Becoming a Citizen of the Kingdom [antikvár]

FOREWORD Reading this book in preparation for writing a Foreword has been a strange experience. For a variety of reasons I have had to read it on my laptop —which is not my normal way of reading books. One consequence of this is that I have not quite known what was coming next! So as I read the first part, which focusses on Jesus' parables, I kept saying to myself, "I hope he writes later about this, or that." This is because of the whirlwind of events which are going on at the present time, and which provide, for me at any rate, four underlying contexts for any contemporary understanding of the kingdom of God. The first context is the latest set of devastating, interlocking clashes in the Middle East, affecting members of the three monotheistic world religions. There are many (from a variety of religious backgrounds) who are being woefiilly selective about history, and my sadness about what is happening is compounded by the way in which such conflicts are reported - very selectively - so that many ordinary people are unaware of what is really going on. The second context, which worryingly links into the first, is the failure amongst many Christians to balance the "now" with the "not yet" in Jesus' teaching about the kingdom of God. Admittedly, Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this worid " (John 18:36) —but he also instructs his disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come, your