Fall To Grace: A Revolution Of God, Self & Society (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
There are a lot of things I liked about "Fall To Grace". I like Jay Bakker's style, I like a lot of what he has to say, and like that he's willing to use the pain he's been through to help others. I think God is using Jay to help a lot of people who the American church at large is afraid of/confused by/angry at/unable to relate to. Jay writes in a way that makes you want to join a revolution and hug a lot of people all at the same time. My sense is that Jesus agrees with Jay more often than he agrees with the kind of people Jay is writing against.Unfortunately, there are some things that I don't like about "Fall To Grace", and they were undermined the rest of the book enough to me that it took it from "great" to "good". Most people probably assume it's the chapters on homosexuality. While I can't outright agree with Jay's views on homosexuality and what the Bible says on it, I also can't outright disagree with it. I haven't done the research into the Greek that I would have to do to say rather or not I can comfortably comment on his position. If it counts for anything, I want Jay to be right... and I plan to research it farther, but that "hot button" wasn't my issue. My issue is his apparent willingness to grab parts of the Bible that line up with his views (specifically on grace) and base his entire theology on them, and then specifically and willingly discredit verses to the contrary. Let me be clear, we ALL do this in one way or another, no one has perfect theology, but it is normally done from a position of ignorance. In my opinion, Jay's statements go beyond an emphasis of one concept over another concept and fall into picking which parts of the Bible he deems "inspired" and which aren't. Let me be clear, if he doesn't believe in the inspiration of Scripture, I can understand that and move forward. While I hold tightly to the inspiration of Scripture, I believe there is room for one to be a Christian and have faith in Christ without holding this view. This is plainly evident, as the books of the Bible weren't written for some years after Christ's ascension, and certainly we aren't to believe that all believers between the ascension and the completion of the Scripture were somehow less Christian than we are. If anything, we try through the revelation of Scripture to come closer to their early understanding of the faith. I do think that if this is Jay's belief, he should actually state that plainly, though, as this would be a key factor in understanding his views. This problem was most prevalent when discussing James' instructions to the early church. To believe (what I interpret to be) Jay's take on the verses, James was stepping outside the true Gospel and back into the binds of legalism and Law when instructing the Gentile believers to avoid sexual immorality, eating blood and things strangled, etc. Jay's view requires that these statements (and the following letter that was sent to the Gentile believers) be deemed uninspired and incorrect. This has deep implications for the Gospel as a whole. If the Gospel had become distorted by the leaders of the church this early on in the process, then it calls the entire Gospel into question. The letter that went to the Gentiles claimed divine inspiration in and of itself outside of the question of larger Biblical inspiration (it includes "it seems good to the Holy Spirit and to us").I'm left with two options:A) Jesus' brother James was incorrect in his theology, and was successful in duping the other Apostles into agreeing with his error in one of the earliest Christian statements of faith.B) There's more to the story than Jay understands at this point.Is it possible that Jay is right and James is wrong? Yes... but it seems quite unlikely from my point of view.This approach to Scripture leaves me feeling like the rest of the book is based on a shaky foundation, and calls into question all other conclusions it draws. This was a big issue, really THE big issue for me in the book.There was also one error that I found to be a hindrance to my ability to track with him through one key chapter. It's slightly nit picky I suppose, but it was also the set up for his larger thought in the chapter, and it seemed like an unfortunate misstatement. Early in chapter 15, Jay says "...of the approximately one million verses in the Bible, only six or seven appear..." It took me 30 seconds to research that there are a little more than 31,100 verses in the Bible. Where did he get the "one million verses" thing? It made him seem like he didn't know what he was talking about in a point where you deeply hope he knows what he's talking about. It was a big distraction for me, but I may just be incredibly nit picky on this one.Overall, I hope Jay the best, and pray he continues forward in his knowledge and wisdom. Despite my issues with the book, I really like him as a person and a brother in the faith. I like Jay Bakker. I watched One Punk Under God and he really won me over as a person. I also read a chapter involving him in Rapture Ready about contemporary Christian pop culture (great book). I think he's a thoughtful, genuine guy. I saw this at the library and was interested in his spiritual beliefs. The book is short and in a "contemporary" style, which sometimes gets a little corny-football metaphors for example. He also bases his idea of grace and faith on transactional atonement which still doesn't make any sense to me. It's more of a warm, fuzzy faith, contrasting the recent books I've read by C.S. Lewis and Reynolds Price who offer a mysterious, stark and sublime God. I'm not personally swayed by anything that uses the Bible as a foundation for spiritual life rather a non-exclusive guide. Nevertheless, I like the idea of grace that he proposes and how it plays out in human interactions (tolerance, kindness, etc). It's not a book that is going to answer any deep questions about the nature of the universe, and I couldn't tell you how it lines up with the Bible, having never studied it. I do think it would be a nice reminder for Christians about how to live by the spirit of Jesus or for someone like me who is not a Christian but can appreciate his teachings.
What do You think about Fall To Grace: A Revolution Of God, Self & Society (2011)?
I could only read a few chapters and realized I was wasting my time. And a church in a bar? Really.
—Lucy
Loved this book, gave me such a fresh perspective on things and on grace.
—Nick
