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riaryan's review against another edition
4.0
The Very Good Gospel is very good indeed! A refreshing examination of the fact that the Gospel doesn't start in the New Testament, but at the outset of creation. Lisa's commentary on the first 2 chapters of Genesis alone is the best I've read on the subject. A hopeful book that wrongs can be righted.
latviadugan's review against another edition
4.0
Harper has given us a book with wisdom and value on every page. Combining biblical exegesis, historical insight, and personal testimony, she articulates the impact of the gospel on her as an African-American woman, yet also as a prophetic call eliciting a response from all of us.
In the first three chapters she draws on Genesis 1-3 to trace the biblical concept of shalom and how it was lost. She also discusses the idea of dominion and its relationship to being made in the image of God. The Gospel isn't merely about God's rescue, but his rule; not only about his grace, but about his governance. “The Good News was both about the coming of the Kingdom of God and the character of that Kingdom.”
The remainder of the book unpacks the implications of this in chapters such as “Shalom with God,” “Shalom Between Genders,” “Shalom and Race,” and “Shalom Among Nations” among others.
While Harper’s exegesis is generally evangelical, her applications might be considered left of center. Some would call this a faithful following of the gospel. Others might see it as appropriating the gospel in support of contemporary agendas. Each reader will have to ask whether or not Harper draws legitimate lines between the biblical concept of shalom and complex contemporary relationships with other nationalities, races, genders, family members, creation, ourselves, and God.
I have one criticism. Intentional or not, I believe Harper confuses shalom and the gospel. Though related, the two are not synonymous. The apostle Paul explicitly defines the gospel in Romans 1:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-6 as having to do with Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and Lord, who died, rose again, and its now seated at the right hand of the Father. Any book on the gospel that doesn't address these two passages from Paul is not yet complete. This book is more about shalom than the gospel.
To be fair, she concludes the book looking at Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1). “When we encounter one of our Trees of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must look to Jesus. He is our Creator. He is the author of shalom. He can show us the way to life.”
Jesus chose death on the cross (Hebrews 12:2). “’To ask for forgiveness is to die a small death.’ Yes. And I suppose humility is a small death too, the death of supremacy. Trust is a small death, the death of control. Truth is a small death, the death of lack of accountability. Reparation is a small death, the death of autonomy. To embrace the ‘other’ is a small death, the death of self-absorption.”
And now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 12:2). “The path of the Cross, and the small deaths of repentance ... lead to life and resurrection. And in the light of resurrection, the big death has no sting. This gives me hope.”
My criticism is that this clear Christological center doesn’t appear until the final pages of the book. Had this proclamation been made at the beginning and had it been the thread that weaved the chapters together, her gospel would have been even more compelling. But better late than never.
Don't let this criticism keep you from reading the book. It's an important contribution to our understanding of the gospel and the degree to which it has impacted our lives and changed our thinking.
In the first three chapters she draws on Genesis 1-3 to trace the biblical concept of shalom and how it was lost. She also discusses the idea of dominion and its relationship to being made in the image of God. The Gospel isn't merely about God's rescue, but his rule; not only about his grace, but about his governance. “The Good News was both about the coming of the Kingdom of God and the character of that Kingdom.”
The remainder of the book unpacks the implications of this in chapters such as “Shalom with God,” “Shalom Between Genders,” “Shalom and Race,” and “Shalom Among Nations” among others.
While Harper’s exegesis is generally evangelical, her applications might be considered left of center. Some would call this a faithful following of the gospel. Others might see it as appropriating the gospel in support of contemporary agendas. Each reader will have to ask whether or not Harper draws legitimate lines between the biblical concept of shalom and complex contemporary relationships with other nationalities, races, genders, family members, creation, ourselves, and God.
I have one criticism. Intentional or not, I believe Harper confuses shalom and the gospel. Though related, the two are not synonymous. The apostle Paul explicitly defines the gospel in Romans 1:1-4 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-6 as having to do with Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah and Lord, who died, rose again, and its now seated at the right hand of the Father. Any book on the gospel that doesn't address these two passages from Paul is not yet complete. This book is more about shalom than the gospel.
To be fair, she concludes the book looking at Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1). “When we encounter one of our Trees of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must look to Jesus. He is our Creator. He is the author of shalom. He can show us the way to life.”
Jesus chose death on the cross (Hebrews 12:2). “’To ask for forgiveness is to die a small death.’ Yes. And I suppose humility is a small death too, the death of supremacy. Trust is a small death, the death of control. Truth is a small death, the death of lack of accountability. Reparation is a small death, the death of autonomy. To embrace the ‘other’ is a small death, the death of self-absorption.”
And now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 12:2). “The path of the Cross, and the small deaths of repentance ... lead to life and resurrection. And in the light of resurrection, the big death has no sting. This gives me hope.”
My criticism is that this clear Christological center doesn’t appear until the final pages of the book. Had this proclamation been made at the beginning and had it been the thread that weaved the chapters together, her gospel would have been even more compelling. But better late than never.
Don't let this criticism keep you from reading the book. It's an important contribution to our understanding of the gospel and the degree to which it has impacted our lives and changed our thinking.
neilrcoulter's review against another edition
4.0
The “Very Good” in the title of Lisa Sharon Harper’s book comes from the conclusion of the creation story in Genesis 1. In verse 31, we read that “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Harper explains that God’s evaluation of the creation as “very good” is not saying that each individual part of creation is inherently good on its own. Rather, it means that everything is in proper relationship with everything else. Everything is good or bad depending on the state of its relationships with all other things. At that moment in the creation narrative, before humans chose to trust in their own way forward rather than God’s, everything was in the right relationship, and it was “very good.”
Obviously we are now some distance from that perfection of relationships. It’s easy for me to feel overwhelmed at the oppression, inequality, conflict, hopelessness, and despair that I see all over the world. How do we ever return to the way the world was meant to be? Harper guides us and reinspires us by focusing on image of God and shalom as two pathways that work together to bring us back to “very good.” If we take time to remember that everyone we see is an image-bearer of God, then it ought to become harder to enslave, oppress, use, and abuse other people. When we make that space to build respect and relationship, we will move closer to the biblical ideal of shalom: wholeness, peace, joy.
Chapter by chapter, Harper considers how to build shalom in different kinds of relationships in our lives: with God, with ourselves, between genders, with creation, in broken families, between races, between nations, in witnessing for peace, and in contemplating life and death. Many of these are topics I’ve read whole books about, and so these brief chapters sometimes felt a little slim to me—but that only means the content is so fascinating and worth discussing that I wish it would go even deeper. For me, the great thing about this retelling of “the old, old story” is that the author comes from such a different background from me: a Black woman who has survived a broken family, sexual abuse, and struggles in adulthood different from what has been difficult for me. I found it encouraging and interesting to listen to Harper tell her story with honesty and vulnerability, and to celebrate with her the possibility of “very good” in our world, across people who share a lot in common and people who would seem to be quite different.
Obviously we are now some distance from that perfection of relationships. It’s easy for me to feel overwhelmed at the oppression, inequality, conflict, hopelessness, and despair that I see all over the world. How do we ever return to the way the world was meant to be? Harper guides us and reinspires us by focusing on image of God and shalom as two pathways that work together to bring us back to “very good.” If we take time to remember that everyone we see is an image-bearer of God, then it ought to become harder to enslave, oppress, use, and abuse other people. When we make that space to build respect and relationship, we will move closer to the biblical ideal of shalom: wholeness, peace, joy.
Chapter by chapter, Harper considers how to build shalom in different kinds of relationships in our lives: with God, with ourselves, between genders, with creation, in broken families, between races, between nations, in witnessing for peace, and in contemplating life and death. Many of these are topics I’ve read whole books about, and so these brief chapters sometimes felt a little slim to me—but that only means the content is so fascinating and worth discussing that I wish it would go even deeper. For me, the great thing about this retelling of “the old, old story” is that the author comes from such a different background from me: a Black woman who has survived a broken family, sexual abuse, and struggles in adulthood different from what has been difficult for me. I found it encouraging and interesting to listen to Harper tell her story with honesty and vulnerability, and to celebrate with her the possibility of “very good” in our world, across people who share a lot in common and people who would seem to be quite different.
katieproctorbooks's review against another edition
5.0
This book is fantastic. Such a beautiful picture of how the world could be if we, in fact, followed God’s idea for Shalom and Jesus’s example of true love and inclusion. This is heavy on the theology, but extremely readable, and it’s one I will be revisiting for sure.
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
4.0
Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the kingdom. That is, he came preaching good news. According to Lisa Sharon Harper, that is a "very good gospel." She does so in the form of narrative, weaving the biblical story with her own story and the story of creation. The key to this gospel is the promise of shalom, a word that means peace and wholeness.
The author, Lisa Sharon Harper, is "chief church engagement officer" for Sojourners. She is an author, a community organizer, and faith leader. From her vantage point at Sojourners she wants to invite us to inhabit this "very good gospel," so that what is wrong/broken can be made right/healed.
She begins the story with some contextual conversations -- reminding us of the world in which we live in, a world that allows for slavery and poverty and racism. She speaks then of shalom, taking us to the beginning of the story, in Genesis 1, where a vision of wholeness, of goodness is revealed. She also invites us to consider God's governance, and our position in relationship to that governance. Three words stand out in relation to shalom -- image (tselem), likeness (dmuwth), and dominnion (radah). We are created in the image and likeness of God so that we might engage in dominion, which she thinks of in terms of stewardship.
Continuing the narrative, Harper takes us into Genesis 2 and 3, where man and woman are created and placed in a garden. There are two trees and then a decision to abandon God's calling and embrace another (the fall). Things get broken and need to be healed -- shalom.
The remainder of the book explores how God in Christ seeks to bring about shalom, wholeness. First with God then with self. After that we explore the need for shalom between genders, with creation, in the midst of broken families. There is need for shalom in relationship to race and between nations. Shalom requires bearing witness. It means standing up for justice and what is right.
Finally, there is death and what it means to us. How do we stand in the midst of death and witness to life? It is in the end a gospel that brings joy. With that no one can quarrel.
Harper has written a gracious invitation to bear witness to God's shalom. This is a book that invites us into the biblical narrative so that we might be transformed by the encounter. It is is accessible to the general reader, making it a perfect book for congregational reading and conversation. It is evangelical at its core, but not in the way evangelicalism seems to be represented in the broader culture. This is an evangelicalism that is rooted in the biblical story, in the life and ministry of Jesus, and a commitment to justice.
The author, Lisa Sharon Harper, is "chief church engagement officer" for Sojourners. She is an author, a community organizer, and faith leader. From her vantage point at Sojourners she wants to invite us to inhabit this "very good gospel," so that what is wrong/broken can be made right/healed.
She begins the story with some contextual conversations -- reminding us of the world in which we live in, a world that allows for slavery and poverty and racism. She speaks then of shalom, taking us to the beginning of the story, in Genesis 1, where a vision of wholeness, of goodness is revealed. She also invites us to consider God's governance, and our position in relationship to that governance. Three words stand out in relation to shalom -- image (tselem), likeness (dmuwth), and dominnion (radah). We are created in the image and likeness of God so that we might engage in dominion, which she thinks of in terms of stewardship.
Continuing the narrative, Harper takes us into Genesis 2 and 3, where man and woman are created and placed in a garden. There are two trees and then a decision to abandon God's calling and embrace another (the fall). Things get broken and need to be healed -- shalom.
The remainder of the book explores how God in Christ seeks to bring about shalom, wholeness. First with God then with self. After that we explore the need for shalom between genders, with creation, in the midst of broken families. There is need for shalom in relationship to race and between nations. Shalom requires bearing witness. It means standing up for justice and what is right.
Finally, there is death and what it means to us. How do we stand in the midst of death and witness to life? It is in the end a gospel that brings joy. With that no one can quarrel.
Harper has written a gracious invitation to bear witness to God's shalom. This is a book that invites us into the biblical narrative so that we might be transformed by the encounter. It is is accessible to the general reader, making it a perfect book for congregational reading and conversation. It is evangelical at its core, but not in the way evangelicalism seems to be represented in the broader culture. This is an evangelicalism that is rooted in the biblical story, in the life and ministry of Jesus, and a commitment to justice.
ob_ledbetter's review against another edition
3.0
I think the audiobook format killed this one for me. Interesting POV but it was delivered like every sentence was a mic drop. (Most just weren’t.)
jvos's review against another edition
4.0
I took away one star as I listened to it on Audible and it was really hard to follow and keep my interest. I love listening to Lisa preach so this surprised me. I think I would have enjoyed slowly reading this one vs listening.
svankley's review against another edition
4.0
The best part of this book was the exploration of what the "very goodness" of creation actually is and means in the creation narrative of Genesis. I love the way she builds the understanding of how creation is at it best when we as humans see that our connectedness to each other and the world we live in is where the "very goodness" is at that Creator God is talking about. The connectedness is the goodness. It is not in the person or thing but, in their connection to each other.