As soon as I learned of Dr. Godsey's new book, I ordered it. I was anxious to read it though I expected us to differ on numerous points. I was anxious because I expected to be challenged by Dr. Godsey. For those who do not know who Dr. Godsey is, he served as the 17th President of Mercer University here in Macon. Dr. Godsey was a great president who did many, many good things for Mercer University, though he was often in trouble for his teachings on Christianity with the Southern baptists who supported Mercer. Agree with Dr. Godsey or disagree, he has been viewed as a brilliant and influential man. So my expectations were that the book would be equally brilliant and influential.It was not. It was a sad disappointment. It was filled with flawed logic and half truths concerning the Christian faith that Dr. Godsey claims to associate himself with. While I expected our views to be different, I didn't expect what I read - over-generalizations and misrepresentations.
I am sorry to say that this book will not bring most evangelical Christians to the table for honest discussion because it is less than honest about evangelical Christianity. My last word here... disappointing.
Let me give you a couple of examples of what I mean:
In the Preface: "We seem eager to believe that God is only on our side. Scholars know better. Theologians know better. Most preachers know better." Where does Dr. Godsey get his information that "most" scholars, theologians, and preachers know better? Is he insinuating that we (theologians and preachers, and scholars) teach and preach something that we know is not true?
He follows that with an accusation that we are teaching congregations to be exclusive and mean-spirited. All of this he ties to the teaching of exclusivity in Christianity.
Pg 21 - "Christians need to get over it. Jesus is not God's only word." Jesus is then equated as a word of God with creation, Adam, Mother Teresa, Muhammad, Pope John XXIII, Gandhi, MLK, the Qur'an and more. Godsey never really explains what he means but does say that to disagree with him by claiming that any word is THE WORD of God or from God is "a form of myopic self-centeredness that presumes to place ourselves-our vision and our understanding - at the center of God's universe."
Further - pg 22 - anyone who believes "that Christianity alone or Muslims alone have sole access to the ultimate reality that underlies the meaning of the universe" is irrational. Really? Why? Why can someone not have truth?
One last one: pg 23 - "Jesus showed us that we really come alive only when we see beyond ourselves to our essential connectedness to one another, including Muslims and Jews and Buddhists and others." No reference to Jesus' actual teaching is given. Probably because there is none.
