The Gospel of Our King: Bible, Worldview, and the Mission of Every Christian
Overview
This accessible overview shows how the Bible—with its 66 books, dozens of authors, and multiple genres—comes together to provide an overarching story about God the King and explains how the Christian gospel and mission address the totality of human life.
Written by a biblical scholar and a theologian, The Gospel of Our King shows how any account of gospel and mission can only be understood in light of the whole biblical testimony. The authors help us understand the Bible’s overarching narrative as the story that encompasses everything. This story, revealed by God and centered on Jesus the King, enables us to know and love God and to fulfill his purpose for our lives. It is the framework within which we come to understand the Christian worldview, the Christian gospel, and the Christian mission. When we understand how the whole Bible fits together to shape the totality of a Christian’s life, we will be prepared to show the goodness of Christ and the gospel to others in our personal, social, cultural, and global contexts.
- Connects the gospel to the overall story of Scripture
- Examines the holistic nature of the mission of God’s people
- Explores the theological and social aspects of the Christian mission
- Introduction
- Creation: God the King and His Good Creation
- Fall: Human Sin and Its Aftermath
- Redemption: Covenant and Kingdom
- Redemption: New Covenant and Consummated Kingdom
- Interlude: Worldview, Gospel, and Mission
- A Theological Mission: Radical Monotheism for a Secular Age
- A Social Mission: Relational Monotheism for an Individualistic Age
- A Cultural Mission: Restorational Monotheism for a Decadent Age
- A Global Mission: Realized Monotheism for an International Age
Some expositions of the biblical narrative as the foundation for our Christian worldview lack contemporary application. And some cultural analyses of the idolatries of Western culture lack solid biblical foundations. This book lacks neither. Ashford and Thomas have combined their respective areas of expertise most effectively, giving us a book that is biblically rich, theologically thorough, spiritually insightful, holistically missional, and practically relevant. Western Christians today need to become much more rooted in the whole Bible story as active participants in its great drama. And we need to open our eyes to recognize and renounce the false gods and idols that masquerade within our culture—even in Christianized costumes. This book helps us do both.
Christopher J. H. Wright, Langham Partnership; author of The Mission of God
The Gospel of Our King is a sheer delight. This is what happens when you bring together close attention to the Bible as a whole, worldview, and mission, just as they should be, with the overarching focus on the glory of God. Ashford and Thomas wear their considerable academic abilities in Bible, theology, and mission lightly in this creative, accessible, and eminently practical work. This is a book that we urgently need today, and my hope is that it will enjoy the wide reception it deserves. Take and read . . . and buy extra copies for friends!
Craig G. Bartholomew, director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics, Cambridge
This is a wonderful book. Ashford and Thomas take us to the heart of the Christian faith: the biblical story centered in Jesus and the kingdom as the true story of the whole world, the mission of God’s people to embody that good news in all of life, and a missionary encounter with the idolatrous story of our Western culture. Their writing is engaging and the idols they challenge are timely, making this a book full of insight for faithful Christian living today. May this book find a wide readership for the sake of God’s kingdom.
Michael W. Goheen, director of theological education, Missional Training Center; scholar-in-residence, Surge Network of Churches-Phoenix; professor of missional theology, Covenant Theological Seminary
- Title: The Gospel of Our King: Bible, Worldview, and the Mission of Every Christian
- Authors: Bruce Riley Ashford and Heath A. Thomas
- Publisher: Baker
- Publication Date: 2019
- Pages: 224
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Theology
Bruce Riley Ashford (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is provost, dean of the faculty, and professor of theology and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He has written a number of books, including Letters to an American Christian and Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians. Ashford has been featured on NPR, Fox News, and The Gospel Coalition and in the New York Times and USA Today.
Heath A. Thomas (PhD, University of Gloucestershire) is dean of the Herschel H. Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry, associate vice president for church relations, and professor of Old Testament at Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He has served on staff at churches in Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina, and the United Kingdom and is the author or editor of several books, including A Manifesto for Theological Interpretation and a commentary on Habakkuk.