A Christianity Worth Believing

My hope is that this book is my invitation for people to pursue a Christianity that is good for world, good for their spirits and good for their faith. I want it to be an invitation to a Christianity that makes sense in the world we live in. It is a hope-filled pursuit toward an alive and well faith for our day.

A Christianity Worth Believing is my most ambitious book yet. And it is my most personal.

This book was two years in the writing and 25 years of faith in the making. As I wrote I would sit in public places (I always write in places where I can see other people so that I can look up and ask myself if that last sentence I wrote had any chance at connecting with the people around me?) listening to Bruce Springsteen songs and be inspired by the way he could weave a story around the idea of the song. That helped me to write my understanding of Christianity from a narrative approach. In my case the person in the narrative was me.

This book is my story of interacting with a version of Christianity I knew of and finding myself wanting to keep going in the development of my beliefs but often fidning that the system that welcomed me into faith and care for me deeply was not always hospitable to seeing the expression and understanding of the faith change. I never felt jilted by the version of faith I was welcomed into, rather I was inspired to keep going, to keep creating, to keep participating. This book is part of that journey.

The thing is this journey has taken me to places where others do not always want to go. While so many of my friends have encouraged me with the ideas of this book there are others who find this kind of thinking (and the conclusions I suggest) as scary and threatening.

A friend of mine put it this way: "You are simply asking questions and raising issues that there are no easy answer for, so I am afraid you will lead people to a place they cannot recover from."

I understand the sentiment of his concern and certainly do not want to disturb those who wish to be left alone. But this book is for those who are already disturbed. Those who find themselves left-out of the faith. It is for those who like me do not think we need to be afraid of asking tough questions or raising new concerns. This book is an invitation and perhaps for some a partner in that journey.

So, please consider reading this book as part of your own journey of growing, wondering and asking.

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Praise for A Christianity Worth Believing

Depressing and hopeful things can happen simultaneously. Depressing: Increasing numbers of gifted young adults are leaving the church - uninspired, disillusioned, and often damaged. Depressing: Many church leaders respond to their departure with defensiveness and various forms of neo-fundamentalism, driving even more people away. Hopeful: creative Christian leaders like Doug Pagitt aren't blaming the victims, nor are they hunkering down, nor are they giving up. Instead, they're envisioning and articulating fresh ways of holding and living Christian faith. Pagitt's new 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 (brianmclaren.net) — networker, speaker, author of A New Kind of Christian, A Generous Orthodoxy, and Everything Must Change.

If you are drawn to the the mystifying, loving God whom we meet in Jesus Christ, but put off by "Christianity" (or, for that matter, the Christians you know) this contrarian, wise, winsome, passionate book is a must-read.

Lauren F. Winner — author of Girl Meets God, Duke Divinity School

In A Christianity Worth Believing Doug Pagitt skillfully presents inspiring new ideas about Christianity that will free you in a whole new way. I am certain that this book will resonate with the many that have always felt there must be more to this faith life that we've chosen. Vivid with real life examples, masterful in its presentation, Doug has created a treatise on Kingdom living in the here and now that you just will not want to miss.

Jim Watters — Past 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 — Author The Divine Hours, The Words Of Jesus

The Scriptures say we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." This is Doug Pagitt's raw, honest, fear-and-trembling workout. I don't agree with Doug on everything... and that's part of the fun. We need to learn to disagree well, and laugh and spar together as we run after God's dream. If there's anything we can learn from both conservatives and liberals it's that you can have all the "right" answers and still be mean. And nobody wants truth from mean people. Doug is a friend and a brother, and he's after God. It's hard to argue with a life poured out to Jesus and to serving this dysfunctional family of Abraham and Sarah. It's hard to argue with love. Thanks Doug.

Shane Claiborne — The Irresistible Revolution; activist, author, and recovering sinner

This is a narrative theology at its best. With honesty, humor and insight, Doug Pagitt creatively weaves his own life story together with insights drawn from scripture and history to produce a provocative critique of western Christianity. In its place 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! Here is a Christianity that really is worth believing in!

Gregory A Boyd — The Myth of a Christian Nation

Doug Pagitt is both a prophet and a pastor, whose book is by turns tender, powerful, funny and revolutionary. His account of Christianity is not only worth believing but worth living.

Sara Miles — Author Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

For inquiries about A Christianity Worth Believing, contact

Kelly Hughes
President
DeChant-Hughes & Assoc Inc Public Relations
1440 N Kingsbury St
Chicago IL 60622
PH: (312) 280-8126
FX: (312) 280-8362
E: kelly@dechanthughes.com