Discovering the God Imagination (Paperback)

Deep inside you always knew it was there, that image of God drawing you in to healing, restoration, hope and even love. You wanted it to be true. You couldn't ignore it, even though you weren't sure it was true. Yet finding that image in Scripture is often hard. It's easy to see God as angry and bent on catching us when we fail. What if the story the Bible could actually reinforce what your heart longed to be true? What if the story was actually about God's relentless pursuit of the restoration of all creation, of you? You just needed help seeing it. In this re-examination of the story of Christianity, author Jonathan Brink offers a compelling look into the remarkable dissonance between our historical understanding of Gospel, and what the story in Scripture actually reveals. It offers a compelling possibility for those looking to reconstruct their faith in a whole new way. Discovering The God Imagination examines the details of the story that shapes our understanding of the Gospel, in light of our emerging understanding of cognitive development. It suggests a profoundly simple but provocative assessment of why we misunderstand God, ourselves and each other. Listening to the story once again allows us to unravel the mystery of suffering, justice, and reconciliation, and actually participate with God in our own restoration. It suggests that at the deepest levels, life is really about wrestling with and answering a single root question, symbolized in the Tree of Knowledge? How can God love me when I'm broken? Finally, it offers new insights that suggest the cross is God saying, "This is how far I will go to show you that you that I love you." It suggests the Way of love espoused by Jesus is actually a return to reality, to God's original, objective structure for what it means to be human.