Refuse to tame Jesus

By R. Wayne Hagerman and ChristianWeek | March 9, 2011

Harry Kraus is a general surgeon who has practiced medicine extensively in Kijabe, Kenya, as a medical missionary with Africa Inland Mission. Though he is a busy surgeon whose skills are much in demand in this needy country, has found the time and energy to write several fiction and non-fiction books, including this amazing, well-composed and deeply theological offering. Without a doubt, his surroundings - the people, places and culture - have influenced the tone and content of this book, all for the best.

The title may throw some readers off; Kraus admits that he actually hates the title himself. But it is a good title, a necessary title, a very definitive title because this book is all about how Christians have done exactly this: domesticate Jesus.

Kraus implicates himself: â€œI've reduced the Creator and Master of the universe down into a concept so small. I've nicknamed him...What we're doing, unconsciously to a large part, is to bring down what is huge, wild, and untamable and repackage him so that we can function."

Kraus sets out to show the reader just how Christians have done and continue to do just this, so that they may survive in unrealistic, guilt ridden, shameful ways while trying to manage God in the box of their daily existence. â€œTo come to grips with reality will mean I have to change, open my eyes, and come to terms not only with his greatness but also with my smallness, and that's the grind.

In other words, Kraus is describing the sin of making myself big and Him small. It is about trivializing Him, taming Him, putting His name on T-shirts with silly slogans like â€œGot Jesus?" and treating Him like a pet: â€œIf an animal is domesticated, it is here to serve me."

In many ways, this book is a parody, and it is a good one. It is an invitation to wrestle with an incongruity present in all of us in our relationship with the Almighty. It is honest, hard-hitting and personal. It is jam-packed with substance that is both reflective and participatory.

Scripture figures large in this book, and not simply for proof-texting purposes. Kraus has carefully, methodically and theologically charted his course through each and every topic, and done a great job. No easy-believism here, no getting off the hook with â€œwhatifs" or â€œbut you don't understand my circumstances."

This book is above all an invitation to journey honestly, freshly, with transparency toward a true Christianity. This book is an easy read, and yet a tough exposure to the real meaning of the life of faith in God through Christ.