I stumbled onto your blog a couple of days ago. I was intrigued by the fact that your recent reading list is similar to mine. You write the kind of stuff that I would like to write if I was a better writer. It is apparent we have some similar interests and ideas. Who knew?

Your post immediately made me think of C. S. Lewis’ discussion of repentance in Mere Christianity. (I don’t have my copy with me, so the following is based on memory and a few quotes I snagged off the internet.)

In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis suggests that Christ not only taught repentance verbally, but ultimately modeled repentance for us on the cross. According to Lewis, repentance means “unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death�. Lewis says that only a bad man needs to repent. However, because he is bad, man(kind) doesn’t know how to repent. As odd as it seems to think of God as “repenting�, the incarnation and atonement involve God teaching and modeling repentance (i.e., surrender).

Also, when Lewis describes repentance as “unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years�, it makes me think that repentance is something we need both individually and collectively/systemically.

1 Kings 8:46-53
Isaiah 30:15
Ezekiel 14:6, 18:30

And though you’re probably going to cover this, I thought the theme of repentance in Acts might churn the mindcrank:

Acts 5:31, 11:18

Bonne jour, mon frere