Losing Your Religion

October 28, 2013
As a pastor and church planter, Bomar (Better Off Without Jesus) digs deep into the contemporary Christian church and modern culture to discover meaning in the spiritual experience. He established a church in Portland from the ground up, and has a "mustard seed" view of religion that emphasizes starting small. He urges Christians to build relationships in the world that go beyond behaving like a stereotypical "good Christian" and instead practice that faith, hope and love that empower everyday living. "Freedom is always found beyond ourselves, which is the beauty of the life Jesus invites us into," he writes. Bomar also tackles legalism, which he defines as "upholding a strict religious code of behavior." He wants the reader to do than memorize scripture and attend church. He unfortunately ducks some of the bigger social issues facing the church such as abortion, which he might addressed in his analysis of legalism. This book will appeal to seeker Christians in growing churches who are interested in insights from a young pastor who is developing a vibrant church. (Nov.)
Approaching the End: Eschatological Reflections on Church, Politics, and Life
Stanley Hauerwas
Wm. B. Eerdmans, $24 trade paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-8028-6959-3
Beginning mid-conversation as if at a salon, Hauerwas (Hannah's Child) engages in dialogues with fellow ethicists and theologians such as Karl Barth and John Howard Yoder, and even with himself. He reviews his life of teaching and studying to see its end, professionally and physically, in order to reflect on eschatology, the theological subject of death and destiny. In part one, Hauerwas approaches the end by returning to the beginning -- creation; part two covers church and politics, including Protestantism's end and the church's/es' unification (Which church? he asks). Included in this section is an essay on war and peace, but that topic threads through the section, a given for this Christian pacifist. Part three focuses on sickness and death; he refreshes an essay, "Suffering Presence," from 1986 and considers cloning, disability, and "Doing Nothing Gallantly." This compendium is not for dipping; it is for digesting after time spent preparing. Hauerwas employs seminary jargon ("deontological," "doxologically," "alterity") as precise words rather than snowballs. Though demanding and disorganized, the heavily footnoted book offers homages to the end.