Scot Mcknight's The King Jesus Gospel

Scot McKnight, professor of religious studies at North Park University and award winning author, argues in his book “The King Jesus Gospel” that the true meaning of the gospel has become distorted by a culture that is focused on salvation rather than the gospel itself. Throughout the book, McKnight points out the discrepancy between a culture that is focused on salvation, and one that is focused on what McKnight defines as the true meaning of the gospel. McKnight defines the gospel as “the saving Story of Jesus completing Israel’s Story. . .” and argues that Jesus himself preached this gospel by placing himself at the center of Israel’s history and redemptive plan (McKnight 111), instead of taking a more traditional definition such as justification through faith alone, or the life and resurrection of Jesus proclaimed. He gets this definition from Paul in 1st Corinthians 15. McKnight spends the rest of the book defending his view that the gospel has become corrupted and turned into a personal story about one’s own salvation. All in all, the book accomplishes its purpose of bringing the gospel’s modern day corruption to light, but
For instance, he presents the importance of creeds which in some ways is inconsistent to his thesis of the gospel being the story of Christ fulfilling Israel. By starting and stating that the best place to begin viewing the apostolic gospel is 1st Corinthians 15 (46), McKnight seems to establish this passage as some sort of creed which seemingly removes the Old Testament’s significance to the gospel. “The King Jesus Gospel” does achieve its basic purpose in the sense that it points out the distorted way that modern Christianity views the gospel, and quite effectively conveys its message to that same demographical audience. In the right setting, this book could be quite powerful in opening, educating, and possibly strengthening the spiritual minds of modern every-day