Another Gospel? - A Review

Deconstruction. All the cool kids are doing it these days. Former evangelicals, embarrassed by Trumpism, tired of harassment over adherence to Christian sexual ethics, and often ill-informed about the basis of historic Christianity are becoming “Exvangelicals” and turning on their earlier beliefs. In essence, Christianity is experiencing a new divide between orthodoxy and progressivism.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the fight was between fundamentalists and liberals. Fundamentalists gathered around the five fundamentals of the faith: Biblical inspiration and truthfulness of Scripture; the virginal conception of Jesus; the substitutionary atonement of Christ; Christ’s bodily resurrection; and the historicity of Christ’s miracles. Liberals either rejected these or were not concerned with their truthfulness, because they were deemed accessories to true Christianity, which could be jettisoned as irrelevant in the face of modern naturalism.

Fundamentalists later divided between evangelicals and fundamentalists, whose theology is generally compatible, but who have different understandings of the degree of theological agreement necessary to cooperate. The current focus on revisionists is less on a rejection of miracles, since supernaturalism is no longer a cultural pinch point, and more on sexual ethics and other issues that have cultural controversies associated with them. Add onto that the brutal nastiness of political wrangling by those who have concluded that doctrinal orthodoxy requires vocal support for Trump and his policies which have been accompanied by ongoing revelations of sexual abuse among evangelical institutions.

There is certainly a great deal of room for criticism of evangelicals and their institutions. But it need not follow that criticism of abuses of power should result in abandonment of the historic Christian faith. That is what is happening with the growing “Exvangelical” movement, which is simply a form of progressive Christianity.

Alisa Childers aims to confront the growing progressive Christian movement in her book, Another Gospel? A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity.

Progressive Christianity is difficult to define, as Childers discovers when she opens here book. She writes, “Progressive Christians tend to avoid absolutes and are typically not united around creeds or belief statements. . . Because of this, it might be more helpful to look for certain signs, moods, and attitudes toward God and the Bible when trying to spot it. For example, progressive Christians view the Bible as primarily a human book and emphasize personal conscience and practices rather than certainty and beliefs. They are also very open to redefining, reinterpreting, or even rejecting essential doctrines of the faith like the Virgin Birth, the deity of Jesus, and his bodily resurrection.” As Childers initially describes the movement, it sounds a great deal like the modern liberalism of the last century, but throughout the book it becomes clear that she understands the movement to be in some ways different. Progressive Christianity tends to be less overtly distinct from historic Christianity at the creedal level; the differences tend to be in ethics and the theology that underlies it.

In response to the redefinitions and abandonment of the ancient Christian faith by progressive Christians, Childers responds by pointing people toward “historic Christianity.” She doesn’t perfectly define this term either, but she describes it as a faith “deeply rooted in history. In fact, it is the only religious system I can think of that depends on a historical event (the resurrection of Jesus) being real—not fake—news.” She goes on to summarize her faith as understanding that, “The Bible is [God’s] Word, or it’s not. Jesus was raised from the dead, or he wasn’t. Christianity is true, or it isn’t. There is no ‘my truth’ when it comes to God.” What she defends through the book is the faith “once and for all delivered to the saints,” with the truthfulness of Scripture at the core and the necessary conclusions drawn from that about the nature of God, the importance of the cross, and the goodness of pursuing holiness as it is described in Scripture.

Another Gospel? is framed around Childers’ experience with a pastor who was losing his faith and brought together a group to try to deconstruct the Christian faith together. She describes how her Christian faith collided with that group, her faith was nearly shipwrecked, but by asking honest questions and seeking honest answers she was able to reconstruct her faith in a more robust and biblical way.

This book is interspersed with personal narrative, but it also covers some of the basic apologetic topics: the authority of Scripture, basic epistemology, the possibility of reliable texts of Scripture, the reality (and reasonableness) of hell, the atonement as child abuse, and some other challenges. This is a popular level book, so there are few new arguments here, and those seeking exhaustive discussions of any topic are going to be disappointed. However, what Childers covers is well-done. She honestly represents challenging questions to Christianity and answers them faithfully.

One challenge that this book will face is that Childers uses the category “Progressive Christian.” In the online world, especially among progressive Christians, one of the greatest sins is using categories (for them) because it “dehumanizes.” Also, since progressive Christianity is an attitude rather than a position, there will be some who are closer or farther from her definition (sometimes based on the day of the week, it seems). At the end of the day, though, Childers is not seeking to attack the beliefs of progressive Christians as much as she is trying to argue for the superiority of historic Christianity. This book does that well.

I commend this book highly for those who are questioning their faith and wondering if there are really answers to cultural challenges. Childers answers as someone who has carefully considered the arguments and come out more convinced of the gospel she learned as a young girl. This would be a good book to read with a youth group, for pastors to have on hand to distribute to those honestly seeking answers, and to put in the church library.