Imitating Christ: The Disputed Character of Christian Discipleship (Luke Timothy Johnson) - A Review

IMITATING CHRIST: The Disputed Character of Christian Discipleship. By Luke Timothy Johnson. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2024. Viii + 220 pages.

What is Christian discipleship? If being a disciple involves being a follower or student of another person, then one would assume that Christian discipleship would involve following Jesus. One might claim that being a disciple and being a Christian isn’t necessarily the same thing. One can be a member of a church that is defined as being a Christian and not really be a follower of Jesus. In fact, as biblical scholar Luke Timothy Johnson suggests in his book Imitating Christ, the character of Christian discipleship is in dispute. As the title of his recent book suggests, Johnson wants to offer contemporary Christians a renewed vision of what it means to be a Christian and a follower of Jesus. To do so, Johnson points us back to a time before the Enlightenment, when a different understanding of discipleship was prevalent.  

Luke Timothy Johnson is an interesting figure. In some ways he is a contrarian, we need contrarians even if we don’t always agree with their views. Through the years I have found Johnson to be at the very least insightful and sufficiently provocative to make me think closely about how I view my faith and the Bible, especially the New Testament, which is his focus. Johnson is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Before that, he was on the faculty at Yale. While he has spent much of his life teaching at Protestant schools, he is Roman Catholic. He is also a rather prodigious author and writer of biblical commentaries, along with a very interesting memoir: The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar.

In Imitating Christ, Johnson reveals his long-held concern for Christian life, which is seen in books written for a more general audience, as is the case here. While Johnson doesn’t offer the reader a manual on discipleship, he is concerned that discipleship has been redefined in such a way that church leaders “seem determined to fight every battle except that of forming people into saints” (p. vii). In Johnson’s view, Christian discipleship should be defined in terms of imitating Christ, drawing on biblical, historical, and theological discussions. The very title of the book gives us a clue as to his perspective in that he draws on Thomas à Kempis' classic guide to discipleship: On the Imitation of Christ. À Kempis’ guide, written in the fifteenth century, remains popular even with modern audiences. Writing, as he does, out of concern for the state of Christian discipleship, he seeks to make known to modern Christians the vast number of resources available to Christians that extend back to the New Testament.

In his introduction to Imitating Christ, he speaks of serious Christian believers being asked for more than membership in a church or “formal allegiance to a set of convictions, or even observance of basic rules.” Rather it involves being “deeply committed to the Christian way” (p. 1).  He wishes to introduce us to the kinds of materials that can help Christians pursue a life of discipleship by imitating Christ, such that a disciple might experience the transformation of the self into the image of Christ. Here is his concern, which might not be shared by all, but it is worth pondering. He speaks from his experience teaching at seminaries and finding himself not being on the same page as his students when it comes to Christian discipleship. He writes: “Whereas my default understanding of discipleship was becoming a saint, this language was utterly strange to them. They thought of discipleship in terms of changing the oppressive systems of society, and this understanding was abetted by the steady diet of liberation discourse they were fed in theology and ethics classes. When students at Yale and Candler became aware of spirituality, they were eager to experience it, but (as in the classes taught by Henri Nouwen at Yale Divinity School) it was a boutique add-on rather than the heart of their theological education” (pp. 8-9). While he has no issues with liberationist efforts, he is concerned that something deeply important and foundational might be missing.

With this concern that something is missing from contemporary Christian life, Johnson offers the reader an alternative vision. Thus, he begins Imitating Christ: The Disputed Characterof Christian Discipleship with a chapter that lays out what he believes is the classic understanding of Christian discipleship. The Chapter is titled “Discipleship as Transformation of Self."  It is this theme of transformation that Johnson wishes to hammer down. Being that he is a New Testament scholar, he begins this study of discipleship focusing on the way the New Testament describes discipleship, as well as the church's sacramental life. In the course of this first chapter, Johnson speaks to the premises or convictions on which discipleship is based, beginning with the emphasis on the biblical witness that Christian life is communal and has an eschatological vision. Christian practices are rooted in these two premises. Regarding the eschatological premise, which he admits is complex, he points to the classic form of eschatology that involves death, judgment, heaven, or hell. Thus, choices made in life, which is rather brief, have eternal consequences, as revealed in passages like Matthew 25. Thus, based on these premises, Christian practices develop. The practices include worship, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. At its base, Christian discipleship involves sharing in Christ's sufferings while expressing the love of God and love of neighbor, with the hope of experiencing the resurrection. This process of discipleship is communal, not individualistic. As we see as read Johnson’s book, it is the individualism of Enlightenment-influenced Christianity that is a major concern.

The first chapter focuses on the New Testament, but it is not the only resource. Therefore, he turns in Chapter Two to "Discipleship Before the Reformation.” In this chapter, Johnson focuses on what became the Roman Catholic tradition. He starts with what he calls martyr piety, which emerged early in Christian history. He discusses some of the key witnesses to this form of piety, such as Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp, both of whom were second-century church leaders and martyrs. He also takes note of the witness of Origen, though I was surprised that he didn't include in his discussion of martyrdom, the witness of Perpetua. I think her story would have been an excellent addition because it reveals how women were important witnesses. In any case, he moves then to early Christians who pursued discipleship in the desert. Though it developed before Constantine’s embrace of Christianity, it took off after Christianity was legalized, making martyrdom less likely. Though less austere than the desert fathers and mothers, monasticism developed early on, taking different forms, including that of St. Benedict. There is also a discussion of medieval mysticism in this chapter, which remains influential even today. Of course, one would expect a discussion of the work of Thomas à Kempis, whose death came a dozen years before Luther's birth.

Chapter 3 is titled "Post-Reformation Discipleship." This chapter takes us from Luther to the Enlightenment. Being Roman Catholic, Johnson reminds us that there was a Catholic Reformation as well as a Protestant one. He also notes that Protestantism was a diverse movement from the beginning. So, along with his discussion of the Catholic response to the Reformation, he discusses the views of Luther, Calvin, and Anglican piety including John Wesley, as well as Jonathan Edwards.  Largely missing from this discussion is the Anabaptist contribution, which is unfortunate since Anabaptists were strong proponents of serious discipleship and generally embraced communal forms of discipleship. While that omission is unfortunate, Johnson wants the reader to know that the classical vision of discipleship that emerged during the pre-Reformation age, continued into the Reformation and post-Reformation age.

After he describes what he believes is the classic vision of Christian discipleship, Johnson addresses the changing face of discipleship in the Enlightenment and Modern ages. Chapter 4 is titled "Discipleship Under Threat." He discusses four contributors to this problem: First, there is the birth of modernity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which undermined confidence in Scripture and relativized Christianity’s place as a religion. Secondly, there is, in his view, the reality that Christianity in the modern world is weak and fragmented. Third, he points to the modern development of theories of social change. Finally, there is the threat of modern science and philosophy that demystified God. While I don't believe that Johnson wants to return to a pre-modern world, when it comes to Christian discipleship, he believes something has been lost in the modern world.

Having looked at the threats to discipleship, in Chapter 5, Johnson speaks of "Shaping a New Vision." By that, he means a new vision of discipleship that fits with this new vision of the world. He continues speaking about the changes in social structures and society, that led to new movements such as abolitionism, suffragism, and temperance, along with worker's rights, and on the dark side, eugenics. He's not against abolition, workers' rights, or women voting. However, he's concerned that the emphasis on these areas of concern, especially with the advent of the Social Gospel has pushed aside the purpose of classic discipleship, which is the transformation of the self. He believes the social gospel and liberation theology undermine the traditional vision of the transformation.

Because Johnson is concerned that the social gospel and liberation theology have undermined the church’s commitment to classical forms of discipleship, he devotes Chapter 6 to offering "A Critical Analysis of the Two Visions." Again, it’s not that he dismisses the importance of the message of the social gospel and liberation theology, but he is concerned that they are not properly rooted. He writes that ideally the love of God and neighbor should be rooted in prayer as well as action. Thus, “the life of prayer and the life of social engagement ought not to be antithetical but complementary (p. 153). Thus, Johnson prefers the classic forms of discipleship over modern forms because the former starts with the spiritual transformation of the self.

In Chapter 7 Johnson addresses "Discipleship in Churches." Here he speaks to various ways that discipleship is understood in Protestant and Catholic Churches. He introduces us to both positive and negative sources of spiritual guidance. His concern is that while there are signs of light in the darkness, there is much, in his mind, counterfeit Christianity in our churches. I agree with that but was disappointed that when it comes to Protestant resources, he points the reader to people like John Piper, who is rather right-wing and patriarchal. Knowing that Johnson does support women in ministry, even as a Roman Catholic, I found that to be incongruous.

Finally, Johnson writes in Chapter 8 about “Imitating Saints,” which he believes is the foundation for a new understanding of Christian discipleship. He speaks here of the transformation of the self through imitation, much as Thomas A Kempis did. In describing what imitating saints involves, he points us to two representative figures. On the Protestant side, he points us to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who is in many ways an exemplar of the classic forms of discipleship. However, I was again disappointed by Johnson’s choice of a resource. Since there are several excellent biographies available, I cannot understand why he would suggest readers consult Eric Metaxas’ “biography” of Bonhoeffer which distorts Bonhoeffer’s life and legacy. Since he does mention Eberhard Bethge’s biography, I would stick with that. One might also simply read Life Together and Discipleship. The other figure is the Trappist monk Thomas Merton, who was deeply rooted in the classic disciplines, but also committed himself to addressing the great social issues of his day. He writes of Merton: “His prophetic stance met with considerable opposition among ecclesiastical authorities and among readers who wanted him to remain the pious monk of his early works, but Merton was convinced that the contemplative life gave a unique view of the secular world that must be given articulation” (p. 201). Ultimately, the point here is that “the mind of Christ is best learned by observing those who live by that mind and imitating them” (p. 204).

There is much to learn here in Johnson’s advocacy of Christian discipleship that leads to the transformation of the self, such that one becomes one of the saints of God. While that might sound individualistic, he is strongly committed to discipleship that is communal in nature, as well as deeply rooted in Scripture and theology. As is the case with Johnson’s works, his Imitating Christ has a touch of the polemical. That is rooted in his frustration with what he sees taking place in the churches and within the seminaries where he teaches. As I’ve noted earlier, I was disappointed in the way Johnson represented the Social Gospel and Liberation Theology. I didn't feel that he gave them credit for the spiritual transformation that I believe is present in these traditions. I was also disappointed with some of his recommended Protestant voices, which are well to the right of mainstream Protestantism. At points, I felt that while Johnson spent most of his career in Protestant circles, he didn't know us very well. With that caveat, I do feel that Johnson is on to something that we on the more progressive side of Christianity need to give attention to (the same is true for evangelicals who have been taken in by Christian nationalism and Trumpism). Perhaps that is because we tend to lose sight of the eschatological dimension of the Christian faith. There are choices that must be made, but are we prepared to make good ones?