Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To: Why Rigorous, Reasonable, and Real Religious Community Still Matters By Lillian Daniel Hardcover 1455595896 9781455595891 Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Dont Belong To: Why Rigorous, Reasonable, and Real Religious Community Still Matters The popular preacher and public intellectual continues to take on the SBNRs (the spiritual but not religious) and shows Christians how to reach them. Sloppy talk about the Christian religion has become an acceptable prejudice, especially on the part of people who pride themselves as being unprejudiced. Daniels next book provides humorous yet intellectual commentary on the way religion gets talked about today. She explains Christian ideas and practices in non academic, yet non facile terms. In her signature style, popularized in widely debated articles for The Huffington Post and Christianity Today, she outlines four types of non church goers: no longer, no way, never have, not yet. And with experiential insight from than a decade as a pastor, she explains how churches of all denominations and doctrines can provide them intellectual rigor, reasons for belief, and authentic religious community. No one should have to check their brain at the door of the church, she says, and churches must deal with present day issues and be intellectually open, inviting people to bring questions, rather than dispensing old, easy answers. I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review 224 I really enjoyed this book which I found to be very relatable It was encouraging in the sense that it addressed real issues within churches but in a way that made you feel that being part of a religious community is important I ve recommended this book to my friends and family 224 I listened to the full audio book in one day I am a fan of Lillian Daniel s writing This book was just okay.

Not my favorite But there were some good thought provoking ideas 224 A lot of review of things we already know I m not sure it s exactly what it s billed as But I always appreciate Daniels s thoughts 224

Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To: Why Rigorous, Reasonable, and Real Religious Community Still Matters By Lillian Daniel

1455595896

9781455595891

224

Hardcover

Should have read all of these popular progressive Christian authors before divinity school because now the only books I want to read about Jesus are from radical Catholic theologians or womanist scholars 224 Lillian Daniel writes well For that reason this was an enjoyable book to read The content was lacking and the title was somewhat misleading There were a lot of good points in this book and she intrigued me to continue reading It was a very quick read.

But it drew away from her point The other critique was this was super short We are talking about 130 pages ebook version I thought she could have expanded a bit longer on her 4 sub categories. I should also note that I am a liberal preacher I make note of this because she is pretty critical of the evangelical conservative church I wanted to warn my conservative readers about that one. I gave this one 4 stars I want to thank NetGalley and Faithwords for allowing me to read this advanced copy of the book I received it from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 224 The basic idea of this book is that the Christian church in the broad sense has let the wrong people define it the televangelists.

I really like Lillians hot take on Christianity and what most Christians should do to represent their faith I love that she lays out some radical love based views and addresses the Christian PR issue It makes you really want to talk to people about Jesus and how they feel about church 224 Daniel was tired of feeling responsible to apologize for everything done by anyone who called themselves a Christian She shares her thoughts on the kind of spirituality she embraces and promotes She writes about inventing our own spirituality Fundamentalists defining religion listening to NONES and attracting them to church and convincing them of the value of faith and community She explains how exclusive salvation views turn people off She advocates paying attention to the entire Bible not just proof texts. Daniel describes herself as a liberal Christian and an open minded one Evangelical Christians may have difficulty with Daniel identifying herself as a Christian She says being born again and saved hasn t happened to her 135 She participated in the movement for gay marriage She writes I believe you can be an open minded Christian who thinks God can work out everyone s salvation 16 I believe there are many paths to God 14 Daniel emphasizes how we live not what we believe I m a pastor she writes and I don t care what you believe I don t think God does either 121 She draws our attention to what Jesus said and did not doctrine. While I don t agree with much Daniel writes I do appreciate that she draws attention to Christendom and the negative effect it has had on the perception of Christianity by many I also appreciate her emphasis on what the church should really be doing helping one another in community This book reminded me that Christianity is a broad spectrum It also reminded me that it is important I know what I believe and why I believe it. Those within the conservative Christian community might want to read this book to understand how the liberal Christian community thinks worships but very liberal in substance Hats off to the writer for evangelizing the faith 224 In 2014 I read a book called When Spiritual But Not Religious Is Not Enough and thought it was intriguing for the idea that the idea of spiritual but not religious is not only mainstream now but also there will come a point where there will be a need for something deeper As I read reviews and saw some blog posts by the author of that book I saw she was on to something This is why I was excited when I received Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don t Belong To by Lillian Daniel to read for review This is a follow up of sorts to her previous book but focusing on the rising group of the nones The nones are the people who have checked the word none under religious affiliation Daniel further subcategorizes the nones into 4 different types no longer no way never have and not yet She looks briefly at each group and talks about how churches continue to do the same thing to attract these groups yet don t really understand who they are She uses a great analogy of a lifelong baseball fan talking to someone who doesn t like baseball or hasn t gone to a baseball game as what the church does for the nones. Daniel also goes into a type of history of how the nones have begun to emerge throughout all of history She mixes this history along with her own personal history This was a good section to bring her theory home. There were only a few critiques I had about the book but they were not major At times I found Daniel got into preacher mode which isn t a bad thing the Far Right the witch burners etc This unpleasant picture of Christianity has resulted in a public relations problem with a public which accepts this picture as the whole of religion In contrast with the image of a body of money grubbing narrow minded anti intellectual hypocrites Lillian Daniel believes that the church has a lot to be proud of and a lot to offer. I agree with her on most points and I like her description and prescriptions for the Four Types of Nones I think religious leaders in particular could find valuable insights in Tired Of Apologizing For A Church I Don t Belong To Further Daniel s writing is clear and sometimes laugh aloud funny. Unfortunately while I m sure there is enough material behind her premise to fill a book even longer than the 195 pages offered here the present volume feels like an article that has been stretched There are too many repetitions some of which read like the result of slipshod editing There are also digressions and anecdotes that detract from rather than support Daniel s thesis. I liked a lot about this book but think it falls one or two rewrites short of its potential 224 A gentle kicking of the bride of Christ but a kicking nonetheless 224 The popular preacher and public intellectual continues to take on the SBNRs the spiritual but not religious and shows Christians how to reach them Sloppy talk about the Christian religion has become an acceptable prejudice especially on the part of people who pride themselves as being unprejudiced Daniel s next book provides humorous yet intellectual commentary on the way religion gets talked about today She explains Christian ideas and practices in non academic yet non facile terms In her signature style popularized in widely debated articles for The Huffington Post and Christianity Today she outlines four types of non church goers no longer no way never have not yet And with experiential insight from than a decade as a pastor she explains how churches of all denominations and doctrines can provide them intellectual rigor reasons for belief and authentic religious community No one should have to check their brain at the door of the church she says and churches must deal with present day issues and be intellectually open inviting people to bring questions rather than dispensing old easy answers Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don t Belong To Why Rigorous Reasonable and Real Religious Community Still Matters.

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And ministers There might be a good discussion resulting as to what really defines a Christian and what communities of faith are to be doing