What is the Gospel (a summary of the book, Embracing Grace)?

This past year I stumbled onto an author through a book I borrowed at a cohort I have only visited 2x so far. It was Scot McKnight, who I now understand is pretty popular among emergent and evangelical church leaders. The book I read of his was The Jesus Creed. I quickly picked up his 2nd title, Embracing Grace (b/c the 1st book was great).

I will take several blogs and share a summary of his book and thoughts, and hope to hear some reactions from you.

What is the gospel? A question McKnight tries more to broaden then narrow. His subtitle, a gospel for all of us gives that away.

Here’s some thoughts from the intro:

If the gospel is for all of us, how did it come to pass that each group (i.e. denomination, tradition, etc) thinks it alone has the gospel figured out? One group emphasizes forgiveness…, another transformation..., another inclusion…. Is there a right and a wrong?

From the start this caught my attention coming from a Christian background that claimed it had it all – or most of it – right.

McKnight doesn’t knock one emphasis, but sets out a gospel that needs all of those angles (a later chapter deals with 4-5 views of the atonement).

He says: It is my conviction that God designed the gospel to be a source of communion for all Christians and not a source of division among them.

I really like the definition of the gospel he uses through the book:
The gospel is the work of God to restore humans to union with God and communion with others, in the context of a community, for the good of others and the world.
I really like this definition. It’ll be unpacked in the following chapter summaries.
This to him is embracing grace: a gospel for all of us: it tells the story of a God who embraces us in spite of who we are and what we have done; it tells us that God’s embrace enables us to embrace God back and to embrace others, and that this double embrace is intended for the good of others and the world.

McKnight sees the gospel filled with communion with God and others.

He sets his framework well in Christian orthodoxy as he states: this grace comes to us in Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit.

How would you define the gospel? Does McKnight's befinition bring clarity for you, refresh your understanding of the gospel, or something else?