Book Review: The Christ of the Mount, by E. Stanley Jones.

A Working Philosophy of Life; Exploring the Sermon on the Mount

E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973) was a missionary to India for several decades and also published over thirty books. He writes from the context of dealing with Hindu and Muslim cultures, to which he witnessed for Christ, but they dominated society. In this context, he explains that the Sermon on the Mount provides a prescription for a stable society of peace and justice, and that those of the other religions recognize that these commands of Christ will work, even without acknowledging Jesus for who He is. The other religions portray approaches to addressing the deepest needs of the human soul, but only Jesus delivers. Sadly, it is not only other religions want the goods without the Savior, many Christian churches have a creed and a dogma, but not the Savior in their lives.

The British Empire had conquered India in the late 18th century, in the form of the British East India Tea Company, and the British government took over direct rule in 1858. By the early 20th century, the Indian people’s restiveness was boiling to the point of ultimately achieving self-rule and independence in 1947. This was a turbulent setting for which the peace that the truths in the Sermon on the Mount were desperately needed in. Yet the commands of Jesus seem impossible. The themes of the Sermon are laid out: perfection, new humanity and new morals, divided personality as the cause of our dysfunction, and the way out of it.

In the chapter titled, ‘The Authority of Jesus, Waxing or Waning?’, Jones describes a practical application of these principles in the Indian struggle for independence from the British Empire. 

As Lord Irwin and Mahatma Gandhi sat face to face, almost every single modern problem— economic, social, political, racial, personal—was focused there, at least in germ form. Out of the seemingly hopeless tangle they found a way—at any rate the first steps—to the way out. How did they do it? The representatives of the newspapers asked Mahatma Gandhi, “What miracle turned the tide of negotiations when everything seemed lost?” His answer was, “Goodness on the part of Lord Irwin; and if I may say so, apologetically, goodness on my own part. Then it was the application of the principles of the Sermon on the Mount that brought peace.” In this complex situation was Jesus authoritative? To that situation apply force, apply unbending self-assertion, apply anything except the way of Jesus, and it would have ended in a breakdown and an impasse.

A bit later in the same chapter, “ …there is a clash going on between East and West and the East feels that she [India] cannot afford to adopt the religion of her conquerors. That would make her lose her own national soul. But she cannot escape the One who is the heart of that religion.”

Thus, after explaining the practicality of Jesus’ teachings, he shows the societal consequences of actually following them. Before this, he talks about the need to both build on a firm foundation, and to build a house well. The one who builds such a life is blessed with survival of the storms of life. The secret of this is that “… he [Jesus] does not impose laws on life. He expounds life itself, and he regenerates it.” That is the secret to both doing the seemingly impossible, and the social fruit of obedience.