Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance

Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance is a book I have been looking forward to since I first heard that Ken Wilson and Emily Swan, the co-pastors of Blue Ocean Faith Ann Arbor, were working on it. I have already done some writing on how the concept of Solus Jesus has been of significant benefit to my theology and life as a whole, so it should not be surprising to hear that I was thrilled to hear that Swan and Wilson were working on a full book on the subject. There is a LOT going on in this book. It certainly did not disappoint, but it did surprise me—in a remarkably encouraging way.When I sat down to read Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance, I was expecting an extended explanation and defense of what Blue Ocean Faith people mean when talk about the concept. As someone who has been hanging around the fringes of the Blue Ocean Faith community (and cheering it on) for a while now, I was already familiar with the idea in broad terms. Essentially Solus Jesus is a riff on, and reaction to, the reformation credo "Sola Scriptura". Inspired by Phyllis Tickle's suggestion that the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, will begin to work in a fresh paradigm every five hundred years or so, Solus Jesus recommends a decentering of the Bible as a source of certainty and instead placing our confidence in the person of Jesus Christ. Ken Wilson and Emily Swan are both post-Evangelicals who were put through the ringer by the Evangelical "machine" over the issue of full LGBTQ+ inclusion (Ken Wilson tells the story of this in his previous book A Letter to My Congregation). It was probably for that reason, as well as the general timeliness of the subject, that I expected this book to be that defense and explanation.It turns out that the vision Swan and Wilson had for their book was much bigger than mine. While there is some defense of the concept (I found Chapter 4: In Defense of Experience—Wilson and Chapter 5: The age of the Spirit—Swan particularly helpful here) the greater portion of the book is devoted to a theological and practical working out of what Solus Jesus can look like in the contemporary world. In essence, the Authors delivered to my expectation in Part 1 (Solus Jesus) of the book, and then went well beyond, bringing the titular concept into conversation with Girardian scapegoat theory to recommend a more developed and ambitious theology in Part 2 (A Theology of Resistance), and then working though some of what an application of this theology might look like if implemented by the contemporary Church in Part 3 (A New Way Forward). While all three cohere nicely and the chapters all build effectively on one another, each part really could have been its own work. In fact, the only critique I can think of for this book is that I would have really enjoyed a bit more of each section, so maybe a trilogy would have worked well.Both Swan and Wilson have engaging and complementary writing styles and they are both up-front with their backgrounds and perspectives. As a result, Solus Jesus is both accessible on a popular level and "challenging and thought provoking" as a book of theology. The co-authorship takes the form of independently written chapters with Wilson and Swan each writing from their respective strengths.In terms of the actual ideas presented, Solus Jesus represents a serious candidate for a Girardian post-evangelical (and possibly renewed mainline Protestant) theology. Taking the title to represent the two major themes of the book in conversation: First Solus Jesus as a re-centering of Jesus and de-centering of the Bible-as-source-of-certainty in the life of the Christain, then A Theology of Resistance built on the foundation of Solus Jesus and complimented by Girardian mimetic and scapegoat theory. In both cases, Swan and Wilson come across far more as offering, than as arguing, their ideas.The Solus Jesus thesis is grounded, not in a rejection of the Bible as such, but in a rejection of the Bible as a source of certainty, first, because certainty isn't turning out to be a realistic demand, and second because the Bible itself points more to Jesus of Nazareth than to its self as a source for confidence. While the book does lay out a case for this, it strikes me that Wilson and Swan are writing this book at a time when the evangelical (and post-evangelical) case against rigid understandings of Biblical authority and infallibility have already been made (Pete Enns' The Sin of Certianty is both referenced and relevant here). Swan and Wilson are, I suspect, largely done with attempting to justify their Christianity to the Evangelical machine and have moved on to offer their insights to those who are already searching for something more.So, too, with their Theology of Resistance. Swan and Wilson waste almost no time attacking or critiquing existing Evangelical theologies of ethics, politics, and atonement beyond sharing a few of their own helpful stories of times and ways in which those theologies came up short for them in the past. Instead, the authors work to interpret much of the (particularly Western) Church's crisis of being and failure through the lens of Girardian mimetic and scapegoat mechanics. While I don't find Girard to provide any sort of perfect, comprehensive model for human behavior or a theology of the atonement (nor do Swan and Wilson claim that he does), I was impressed with how well the model fit both the atonement and as an explanation for the repeated failure of the Church to take the side of justice as it has interacted with an unjust society throughout history. In line with the aphorism "all models are wrong, but some are useful", Solus Jesus: A Theology of Resistance demonstrates clearly that Girard's is a useful model in understanding God's actions in the world and through the church.Ultimately I found Solus Jeusus: A Theology of Resistance both satisfying and challenging in all of the best ways, and I sincerely hope that it will have a place in determining the direction that post-evangelicalism will take at this juncture in history—it certainly deserves to.

When Emily Swan and Ken Wilson look at the landscape of a 500-year old Protestantism, they don't see much that encourages them. Yet when they examine and reexamine the good news of the rabbi Jesus of Nazareth living with us still by his spirit, they see enormous possibilities for mercy, for justice, and for resistance.The first of the book's three sections is a call for a Jesus-centered, experience-affirming, humble approach to authority in religious truth. Drawing on history, philosophy, science, and their own experience of faith, Swan and Wilson sketch out some of the limits and frankly lack of integrity that on ongoing commitment to the Protestant rallying cry of sola scriptura implies. Sola scriptura argued that we matters of truth can be discerned by an appeal to the authority of the plain meaning of the Bible. While 500 years ago, this represented a reform from an authority vested in sometimes corrupt human rulers, it's no longer serving or working. The many thousands of Protestant denominations are sufficient proof that the meaning of scripture isn't self-evident. We also see the authority of scripture so often appealed to to justify unloving, harmful exclusion and oppression. Swan and Wilson's own experience of exclusion as a queer person and an advocate for full LGBT inclusion in the church in only the most current example. This first section is so important, so good, it was the highlight of the book for me.In the second section, the authors review the work of Renee Girard and explore his insights on Jesus, scripture, rivalry and scapegoating. This helps them position Jesus as uniquely in solidarity with marginalized or oppressed victims, seeking to liberate humanity from our tendencies toward rivalry and scapegoating. Swan's summary of Girard's work and application of it to scripture is as clear and simple and compelling as anything I've read. Her work with Dietrich Bonhoffer is also fascinating and helfpul. Wilson's chapters on silence and privilege and his work with the stories of Peter and Paul is also compelling.In the final section of the book, Wilson and Swan ask questions about the future of a "solus Jesus" spiritual and religious practice. Their conclusions here are almost by definition more tentative but are great beginnings to conversations we need to have. How does the cruciform center of the Jesus story make sense in our times? How can religion help people and societies flourish? What forms of spirituality will actually lead to more mercy and justice? And what does a Jesus-centered spiritual and religious practice look like in a robustly pluralist world? Wilson and Swan offer really helpful suggestions to each of these questions. I'm eager to talk about them among colleagues and friends.This book, more than any other I've read, suggests new and hopeful directions for a post-evangelical, post-patriarchal, post-modern expression of the Christian faith. I'm so grateful for it.

I can’t recommend this book enough!!! Liberation theology and an attempt to restore the gospel narrative to marginalised people’s. Affirmed much of what I hold to be true about the gospel.