Religious
Title
Discussion
Amazon
Links
A Churchless Faith
I just finished reading 'A Churchless Faith' by Alan Jamieson which I found extremely thought-provoking and encouraging. In particular, it introduced me to the work of James Fowler in modelling spiritual growth as stages of faith. The book challenges the prevailing view about church leavers and I felt has clear messages for both the individual feeling church is no longer for them and for churches facing the departure of well-known members.
From the perspective of someone rethinking their religious faith, the most helpful aspect of the book was the level-voiced and non-judgemental survey work (drawn from Jamieson's doctoral thesis) showing why people stop attending churches. Jamieson develops a model showing why people leave and the summary, surprising to some, is that it's a matter of growth of faith rather than death of faith that makes the majority of leavers go it alone. The key message to the individual? "You're not the first to face this, and you're not on your own".
Like the related book 'The Post-Evangelical', Jamieson discusses the fact that faith systems today exist in the context of a culture completing the transition to a post-modern outlook. His challenge to church leaders is to see leavers not as the fallen but as pioneers. His research finds in the majority of cases individuals with insight into expressing faith in post-modern terms rather than in the modernist terms of the established churches. The key message to the church? "Culture is changing, and your leavers are your congregations's pioneers".
The Message
UK
Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time
Borg tries to paint a word-picture of the real Jesus, asking what he personally taught and believed and what, based on his own sayings, lay at the heart of his ministry. The distinction is made between the pre-Easter Jesus - the flesh-and-blood man who taught by word and deed - and the post-Easter Christ, the focus of organisation of the new christian church. Borg asserts that Jesus' own view was of the need for compassion derived from a daily experience of the living God rather than legalistic purity derived from the rules of the religious status quo. He bravely asserts that Jesus was less concerned about what people believed than about how they allowed the rule of the Spirit and of compassion in their lives.
His careful, educated and well-supported analysis leads the tired christian to a new view of Jesus that can reinvigorate faith without demanding the legalistic focus of either liturgy or dogma. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has been involved in the christian church but grown weary of the limited scope of evangelicalism yet knows that God is and that the Hound of Heaven continues to pursue them. There are things to agree with, things to disagree with but the style is gentle and you, after all, are an adult who can make up your own mind...
UK
Reading the Bible Again for the First Time
UK
The God We Never Knew
UK
Poetry
