A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All (Living Way: Emergent Visions)
"If you are drawn to the mystifying, loving God whom we meet in Jesus Christ, but put off by? 'Christianity,' this contrarian, wise, winsome, passionate book is a must-read." —Lauren F. Winner, author, Girl Meets God; assistant professor, Duke Divinity School
"Envisioning and articulating fresh ways of holding and living Christian faith, Pagitt's book reads like an old-fashioned testimony, but it opens up important new possibilities and serves as a window into the soul of a new generation of Christians." —Brian McLaren, networker; speaker; author, A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and Everything Must Change
"With honesty, humor, and insight, Doug Pagitt offers us a beautiful, holistic, compelling vision of the Kingdom of God. If you're one of the ever-increasing multitude who sense something is profoundly 'off' with traditional Christianity, this book is a must read!" —Gregory A. Boyd, author, Myth of a Christian Nation
"This is Doug Pagitt's raw, honest, fear-and-trembling faith workout. Thanks, Doug." —Shane Claiborne, activist, author, and recovering sinner
"I am certain that this book will resonate with the many who have always felt there must be more to this faith life that we've chosen. Doug has created a treatise on Kingdom living in the here and now that you just will not want to miss." —Jim Watters, former vice president of support ministries, World Relief; currently director of development, Pastor's Retreat Network
"Here is theology as it is supposed to be: a love story between two parts of one whole. Intimate, candid, vulnerable as well as brilliant and salvific, this one is God-talk at its most persuasive. It is also emergence Christianity at its clearest and best." —Phyllis Tickle, founding editor, Religion Department of Publishers Weekly; author, The Words of Jesus
Item Specifications...
ISBN 0787998125 EAN 9780787998127
Pages 256
Dimensions: Length: 9.1" Width: 6.3" Height: 1" Weight: 1 lbs.
Release Date Jun 2, 2008
Availability 3 units. Availability accurate as of Mar 20, 2010 10:44.
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Categories
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Books > Subjects > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Faith [4314 similar products]
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Books > Subjects > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > General [31520 similar products]
Books > Subjects > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Theology > General [8607 similar products]
Reviews - What do our customers think?
the shake up Jun 2, 2008
For anyone who has been waiting for "those emergent types" to state what they believe, wait no more. This is Doug Pagitt at his best--funny, thought-provoking, goofy, challenging, and asking questions you didn't know could be asked.
Compelling, Beautiful and Hope-Filled...Christianity? Jun 2, 2008
Welcome to a Christianity still forming, a faith that is compelling and beautiful and filled with hope, a God who is not remote and difficult to appease but one who is "down and in," present and active in a our lives and world. Welcome to A Christianity Worth Believing, described by author Doug Pagitt in his subtitle as a "hope-filled, open-armed, alive-and-well faith for the left out, left behind and let down in us all." The reader won't find any gaseous, empty platitudes in this memoir of his living faith in Jesus, however; it's instead a brisk walk through his story of seeking, finding, questioning, challenging, and refining what it means to follow Jesus in the world.
Like Doug and so many others who encountered Evangelical Christianity as a teenager, I found myself eventually struggling to follow the Jesus I fell in love with through all the hoops, twists, turns and cultural baggage that are embedded in our gospel presentations with so much fervency and certainty. Unlike Doug, I chose the path of least resistance and simply bought in and went with the program-as-offered. Reading A Christianity Worth Believing did, in a way, bring me full-circle in my own journey of spiritual reformation. With vulnerability, passion, and tremendous insight, Doug Pagitt has testified to a Christianity that is truly worth believing in.
If you've got Christianity all figured out, don't buy this book. Jun 2, 2008
Doug Pagitt is a rare person, sharing a rare gift. In a world full of religious thinkers who are beholden to denominations, theological legacies, churches (full of people who would leave if their pastor ever spoke their honest thoughts), tenure, paychecks, and pensions, Doug is a true free agent. Having separated himself from almost any form of obligation, he has taken his considerable intellect and thought his way toward some truly fresh perspectives on Christianity. The result is personal and engaging and pioneering and perfectly perspectival: a theological treatise almost completely devoid of footnotes (though it comes from a person with a professional, pastoral, and theological pedigree).
At the same time, the book probably doesn't strike the reader that way, for it reads like a memoir, and at a deeper level, like a wide-ranging theology of humanity and the human condition. But look even deeper, and you'll see the life's work of a true autodidact: a fresh look at God and the world through unconventional lenses as diverse as physics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, natural health, and personal experience.
Where most Christian thinkers only look back (to some imagined golden era in the history of the church), Doug's innovative suggestion is to look at Christianity from the perspective of the future. Of course, he does present some historical study (especially to the time before Augustine, when much of Christian thought ossified into the terms of Greek philosophy), but he does so as a means of finding the trajectory of the Christian faith, looking past our time toward the even better day he envisions ahead.
"Worth Believing" Meaningful & Encouraging Jun 1, 2008
I was able to take the slow flight reading time last week to finish up Doug Pagitt's new book. It falls into the conversation with Tony Jone's latest (The New Christians) as books that open up a behind-the-veil look into the emerging church thought processes. What I appreciate about Doug is that he makes me think. He's got a gift for saying that one thing that tweaks the world just enough to cause my pause and make me think, and he's done that with this book, with this conversation.
In sharing his own trip through the Christian life and Christian community, Doug shares many of the questions that have held many of us at arm's length away from something meaningful. There's so much head knowledge, but have any of us gotten beyond that to the joy of first coming to the Lord? Where the story of Jesus won Doug over to real living, he's had to dig back out from all the extra stuff that weighs us down and hinders the inherent pressing on in Christ.
A discussion of Greco-Roman influences on the current state of Western theology is necessary, but provide the only slow part of the book. Make your way through that and find that Doug pulls out some great metaphors for sin, for repentance, for real relationships with God and with each other.
As an example of what was making me think, I wrote this in the margins of my copy: "Is my faith constrained by the Bible? does my faith constrain the Bible?" That's a different kind of question that, if we're honest and open to really challenging our own internal status quo, will wreck a week. Doug's writing and conversation does that in the best way, somehow seeking to leave everyone in a better position, on better footing to live out this Christian life. I appreciate this more than any I've read so far this year for its honesty and that tweak-me-ability - I'm usually the tweaker, but this time I was definitely the tweak-ee.
One more point: this is the book that I might finally jump the shark with, the one that I think I could buy for friends on either side of this fence for either encouraging, or for further tweaking. I think Doug stretches the thoughts gently enough and severly enough to make a difference in the coversation, and he raises questions that cannot be easily set aside. Not everyone needs to "go there", but for real growth and depth, I think more of us need to wrestle through some of our preconceived presumptions. I'm looking forward to future discussion over this book, hopefully, and can't wait to be able to bulk order for a few special friends.
Warm and Wise Jun 1, 2008
This book is as warm and generous and thoughtful as its author is. As a congregational consultant, I highly recommend it -- especially for those church leaders who want to proclaim a beautiful faith.
