The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town

Resonate #1

by Paul Louis Metzger

The Resonate series recovers the ancient wisdom of Scripture and helps us understand how it resonates with our complex world. The stories and insights of each book of the Bible are brought into conversation with contemporary voices of hope and lament--the cultural messages we interact with on a daily basis. The Scriptures become a meeting ground where God speaks to the pressing concerns of our day, and we are confronted in turn with a fresh experience of God's truth. In this journey through the Gospel of John, Paul Louis Metzger wrestles with the question of what happens when God, who is love, comes to town and takes up residence among us. For some this new neighbor love is welcome; for others, unusual; for still others, suspect--even dangerous. We learn from John's Gospel what it means to be called friends and lovers of God, what it means to put love to death and what it means for love to rise again in our midst and in our lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian

304 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

Integrating theology and spirituality with cultural sensitivity is at the center of Dr. Metzger's vision and vocation. Dr. Metzger is Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary of Multnomah University where he also directs The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins. He has been active in intercultural work in the States, Japan, and England.

Dr. Metzger is the author of Connecting Christ: How to Discuss Jesus in a World of Diverse Paths (Thomas Nelson, 2012); New Wine Tastings: Theological Essays of Cultural Engagement (Cascade, 2011); The Gospel of John: When Love Comes to Town (InterVarsity Press, 2010); Exploring Ecclesiology: An Evangelical and Ecumenical Introduction (co-authored with Brad Harper; Brazos, 2009); Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church (Eerdmans, 2007); and The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 2003). He is co-editor of A World for All?: Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology (co-edited with William F. Storrar and Peter J. Casarella; Eerdmans, 2011); editor of Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology (T&T Clark International, 2005), and editor of Cultural Encounters: a Journal for the Theology of Culture. Dr. Metzger is a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey, and has developed a strategic ministry partnership with Dr. John M. Perkins titled, "Drum Majors for Love, Truth and Justice.". He is married with two children. Dr. Metzger has a keen interest in the art of Katsushika Hokusai and Georges Rouault and in the writings of John Steinbeck.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some really great sections of this book. I felt some of his metaphors were a little mixed or stretched too far. Overall, it was encouraging to read about Jesus.

[Bob Wolniak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another resource for creative application of biblical text.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had never heard a great deal about Dr. Metzger so I approached this book with a little reserve. This book far exceeded my previous expectations and will have to be listed as one of the top 10 commentaries on John that I have read up-to-date. I will no doubt be recommending it to all my friends.Dr. Metzger is conservative. Although he does not spend any time talking about the authorship or history of John's Gospel he lets his position be known right away. There are certainly enough books on the market debating that topic. For a great overview of that one should read D.A. Carson's "The Gospel According to John." This book is not about academia although academics can benefit from it. His idea is to have "one hand on the Bible and the other on the Newspaper." He did it very well. It is not exegetical and moves scene by scene instead of verse by verse.The strength of this work is that it is devotional. It makes real-life connections with the stories of John and helps the reader to look at each story through a modern lens without compromising or tampering with the historicity of the events. For a minister looking to teach John to young people this book will serve as a place to glean new ideas and approaches to expressing the truth of Christ in a relevant and meaningful way. He connects with music, television and pop culture in a very tasteful manner without coming across as "hoaxie." He is very easy to relate to and never comes across as arrogant or condescending.One area I wish he would have spent more time dealing with is the sermon of Jesus in John 5. While dealing a great deal with the healing of the paralytic he really kind of dropped it and left it from there. There are solid aspects to writing story by story but there can be weaknesses. I am not sure why he left this part with so little said about it even though he did work through every other sermon passage more thoroughly. So many commentaries on John are great but fail to actually have a strong application for our world today. We have to leave John in his world but we have to bring the truth that he gave us into our world. It really challenged me to think more deeply about how to connect audiences with these powerful realities. If you are simply studying John this book will help you make those connections you need for practical application. If you are planning on teaching John I urge you get this book because I think you will find it to be invaluable in your own preparation.

[Lee Harmon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. Other reviews built up my hopes for a deep exegesis, but this wasn’t the focus. Metzger is more interested in encouraging us in our walk with God.

Example: The book opens, as expected, with the Logos prologue to John’s Gospel. After a short discussion, Metzger writes, “One could easily get lost in deep theological and Trinitarian reflection on the divine Word of John 1, and how the Word is with God and is God from all eternity.” Yes, please! Let’s! But we didn’t. A bit later, in the same chapter, Metzger writes off the topic: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. That computes far better than e=mc2 or any mathematical formula any day, don’t you think? Now, won’t you experience?”

I purchased this book on my own (rather than it being sent to us for review), so I felt no obligation to finish. I read about a third of it, scanned the rest to see if the focus would change, and settled upon a non-rating of three stars. Certainly well-written, but not very helpful from a scholarly perspective.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like Metzger's commentary/theology on John a great deal. I love the Rouault on the cover and the book has received rave reviews. Not from me though. I appreciate attempts to connect the Biblical text to today - in the end this felt like too much today and too much Metzger and too little Biblical text. And what he said about the text felt routine and hardly new. Maybe I have read enough other commentaries on John (after reading Lesslie Newbigin's little commentary on John (The Light has Come) other commentaries on John do seem a little mundane). That sounds hyper-critical - I appreciate the effort being made here to connect to the Biblical text, I just also know that I am not the audience for it. So maybe it is me - though I have to say too that part of the problem is expectations being set far too high.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Refreshing way to look at the Bible. So many "commentaries" are completely rational in their approach and stick with the straightforward approach of unpacking the meaning of the Biblical text. This series is unlike other commentaries and engages the current context of our world. Wonderful to have someone talk about the Bible and also pay attention to culture - not just ancient culture but our own contemporary culture. This kind of commentary is long overdue. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

[Wesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt very "dumbed down." I felt like I was drowning in pop culture references the whole entire book.