tidbits of historical Christian trivia), and cute little illustrations. It’s informative because the author is also a librarian and knows how to do his research.
For the record, I’m not a Millennial, and attention diverters seriously annoy me - when I read a book, I just want to read the book; I don’t like interruptions on the page. This is the main reason I don’t read magazines anymore. That and those annoying little postcards that fall out every time you open one. Anyway, I have to hand it to whoever formatted this particular book, because the interruptions did not come in the middle of paragraphs or before the end of sentences. I was able to complete my train of thought, and the WikiBreaks are genuinely interesting. Like the one that lists all of the heresies that cropped up in the early church. Or the one about how the organic movement is much older than you’d think.
So yeah, #OrganicJesus is an entertaining, theologically sound book. Is it serious theology? Well, it’s good theology. But it isn’t serious. Of course, I don’t think God is serious all the time either. Don’t believe me? Explain the platypus.
© October 2016, Rev. Susan J. Hetrick
Fast-forward to the 21st century. Jesus followers – now commonly known as Christians – have added and subtracted so many things from Jesus’ original message that it’s hard to know what to think. You could probably look it up in the Bible, but the Bible is so loooong! Especially if you’re a Millennial who is used to 30 second soundbites and 140 character tweets.
Scott Douglas noticed this problem. So he wrote a book, called#OrganicJesus: Finding Your Way to an Unprocessed, GMO-Free Christianity.(Yes, the hashtag is part of the title.) He also began tweeting the Bible, but that’s not the point.
#OrganicJesus is a fun and informative read. It’s fun because it has lots of attention diverters like Useless Polls (which are in fact, useless) and WikiBreaks (which contain fascinating tidbits of historical Christian trivia), and cute little illustrations. It’s informative because the author is also a librarian and knows how to do his research.
For the record, I’m not a Millennial, and attention diverters seriously annoy me - when I read a book, I just want to read the book; I don’t like interruptions on the page. This is the main reason I don’t read magazines anymore. That and those annoying little postcards that fall out every time you open one. Anyway, I have to hand it to whoever formatted this particular book, because the interruptions did not come in the middle of paragraphs or before the end of sentences. I was able to complete my train of thought, and the WikiBreaks are genuinely interesting. Like the one that lists all of the heresies that cropped up in the early church. Or the one about how the organic movement is much older than you’d think.
So yeah, #OrganicJesus is an entertaining, theologically sound book. Is it serious theology? Well, it’s good theology. But it isn’t serious. Of course, I don’t think God is serious all the time either. Don’t believe me? Explain the platypus.
© October 2016, Rev. Susan J. Hetrick