Several years ago I read a great deal of a theologian named Peter Forsyth, who died in 1921. Out of the many wonderful passages I read, one simple sentence reached out and spoke to me most clearly. It describes the method that I’ve come to aspire to in my life and thought as a Christian. Forsyth wrote,

A minimal creed, an ample science, a maximal faith—that is our aim.

This resonates deeply with me. One might think that a maximal creed and a minimal science would be safest, but the opposite is true. I’ve found that there is a way to approach Christian faith that leaves room for skepticism and criticism without losing the treasures of the Christian faith.

As I’ve read and reflected over the past year I’ve come to a simplification that I’d like to share with you. What I aim to do is articulate the good news message of the Christian faith in a way that challenges many of our assumptions, remains sober toward skeptical doubts, but still captures the good stuff. Let me state it and then I’ll look at it from a number of different angles. It is my growing conviction that the good news is this:

There is an alien goodness at work in the world, and we are responsible to (1) recognize and (2) cooperate with it.

This is an experiential good news: the only way to confirm it or come to know for yourself that it is true is to encounter and participate.

The first thing to discuss is alien goodness. What is that? We all have a basic but fallible sense of goodness. Certain things, actions, or situations seem better or worse than others. We can perceive some degree of goodness in ourselves and others. Of course, we aren’t quite sure precisely what goodness is since we so often disagree about it. Indeed, what I may consider good for me is often not good for you.

By alien goodness, I mean a goodness that is beyond us. Alien goodness is a goodness that we don’t naturally choose but often prefer to resist. It is a goodness that doesn’t seem like our idea, but rather presents itself as a moral challenge. Alien goodness is distinct from what is simply good for me, just as what is good for me is distinct from what seems good for me at the moment. Just as there is goodness beyond my present moment and preferences, there is an alien goodness beyond my person and interests, and perhaps even beyond the aims and mythology of my family and society.

I’m confident that in our lives and experiences many of us encounter a goodness that seems alien, external, and distinct from our own understanding of goodness. In fact, if we pay attention, we see that the world is haunted by an alien goodness. Sometimes we see people forgive one another, practice love toward their enemies, or include outsiders despite cultural obstacles. Sometimes we are surprised by hospitality or receive an unexpected welcome. In a real sense, these glimpses of alien goodness are an apocalypse or revelation: they provide a glimpse of a greater reality that is otherwise hidden from view.

I propose that the hidden reality behind these glimpses of alien goodness is what we should mean when we use the word “God”. Of course, the term “God” means many things to many people. But for me, in my simplification, I mean by God the alien goodness at work in the world: that which challenges us in our experience to recognize and cooperate. For some people, God is the all-powerful, for others God is the all-knowing. For me, God is the alien goodness that haunts our world. Any further conclusions we seek to form about God must begin with this experienced alien goodness. Our confidence in God should be confidence in this alien goodness, and our certainty about God should only be the certainty of a well-earned trust grounded in a life of experienced cooperation and empowerment with this alien goodness.

If God is the alien goodness that we glimpse in experience, then what can we say about Jesus? Put another way, what value does Jesus have? I propose that Jesus matters to us because he manifests and personifies an alien goodness at work in the world, and invites us to recognize this goodness and cooperate.

It doesn’t matter to me whether you believe that Jesus is divine in a traditional sense of that word. What matters most of all is whether you can see in Jesus some manifestation of this alien goodness. It is even more important whether or not you are willing to cooperate. As we read the New Testament portraits of Jesus, we constantly see Jesus redefining what counts as good. We see Jesus including those considered unsafe, unblessed, or just a bad influence. The life of Jesus is a life of bold and unfettered cooperation with an alien goodness. An alien goodness shines through both the teaching and actions of Jesus.

The central image in the Christian faith is the death of Jesus. Even this can be interpreted through the lens of alien goodness. In a world that thinks it knows best, alien goodness appears in the world like a lightning bolt in the man Jesus of Nazareth. A biblical image of God is the image of a consuming fire, and I think this fits well with alien goodness. We don’t mind a glimpse of alien goodness here and there. Like a candle, it warms and comforts us. But a full unveiling of this alien goodness is too much to bear. It exposes our inadequacies and destroys our sense of moral self-sufficiency. A natural response is to turn away, to hide our face. What if this goodness pursues us as we turn aside? From the standpoint of alien goodness, the death of Jesus is the attempt by those who don’t understand goodness to extinguish the threat of an alien intruder. We would do the same faced with a full manifestation of this alien goodness, a fight or flight reaction.

The Christian doctrines of the resurrection and exaltation of Jesus mean just this in light of alien goodness: Jesus of Nazareth in his life and death is our permanent datum and reference for the alien goodness that we otherwise glimpse in experience. He is the light that shines in the darkness, a lightning bolt that manifests the untapped power otherwise hidden in the clouds. The alien goodness that we glimpse in the world and that confronts us in Jesus is the truth of the world, all else is a distraction or diversion.

Jesus changes our expectations for God. A theologian who I appreciate very much (H.R. Mackintosh) wrote,

Either there is no God, or the God there is, is morally inferior to Jesus, or He is just precisely what Jesus is. … Had we not seen Jesus, we might have been satisfied with less; but by His character He has spoiled us for any poorer or lower idea of the Divine.

Put another way, the alien goodness that haunts the world is at least as good as Jesus, and if we pay attention to the moral power manifest in the teaching and actions of Jesus we see that God is better than we might have expected. This is the gospel or good news.

Having heard this simplification of the gospel, you may feel that there are gaps or important aspects that are missing. What about the Bible? What about tradition? What about the Pope? What about theology? What about other religions? What about other Christians? What about my politics? Is it a safe approach to the gospel? Is this too subjective?

This gospel of alien goodness is an example of a minimal creed, an ample science, and a maximal faith. When we talk about God or talk about theology, where we start matters a great deal since we are unlikely to ever finish. In theology a first-things-first approach is important because we might not get very far anyway. I can’t think of a better place to start than with the alien goodness of God available in experience and manifest in a decisive way by Jesus of Nazareth. If that’s all we can have in theology, then we have found the pearl of great price. We should be willing to sell much of our Christian furniture if only we can know the treasure of this alien goodness more fully.

As for an ample science, a gospel of alien goodness leaves us free to remain open to critical questions about the bible, history, science, or any other matter. Alien goodness isn’t something that hard questions can take from us. It is an experienced reality, one that unveils itself further as we draw nearer in cooperation. We don’t even need to be able to explain it. It’s just there! Perhaps the only word we truly need in theology is “Behold!”, to point ourselves and others to this alien goodness.

Another aspect to consider is that it is better to cooperate with this alien goodness than to be consistent in our religious beliefs. Cooperation often requires going against our well established beliefs or policies about who God loves and what counts as sin or unclean. We are responsible to follow this alien goodness wherever it leads. Yes, this is a subjective process. We lack objectivity because our experience depends on our willingness to recognize and cooperate. To use the biblical phrase, we need eyes to see and ears to hear.

If we want to have confidence about God the straight and narrow road is to recognize and cooperate with the alien goodness of God manifest in the world, a power that we call the Spirit of Jesus. This power changes what and who we value and transforms what we count as good or worthy. Our sense of goodness converges with alien goodness as we participate in the work of this alien goodness in our lives and world. Finally, when we meet together, we should aim to manifest the alien goodness of Jesus to one another. Our welcome is his welcome, and his hospitality and care for others must become our own.