Overhearing A Christian Apology To The Nones

While the steady increase of the religiously unaffiliated Nones in America has generated anxious responses about rising secularism and loss of national identity, this book suggests a wider meaning-making approach wherein the Nones are seen as valuable dialogue partners necessary in this pivotal moment for the revealing of still hidden truths about culture, spirituality, and religion. Christians who overhear this dialogue may find upon self-reflection an emerging truth about their relationships, embedded stories, level of faith development, and susceptibility to a culturally conditioned, transactional religion. Nones who choose to engage in dialogue may find that the “nothingness” they bring to the dialogue is more significant than they realize, revealing truths of an apophatic spiritual path necessary for generating a transformational faith of freedom and capable of rebalancing a divisive, consumer-driven society. The religious and the not-religious, who are often seen as being on opposite sides of an imagined religious threshold, may instead be seen as standing together in a liminal space that opens in wordless silence to yet unseen possibilities and from which emerge new stories aligned with the heart of Creation.

Robert Wick's latest book presents a discussion of the natural encounters all of us can expect on the journey toward a deeper relationship with the truth about ourselves, others, and God. This includes the search for imago Dei, what to expect in traveling our own “road to Emmaus,” how to recognize our own hidden resistances to spiritual growth and change—especially “compartmentalization,” and ways to personally explore our own answer to Jesus’s question in John’s Gospel: “What are you looking for?”

When Lillian Daniel apologized to a total stranger for every bad thing that had ever been said or done in the name of Christianity, he was surprised that she was responsible for all that. "The Inquisition? Don't even raise it, I'm way ahead of you. I was mad about it before you even heard of it, that's how open-minded I am. Salem witch trials? I know! So embarrassing. Can I hang out with you anyway? You're too kind." "Religion is responsible for all the wars in history," they would say, and I'd respond, "You're so right. Don't forget imperialism, capitalism, and racism. Religion invented those problems too. You can tell that because religious people can be found at all their meetings." In this book, Daniel argues that it's time for Christians to stop apologizing and realize that how we talk about Christian community matters. With disarming candor laced with just the right amount of humor, Daniel urges open-minded Christians to explore ways to talk about their faith journeys that are reasonable, rigorous, and real. After the publication of the much talked about When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Enough: Seeing God In Surprising Places, Even the Church, Lillian Daniel heard from many SBNRs as well as practicing Christians. It was the Christians who scolded her for her forthright, unapologetic stand as one who believes that religious community matters. The Christians ranted that Christians, by definition, tend to be judgmental, condemning hypocrites, which is why people hate them. By saying religion matters, she was judging those who disagree, they said, proving the stereotype of Christians. Better to acknowledge all that's wrong with Christianity and its history, then apologize. In this book, Daniel shows why it matters how we talk about Christian community while urging open-minded Christians to learn better ways to talk about their faith.

Against many expectations, religion has not vanished from Western culture. People are troubled and fascinated in equal measure by this new visibility and are unsure whether it is right to (re)incorporate the vocabulary of faith into our common life. This unprecedented co-existence of religion and secularism is sometimes termed the “postsecular,” and in this book Elaine Graham considers some of its implications for the public witness of Christianity. She argues that everyone, from church leaders, theologians, local activists, and campaigners, needs to learn again how to “speak Christian” in these contexts. They need to articulate credible theological justifications for their involvement in public life and to justify the very relevance of their faith to a culture that no longer grants automatic privilege or credence. This entails a retrieval of the ancient practice of apologetics, in order to encourage and equip Christians to defend and commend their core principles and convictions in public. This “new apologetics” involves discerning the actions of God in the world, participating in the praxis of God’s mission and bearing witness in word and deed. Rather than being an adversarial or argumentative process, this is an invitation to dialogue and to the rejuvenation of our public life.

This book investigates the doctrine of Christian apologetics. It explains the teaching of a rational Christian apologetic based on theological assumptions derived from Special Revelation. Martin Murphy takes the reader to a new level of understanding the God of meaning and reality.