Misfit
Faith: Confessions of a Drunk Ex-Pastor by Jason J. Stellman
I usually go for a book with a good title and this one
has quite an edgy and provocative title.
To go along with it, the author at one time was a PCA pastor, a
denomination I belong to and wanted to see what he had to say about life in
ministry. This new book, Misfit Faith,
is a story of someone who still wrestles with the faith and was pulled toward
the Roman Catholic Church from being a church planting pastor in Seattle prior
to his change. The book is a critique of
those who have their theology all lined, ducks in a row, and more a
conversation about how to have doubts and still believe. In the book, Jason explains the first segment
of the Apostle’s Creed concerning believing in God the Father and how this
changes the way we should think about faith.
In the opening chapters, Jason seeks to draw the
implications of God as Father in relationship to the Calvinist system that he
says minimized this idea and promoted a God as Lawgiver and Judge. He writes, “Since lawgiver-God pretty much
abhors the real you, your only hope is to accept the Calvinist gospel,
according to which we sinners can be “considered” righteous by trusting in
Jesus and accepting his obedience as though it were our own and thereby
escaping hell on judgment day.” (32) I
understand Jason’s frustration with this system that speaks highly of sin and
judgment but maybe not enough about the tender fatherly love God has for his
children. Yet, I think this point of
view is a gross misunderstanding of Reformed and Calvinist thought which
emphasizes grace, the image of God in man, and how God constantly accommodates himself
to humanity through various covenants and appearances. This quote is a rather truncated and
misleading version of a fully robust Reformed understanding of salvation.
However, I thought Jason’s Divine Yes to Humanity is a
very good antidote to the dualism many Christians fall prey to. He writes, “The first assumption is that
matter and flesh are bad, which is why such things are contrasted to spiritual,
heavenly things…The other implicit assumption in this suspicious posture toward
“worldly” pursuits is that heaven’s aim is to necessarily thwart such things,
as though divinity’s role is to crush or frustrate humanity.” (53-54) The
burning of secular music, keeping away from any movie above PG, and the removal
of any art depicting the human body are examples of where Christians have
demeaned many good things that God has given us. Jesus’ incarnation is the yes to humanity and
the very good to what God has made. Not
to mention we have Jesus enjoying himself at the wedding at Cana and enjoying
his time with sinners and tax collectors.
I enjoyed this book at times and at times wanted to
fling it across the room. I hope that
many readers will find Jason’s searching and doubting as a way to look
differently at the world.
Thanks to Convergent and Blogging for Books for the copy
of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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