...But Can't Because He Needs The Job

I was extremely hopeful for this book. The title is provocative and hints at some of my pullings each week to say more than I feel I should. I always want to dig deeper but, as a preacher, you have to move people a long incrementally rather than pushing them off the deep end.

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It's also short which is a tremendous plus. I've long held the contention that much of "Christian literature" suffers from a refusal to edit. But in this instance the abbreviated length of the book works against it.

The author, Oliver Thomas, is at the very progressive end of evangelical Christianity. I appreciate that since that is where I probably feel the most comfortable. And he tackles some weighty issues to say the least. The 10 issues are:

1. How It All Began
2. Why We Are Here
3. What Is The Bible
4. Is There Really Such a Thing as a Miracle?
5. How Do I Please God?
6. What About Women?
7. What About Homosexuality?
8. What About Other Faiths?
9. What Happens After We Die?
10. How Will It All End?

Each of these are important topics and deserve fresh looks. However I feel the purpose is defeated by broaching such potentially incendiary topics in such a terse manner. There are no footnotes or annotations, no references to other works to substantiate anything he has to say.

Even in the instances where I agree with him I found myself exasperated at the cavalier and often smug manner in which he approaches each subject. Taking a progressive Christian approach to these topics is not the norm in evangelical Christianity and that's exactly what the title of the book proclaims. It's a fallacy that this books speaks for the majority of Christian ministers.

And this is coming from someone who agrees with a lot, but not all, of what he says. Ultimately, this is a book that may help someone understand that there are differing opinions and interpretations on important issues. But there are better sources in which to find those.

Pick up Campolo's Letters to a Young Evangelical instead. At least it is fleshed out.