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PRAISE FOR RECONSTRUCT YOUR FAITH "If you are a sincere and fulfilled Evangelical Christian, you may not think you need
Reconstruct Your Faith. Similarly, if you have walked away from religion entirely, you may feel this book is for someone else, not you. But I think just about anyone--from happy churchgoer to struggling doubter to church-wounded 'none'--will find real wisdom and insight in these pages. Kevin Young tells his unique story in a way that will help you better live your unfolding story too."
--BRIAN D. MCLAREN, author of
Faith After Doubt and
Do I Stay Christian? "Kevin Young is a stirring stick. He is a maestro of troubling the waters and stirring things up. I sometimes wish he were stirring the other way he's swizzling, but the church needs stirring sticks that are kind, caring, smart, and fair. After all, there was no healing at the Pool of Bethesda until the waters were stirred up. Let the healing begin in
Reconstruct Your Faith."
--LEONARD SWEET, prolific author, professor, preacher, publisher, and proprietor of Sanctuary Seaside (Orcas Island, Washington) "For people in evangelical spaces who have always been (perhaps secretly?) curious about liturgical traditions, Young's pilgrimage into liturgical, practice-based faith offers a template for fellow sojourners to reconnect with God in an ancient way. As a privileged insider in evangelical American Christianity, Young's indictment of abusive theology--and his hope that change is possible--offers a clarion call for confession, compassion, and transformation."
--THE REV. LIZZIE MCMANUS-DAIL "Kevin Young offers clear direction here into a path to Christian faith reconstruction through reconnection with core practices of the Early Church.
Reconstruct Your Faith illustrates two important truths that post-fundamentalists (and post-evangelicals) need to remember: 1.) Protestant fundamentalism was an oddly modernist intellectual cul-de-sac, and thus 2.) deconstructing fundamentalism opens the door to reconnection to the ancient sources and practices of Christian faith. This book is inspiring, both as a memoir and as a path ahead."
--REV. DR. DAVID P. GUSHEE, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University
List of contents
Acknowledgments ix
About the Author xi
Introduction xiii
PART I Deconstructing Faith 1 Chapter 1 How Did I Get Here? 3
Chapter 2 The Church 19
Chapter 3 The Bible 35
Chapter 4 Inerrancy 49
Chapter 5 Deconstruct-Reconstruct Cycle 63
PART II Reconstructing Faith 79 Chapter 6 Ancient Paths 81
Chapter 7 The Liturgy of the Hours 95
Chapter 8 The Church Year 109
Chapter 9 The Saints 123
Chapter 10 Feasts and Fasts 141
Chapter 11 Catechism 161
Chapter 12 Creeds 175
Chapter 13 Pilgrimage 187
Chapter 14 Wreckage and Mess 203
Epilogue 209
Index 213
About the author
KEVIN M. YOUNG is the founder of Christ's Table, an organization that guides those who are disconnected, disillusioned, or done with church, through the application of ancient spiritual practices. He holds a Doctor of Ministry in Semiotics and Future Studies from Portland Seminary of George Fox University.
