And we're back...
I had a goal of reading a book each week in 2008. Didn't even come close.
Trying again in 2009...
Just finished this book, so I'm glad to report that for 2009 I am completely on track with my reading goals! (I'm not buying another deck of cards though.)
I love the title of this book but not so much the subtitle. Should have read "towards a christianity beyond belief" perhaps (reminds me of an old Petra tune). Having heard Pete Rollins in person at the Great Emergence conference in Memphis (december 2009), my interest in reading something from him had been significantly heightened.
"The relationship between fidelity and betrayal in the Judeo-Christian tradition is further complicated in the Scriptures via stories that seem to suggest that one must wrestle with, disagree with, and even disobey God for the sake of retaining one's fidelity to God."
About the Scriptures...
"The text was written not to be approached as an academic document detailing facts about the life of faith but rather as an invitation in to the life of faith."
"To believe that the words are the Word reduces the text to what can be named, describe, and transcribed. To treat it in this way means that we approach the Word as a thing that stands before us to be examined, poked, prodded, and played with. The Word of God, in this reading, thus refers to something, some thing, some set of things."
As I read his ideas and perspectives on the Scriptures, it gave me hope for a more healthy view of the text...even as it affirms the demise of sola scriptura.
As he concludes the book, he speaks of the need for us to form spaces where "transformance art" can take place...where we can celebrate and live into the miraculous yet often subversive and religion-less experience of Christ and Christianity.
1 comment:
good job on the reading bro - you are one book ahead of me :) have you read "how (not) to speak of god"? both books are excellent in my humble opinion.
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