The Jesus Thing?

In his 1973 book The Jesus Thing (Epworth Press, ISBN 71620225 5),
John Vincent wrote:

Why 'the Jesus Thing'?

Partly because every other word is lost or dead, or too linked with views we do not hold.

'Thing' can be taken as synonymous for the vast number of circumlocutions with the New Testament employs to describe that to which Jesus points, or that which Jesus embodies. In Mark it is 'the Kingdom of God', in Matthew 'the Kingdom of Heaven', in John, 'ageless life'. In Acts 'the Gospel', in Paul 'salvation', in the epistles of John 'love'.

But every term that is employed is deficient. For it points beyond itself. The word is not the thing that the word tries to describe. The thing that the word tries to describe is 'all that Jesus began to teach and do'. The thing is the whole reality, it is too great for any word. So we settle for thing.

'Thing ' thus refers to a way or style which is fluid, imprecise, undogmatic. It is the predicate for everything for which 'Jesus' is the subject. At a time of revolt against institutions, dogmas, creeds and statements of belief, the 'Jesus Thing' may represent a spirit, a movement, a way which refuses to be a blueprint for the future but is satisfied to be a way of holding the Gospel for us today.

In this book John Vincent argues that 'theology awaits Jesus-action', a dynamic understanding of the world based on key categories of the Gospel which he identifies and gives examples showing them in action.

Many of these examples are drawn from the life of the Ashram Community.