Protest Study Introduction

Recently and notably in the U.S., protests on college campuses have become a major activity, which has been likened to the even more widespread protests of the Vietnam war enacted from the ‘60s. While current protests mirror those earlier, their counterparts are reflected throughout history in the narrative consequences of the human condition, which reduces the humanity of many. For example, protests against racial inequality and gender discrimination have also been heard to give the marginalized a voice of hope for change. Protests, in other words, are an encouraging sign that people no longer accept or passively are complicit with the wrongs perpetrated in and on human life. Certainly, however, some protests in reality become a means to perpetrate wrongs, sometimes under the illusion of appearing to be right.

Given the dynamics of protesting, this raises an urgent question for those of Christian faith: Where is your protest and what, if any, is it all about? This also raises a related question about the gospel we claim and proclaim: Is our gospel apolitical, politically neutral or politicized? What happens in the surrounding context of life for all persons reflects the human condition of humanity, which then unavoidably engages the politics of everyday life that involve the self-concerns and interests of those pursuing their fulfillment. In other words, the surrounding context exerts influence that shapes the identity and function of Christian faith today just as in the early history of God’s people (as summarized in Judg 21:25).

God protested the variable practice of God’s people throughout the Old Testament. Their working paradigm to do “what was right in their own eyes” essentially reflected, reinforced and sustained the human condition. God’s people not only needed to be unequivocally distinguished from this practice but also in direct ongoing opposition to it. Jesus embodied God’s response to all this and enacted the gospel that composed integrally the bad news of God’s protest and the good news changing the old to the new. This study centers on Jesus’ gospel protest, and thus what by its nature necessitates proclaiming his whole gospel—not what we think is right in our own eyes. Therefore, Jesus’ Gospel Protest, Voicing His Whole Gospel will address the bias or naiveté commonly underlying proclaiming the gospel, in order that its integrity will be restored.

What we all need to examine is whether or not we are in tune with the gospel embodied and enacted by Jesus’ person. For example, we cannot be in harmony with Jesus’ gospel merely by claiming and/or proclaiming his teachings. That is to say, his teachings commonly and readily become disconnected from his whole person, which then widens the way, truth and the life of the gospel. This has relational consequences for the constitution of the gospel that are analogous to a gospel generated by artificial intelligence (AI). An AI gospel includes Jesus’ teachings but is not relationally connected to his person to generate the qualitative substance inherent to his gospel. Furthermore, an AI generated gospel is enhanced with supplemental information, which is analogous to how the gospel is routinely claimed and proclaimed in real life. Any such presentation and representation of the gospel is out of tune with Jesus’ gospel, and therefore is not, will not and cannot be in harmony with his person—even though it may harmonize with what prevails for, among and by Christians and churches.

At the same time, there are also human voices that propagate, directly or indirectly, variable tunes of the gospel by posting Christian themes on social media. Christian sounds heard on social media have no clear genre to which they belong; and who or what they identify with is even more diverse than humanity’s composition. Any gospel that may emerge from this ubiquitous process has opened the door to proclamations lacking the integrity directly based on Jesus’ vulnerable embodiment and relational involvement. What may sound good, seem valid and promote hope becomes out of tune when measured by the melody of his gospel. Nevertheless, social media continues to be a prevailing source for claiming good news, and a dominating medium for proclaiming any bias of the gospel. If users would pay closer attention, they will hear the dissonance of Jesus protesting—that is, protesting the bad news of the human condition.

Jesus has always protested such bad news so that his good news can be embodied by persons from inner out, and thereby will be enacted by their whole persons in harmony with his whole person and with each other’s. For Jesus, the bad news is inseparable from his good news, therefore protest is inevitable and integrally essential to his gospel.

The nature of the Way enacted by Jesus is only embodied by the righteousness defining his whole person (as declared in Psalm 85:13). The righteousness of his daily path makes definitive relationally the whole of who, what and how his person is, and thereby can be counted on in relationship to be whole and function with nothing less and no substitutes. And anything less and any substitutes from us (cf. Mt 5:20), even with good intentions, simply reflect, reinforce and sustain the bad news of the (and our) human condition.

What unfolds in this study clarifies his protest and corrects our alternatives substituting a different gospel.[2] No doubt, many will find this an inconvenient study to consider for their theology and practice.

[1] All Scripture references are taken from the NRSV, unless noted differently; any italics in the Scripture quoted in this study signify emphasis or further rendering of the words.

[2] This study is an extension of two earlier studies: The Gospel of Transformation: Distinguishing the Discipleship and Ecclesiology Integral to Salvation (Transformation Study, 2015), and Jesus’ Gospel of Essential Justice: The Human Order from Creation through Complete Salvation (Justice Study, 2018), both available online at https://www.4X12.org.