Why I think Brian Zahnd’s discussion of Jesus, the Church, the Bible, and Christianity is outdated

In a Substack post, Brian Zahnd looks at four key theological “entities” and warns of the “theological mischief” that happens when the “critical distinction” between them is not properly respected. The Church, the Bible, and the religion of Christianity are all good and important things, but not as good and important as Jesus. “The moment we try to nudge the Church or the Bible or Christianity toward equality with Christ we are headed down a theological path that leads to confusion and real-life trouble.”

My objection to this sort of analysis is two-fold. First, it relies on a flawed understanding of the categories if they are meant to be fundamentally biblical and not the product of later theological rationalisation. Secondly, it is an outdated analysis of “Christianity”: it deals with problems of the past, not of the future.

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Gentiles needed the death of Jesus as much as Jews did, but for different reasons
In answer to Peter’s comments about my post on the “The logic of salvation for Jews and Gentiles in Paul” here’s another broad-brush attempt to clarify the thesis.His basic point is that there is no real difference in the logic: “it seems that Paul’s argument was that Jews and Gentiles were in the… ( | 8 comments)
The marriage of the Lamb and his Bride and the not-so-happy-ever-after
I’ve just finished reading a book on the church and same-sex attraction that has an appendix setting out the “Bible’s meta-narrative in its four great acts: creation, rebellion, redemption and perfection”. This grossly reductionist storyline is how evangelical thought has typically reconciled… ( | 4 comments)
Scripture, same-sex marriage, natural law, and the narrative-historical method
Is the main story that the Bible tells bigger than human history or smaller than human history? The biblical story is certainly bookended with creation and new creation, but it’s what happens in between that I’m concerned about—the sequence of events from the rise of Babel (Gen.… ( | 11 comments)
How would Jesus teach the church to pray today?
There were two parts to the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples.Our Father in the heavens, sanctified be (hagiasthētō) your name; may your kingdom come; may your will become as in heaven also on earth. (Matt 6:9–10)First, they were to pray that by intervening as king in Israel’s history… ( | 5 comments)
More on the narrative logic of salvation: “we have redemption through his blood”
Someone suggested on Facebook that Ephesians 1:7 contradicts my argument about the narrative logic of salvation:In him we have redemption (tēn apolutrōsin) through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses… (Eph. 1:7)This is the ESV translation. It seems to suggest that Paul regarded… ( | 13 comments)
The rise and fall of the modern evangelical paradigm
This is a response to a couple of questions raised about the conclusions to the preceding post on the logic of the salvation of Jews and Gentiles. First, what did I mean when I said: “As a response to the fall of Christendom, modern evangelicalism has reinvigorated the universal model to keep the… ( | 3 comments)
The logic of salvation for Jews and Gentiles in Paul
The theologies that dominate the thought and practice of the modern church distribute their truths as flattened user-friendly doctrines. The Bible, however, gives us theological truth in the form of extended narratives mapped against the landscape of ancient history, as seen from the perspective of… ( | 9 comments)