SUGGESTION: Goodbye Jesus: An Evangelical Preacher's Journey Beyond Faith by Tim Sledge
For apologetics and polemics, it is important to understand why people lose their faith. This is an excellent example.
From the amazon blurb: "Goodbye Jesus is the step-by-step account of a former minister’s journey into and out of faith—the story of a long pendulum swing from the deep commitment of a devout believer to the firm conviction that no personal God exists and that all religions are man-made.
Tim Sledge was a Southern Baptist preacher and writer for 35 years. His pioneering work in faith-based recovery ministries in the 80s and 90s ultimately guided participants in 20,000 Christian support groups across the U.S.
The driving force behind Sledge’s ultimate rejection of Christianity was his long-term, up-close observations of church life. “After living and leading in the church for decades, I saw no consistent evidence of an ongoing supernatural presence—and I wanted to see that evidence with all that was in me.”
Part memoir, part exposé, part polemic, Goodbye Jesus is an honest, highly personal, and frequently provocative spiritual autobiography that concludes with an insider’s takedown of religious faith.
This is a relatable and thoughtful read for those seeking to better understand the evangelical mindset, for Christians who are questioning their faith, for ministers trying to decide whether to stay or go, and for those who have left their faith and are dealing with its loss."
Vote at Goodbye Jesus: An Evangelical Preacher's Journey Beyond Faith by Tim Sledge | Faithlife
Note: I do not agree that religions are man-made -- but this book gives insight into that perspective.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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There are a number of other books in this genre:
Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity (John W. Loftus) - "Loftus was a devout evangelical Christian, an ordained minister of the Church of Christ, and an ardent apologist for Christianity. With three degrees--in philosophy, theology, and philosophy of religion--he was adept at using rational argumentation to defend the faith. But over the years, doubts about the credibility of key Christian tenets began to creep into his thinking. By the late 1990s he experienced a full-blown crisis of faith. In this honest appraisal of his journey from believer to atheist, the author carefully explains the experiences and the reasoning process that led him to reject religious belief."
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists (Dan Barker) - "After almost twenty years of evangelical preaching, missionizing, and Christian songwriting, Dan Barker “threw out the bathwater and discovered that there is no baby.” In Godless, Barker describes the intellectual and psychological path he followed in moving from fundamentalism to freethought. Godless includes sections on biblical morality, the historicity of Jesus, biblical contradictions, the unbelievable resurrection, and much more. It is an arsenal for skeptics and a direct challenge to believers. Along the way, Barker relates the positive benefit readers will experience from learning to trust in reason and human kindness instead of living in fear of false judgment and moral condemnation."
Like you, I do not agree with their conclusions, but it's important to understand what drives people to abandon their faith.
One book that we do already have in Logos is: Finding Faith, Losing Faith: Stories of Conversion and Apostasy by Scot McKnight
Another one like that which has gotten some attention lately is Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church edited by Chrissy Stroop and Lauren O'Neal
Though there've always been people who have stopped believing for one reason or another, across the theological spectrum, this "deconversion" is happening altogether too often lately, particularly among evangelicals. It's almost become kind of trendy, but I believe it's a response to real problems in the evangelical church. Those who care about faith need to figure out why and what to do about it.
P.S. Another random collection of books tagged "deconversion" on Goodreads. Some of these are in the genre we've been discussing; others are irrelevant for the current purposes.
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Thanks for the additional references, Rosie. I'll check them out.
Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."
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I’d add a broader perspective from Oxford Press. Phil Zuckerman, Faith No More: Why People Reject Religion. Cuts across various Christian, Jewish, and Muslim boundaries,
"The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected."- G.K. Chesterton
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