Interview Insights Editor William Greenway Interviews
David Jensen “Digging Deeper on Theology and Life Abundant” I want to hear more about your vision of abundant life. Is there a difference between the so-called “good life” and “life abundant”? Often when we talk about abundance we immediately drift toward the material and accumulation. Abundance in Jesus’s vision centers on our relationships: with God, other people, other creatures, and with creation itself. For Jesus, life flourishes when those relationships flourish. And Jesus urges us to make the circle of our concern wider and wider, incorporating even those whom we are prone to dismiss. You reference Jesus’s crucifixion. Surely this qualifies the understanding of “abundant life”? The Roman Empire thinks of flourishing as exerting power over other peoples. Jesus sees flourishing when we widen our circle of concern; he sees power not as power over, but power with and for others. Jesus doesn’t seek his own death. The death-dealing powers he confronts force death upon him. The death of Jesus is a result of the clash between a gospel vision of abundant life and a vision that seeks its own benefit at the expense of others. The death of Jesus actually reveals a fate worse than death: life cut off from others and the life-giving world God has given. Are there theological confusions that obstruct people’s ability to live abundantly? One great theological confusion is the prosperity gospel. It says, “If you live a faithful life, you will be blessed with things.” Certainly our relationship to material things is part of abundant life—Jesus is concerned about the material needs of the poor. But if abundant life concerns relationship to things, we will never have enough. Things do not satisfy. Someone’s always going to have more. Calvin was right about the dynamic of sin and greed: it cultivates an insatiable appetite, cutting us off from life abundant. You speak of people spending Sunday mornings at coffee shops, staring at iPhones, watching their kids play club soccer. This morning The Guardian newspaper called the fitness app Strava a religion, saying it provides community, training data, and motivation to millions. Now, I love coffee shops and my 11
