 About the Book
Two distinct styles of faith characterize the mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. One is the faith of the academy, theologically informed but arid and intellectual. The other is popular Christianity, an energetic mixture of tradition and superstition that provides fellowship and comfort but cannot answer the challenges posed by historical and scientific knowledge. Mainline pastors tend to hold an academic fail, but lest the scandalize the laity, preach a popular one. Meanwhile, those who seek a faith adequate to the modern world are silently disappearing from the pews.
The Dishonest Church is an unblinking look a the reasons behind the decline of the mainline churches, and an prescription for a long overdue remedy: honesty.
Who Should Read The Dishonest Church?
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- Religious leaders
- Religion professors
- Seminary students
- Those curious about, jaded by, questioning, loving, and/or celebrating the Christian faith.
What People Are Saying About The Dishonest Church
We need this book. I think it should be required reading for denominational officials, seminar professors, and theological students. What am I saying? It should be required for all people who call themselves Christians.
James R. Adams, President, the Center for Progressive Christianity and author of So You Think You're Not Religious? A Thinking Person's Guide to the Church
Jack Good tells it like it is: The Church is crucified by its dishonesty, knowing the nonliteral try of the Christian tradition, but hiding it and pandering to literalism instead. And he tells it like it can be: the church can be resurrected with progressive Christianity, using the best biblical scholarship and creative approaches to worship and congregational life.
Jim Burklo, author of Open Christianity: Home by Another Road, and campus minister, United Campus Christian Ministry at Stanford University
About the Author
Andrew J. (Jack) Good, author of The Bible: Faith's Family Album (Chalice Press, 1998), is an ordained pastor of the United Church of Christ. Educated at Boston University School of Theology, the Maxwell School at Syracuse University (International Relations), and the Lancaster Theological School, Dr. Good has practiced his socially-oriented theology in pastorates for over 40 years. He has lived in villages in Pakistan and Bangladesh and has, through these and other experiences, formed a great respect for other cultures and other ways of worshiping God.
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