When Faith Meets Reason: Religion Scholars Reflect on Their Spiritual Journeys

There's a lot of reason and a lot less faith in these narratives. 13 members of the Jesus Seminar talk about their beliefs and how they got there. I found that most of them are left with a faith that, in my opinion, doesn't have a lot to offer. On the other hand, I thought most of their arguments were pretty convincing. This left me uneasy. If they're presenting the next step in the faith journey of a progressive Christian, I'm not sure I want to go there. I haven't engaged as much with a book in a long time. It's worth reading just because it makes you think about your own beliefs.

How refreshing it is to see serious religious scholars who have spent most of their lives in the search to understand scriptural and theological meaning have the courage and candor to lay out their own spiritual journeys in a way that is forthright and open to the average interested person! The mainstream church has spent a good deal of time trying to interpret and preserve a tradition that in many cases has been distorted and twisted by subjective personal and political screening and circumstance. If there is any absolute requirement for relevant religion it is authenticity, honesty, candor and the recognition that all see reality through their own experiential filters. If it is authentic, owning this takes nothing away from meaning or the growth we share as we share our journeys. Bravo to these scholars, who care, for sharing what they really feel and believe (at this point!). It is freeing and affirming to see committed diversity in public print.

I wish this book had appeared fifty years ago. It would have spoken to the needs of a young seeker stuggling with traditional religious instruction while studying academic philosophy and science. Today at 75 years of age it is nuturing to discover that my journey overlapped the quest of many others who wrestle with doubt in the stuggle to find some kind of fath.