Ken Howard (3)

Ken Howard is an Episcopalian of Jewish origin who came to faith in Jesus thirty years ago when challenged to search the scriptures by a conservative Christian friend. While he has moved n a more progressive direction he has an appreciation for his conservative sisters and brothers. This book is about finding a middle way between theological liberalism and conservatism.

Howard argues that conservatives emphasize doctrine and have a broad amount of dogma that they want believers to subscribe show more to. The problem is that they alienate and exclude anyone who deviates from their pristine doctrinal position. So conservative churches splinter.

Conversely, Liberal churches emphasize unity, subjective-inner-light kind of religious experience with many voices on the table. They also emphasize right-action--concern for social justice, etc. Yet they can be 'weak soup' with very little substance at the core.

Howard suggests a way of combining the strengths of the two approaches to faith--Paradoxy. Paradoxy is a dogmatic assent to a narrow selection of Christian dogma, the paradoxical beliefs in the Trinity, the incarnation, etc. He essential limits his doctrinal beliefs to Nicene Christianity with charity in all other doctrinal issues. He moves towards a spirituality that emphasizes the mind and is biblically rooted (conservatives' domain) and the religion of the heart (liberal domain).

Like all such book, Howard has some really interesting things to say and the way he frames it it is hard to disagree with him. The liberal-conservative continuum is more complicated than what Howard pictures, but he has some interesting things to say. show less

Of course I like it... I wrote it.

From Amazon:

A Christian of Jewish origins and the founding pastor of a thriving new church that intentionally resurrected itself from the wounded remnants of a previous congregation that tore itself apart over issues of human sexuality, Ken Howard brings a unique perspective and unusual sensitivity to the challenge of creating Christian community whose sense of "US" doesn't require a "THEM." Adroitly avoiding both oversimplification and academic jargon, Howard examines the many ways the show more Church currently finds itsef stuck, explains how we got here, and lays out seven Biblically-grounded principles that church leaders can employ to lead their congregations and their denominations into the future into which God is calling them. show less