Jesus Cropped from the Picture

How Jesus Was Cropped from the Picture

With Postmodernity, what was once a rich and transcendent view of Christ was distilled to appeal to a culture overloaded with information, inundated by quick and powerful images, handicapped by a short attention span, and abandoned to interpret the message through their subjective, individual experience:

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Multiple aspects of Christ’s saving work Narrative and rational Christ ( SUBJECT ) Church ( OBJECT ) The whole Bible Transcendent scope/depth

One dimensional view of the atonement Rational only Individual ( SUBJECT ) Christ ( OBJECT ) Abbreviated Bible Individualized view Story

What was once EPIC in nature had become hopelessly SLIM (see Figure 17). Christ was no longer the victorious King who triumphs over the devil through the Church, but an historical figure who died for “my personal salvation,” and asks people to study his owner’s manual in order to be ethical people until he returns to take them to heaven.

Figure 17: From Christ to Individual

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