"Religionless Christianity" by Bonhoeffer ... "is a heartfelt searching of a man who loves God and wants his faith to matter" (p. 5).
1) Is it possible to encounter God's loving goodness outside the confines of religious patterns and practices?A Fundamental Fear (pp. 7-9)
2) Why does it seem harder to talk about God with those who claim to know him than those who don't? Burke's experience suggests that the customs, traditions, and even language of religion often gets in the way of honest dialogue about God; its airtight explanations and all-or-nothing theological arguments seem out of touch with the complexities of 21st century life.
3) Explain why this rings true or false with you.
"Fundamentalism, by definition, is an effort to protect the ... essentials of the faith. The problem is determining just what those fundamentals are. In today's context, it seems that fundamentalists are intent on hanging on to a particular view of the divine that sacrifices the beauty of God's spirit and grace in exchange for control and authority" (p. 8).
4) Could it be that we will soon see the spirit released in the world in brand-new ways without the baggage of religion?An Elusive Relationship (pp. 9-11)
5) Could it be that the eventual collapse of current religious systems will in fact prove to be a literal high-water mark in faith — that in fact many of the "fundamentals" aren't fundamental after all?
"Rather than facilitating a dialogue between followers and God, the church has a tendency to interpret individuals' relationships with God for them. ... What seems like obedience to the teachings of Christ is often adherence to external and dogmatic belief systems" (p. 9).
"But despite these problems, people don't seem to be rejecting God or turning away from the divine as they did in the 20th-century. Nor are they reducing the idea of the sacred to New Age generalities.nnInstead, they seem to be seaching for new 'religionless' ways to celebrate the sacred" (p. 11).
6) What are some creative ways we can celebrate the sacred within our local church?My Own Experience (pp. 11-12)
"I remain hopeful that faith can be practiced without the baggage of religion. This book is not about convincing you that all roads lead to God, but it is about a new way of looking at God, and in particular, the Christian message. ... I don't believe universalism is the complete answer. For me, it's the beginning of the story, not the end" (pp. 11, 12).
7) What is religion's baggage for you?A Universal Longing (pp. 12-14)
Moby: "Our human significance is far greater and far smaller than anything we've hitherto recognized ... We need a new way in which to look at ourselves and in which to understand our lives and our significance" (p. 14).
8) What are your thoughts on understanding our significance and how it relates to grace?
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| Stages of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning, by James W. Fowler, 1981. Faith, as approached here, is not necessarily religious, nor is it to be equated with belief. Rather, faith is a person's way of leaning into and making sense of life. More verb that noun, faith is the dynamic system of images, values, and commitments that guide one's life. It is thus universal: everyone who chooses to go on living operates by some basic faith. |
James Fowler's Stages of Faith speaks of the development of the spiritual life as moving through stages similar to moving through childhood to adulthood. His 2nd phase, mythic-literal, is characterized by commitment to the literal, favoring a "rigid structuring of one's world" (p. 16). Many remain in this stage for a long time. When a person starts questioning this dominating literalism, a person begins to reframe their world and moves toward the final stage, "universalizing faith." Fowler says few people reach this stage. Burke calls it the realm of the heretic, "where belief about God becomes participation in the sacred beyond religion" (p. 17).
9) Where do you identify within Fowler's stages of faith?Who Wants to Be a Heretic? (pp. 17-20)
"Copernicus and Galileo are among the world's most famous heretics" (p. 17).
Copernicus = the earth does not give life/energy to the sun; the sun does that to the earth. "He went on to suggest that the earth was in a state of perpetual motion" (p. 18).
Church designed creeds and doctrines to ensure that all things related to Jesus rotate around religion. The institution became the center of the Christian universe. Jesus reordered the universe by challenging scribes and Pharisees (the authorities).
"Nowhere does Jesus call his followers to start a religion. Jesus' invitation to his first disciples was to follow him" (p. 19).
"I believe that we must attempt to recontextualize the story — to find equivalents for our world today. Jesus' message is a wake-up call to his people" (p. 19).
10) "... religion finds its gravity in the light of the sun. It finds sustainability and life through its relationship to the sun" (p. 20). Respond to this statement.Embracing the Journey (pp. 20-21)
"I venture into this world to conquer no one, to plant no flags and claim no territory, but to share what I hold dear from my tradition and offer my story about the grace of God as a gift to all who journey beyond religion" (p. 20).
11) Respond to this sentence with regard to your thoughts on God's grace specifically and religion in general.
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