Mar
19
2008
Dick Staub Interview
Kim Lawton of Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly recently interviewed cultural critic Dick Staub about his most recent book The Culturally Savvy Christian. I found one of his answers to be especially interesting. Kim asked, “How should I identify you religiously?” His answer was:
[I am] a follower of Jesus. But here’s my basic theology in a nutshell: [Dutch scholar] Hans Rookmaaker said Jesus didn’t come to make us Christian, he came to make us fully human, and I think a full human being is a human being that is intellectually, spiritually, creatively, morally, and relationally alive, and the reason I think America is superficial both in its religion and its popular culture is I think we’re intellectually, spiritually, creatively, morally, and relationally superficial, and we were made for something more. So the idea of discovering what it means to be fully human is, I think, what Jesus was about, more than simply are you a Christian or not, and when we think in terms of Christian and not Christian, then we start thinking of Christians as just another voting bloc or another purchasing power, instead of people who like every other human being want to experience a fully human life.
You can read the whole interview here, but I would also love to know what you think about his answer.