Generous Orthodoxy or a New Vision of God

I have been reading Bradley Jersak's A More Christlike God.  Jersak tries to present a more generous orthodoxy from the vision he was given as a young Christian of God being an angry and violent taskmaster.  He rightly gives a powerful new vision of a Christocentric and cruciform theology where ones sees the Father by looking at the Son.

The two hidden questions behind Jersak's book are people want to know (1) Does God care? and (2) Does God care about me?  Jersak tries to give different snapshots and paint a coherent picture of what this Christlike God looks like to maybe some of the negative stereotypes and bad pictures people may have already been exposed to earlier in life. 

I am only a third of the way through his book but there are gems and pearls to be discovered in his writings throughout.  One point I wish he would have developed more that I found interesting is where he says, "God is Christlike in his secret presence within creation" (P.120).  I am thinking there is so much more to unpack here, especially as I am starting to study Teilhard De Chardin who goes into this more deeply than anybody else I have read to date.

Jersak allows for tensions and paradoxes to exist in his writing which I like but there are also some conclusions which Calvinists and Christians who hold to the traditional doctrine of hell will certainly make them squeamish.  I know Jersak is reacting to his past but I don't think the picture is as dark or ugly as he paints those who believe in a more literal hell than he does nor how he interprets the violent texts in the Bible. 

Jersak like a good apologist wants to defend God at times between direct and secondary causes but I'm not sure how persuasive these arguments really are in the end much less they often create as many problems as they solve.  He says "I don't believe the divine courtship involves wearing you down with his love until you give up."  This may be a nice tidy way to wrap things up but I believe things may be more messy than what Jersak says here,  I have met too many Christians who have experienced God boxing them into a wall or not giving them much choice.  One could debate the interpretation of the Hosea and Gomer story but it seems like this is exactly what God's love does, it wears you down until you give up in certain circumstances.

I believe Jersak gives a more beautiful picture of God in which I applaud him for.  I just believe underneath this picture, there can be a violence of the Spirit (figuratively speaking) which can be deeply disturbing and make one feel like they have very little choice because of God's powerful compelling presence.  In a day where there are many competing pictures of what God looks like, we certainly need at the forefront a more Christlike God.