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A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-filled, Open-armed, Alive-and-well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in us All [Hardcover]

Doug Pagitt
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 2, 2008
A Christianity Worth Believing offers an engaging, 'come-with-me-on-a-journey-of-exploring-the-possibilities' approach to what it means to be a follower of Jesus in our day. Written by Doug Pagitt?a leading voice in the Emergent conversation—this beautifully written book weaves together theological reflections, Christian history, and his own story of faith transformation.

Pagitt invites readers to follow him as he tells the story of his un-churched childhood, his life-altering conversion at age 16, his intense involvement in the church, and his growing sense of unease with the version of Christianity he was living. On page after page, Pagitt lays out his journey toward an authentic, passionate expression of a faith that feels alive, sustainable, and meaningful.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pagitt, a leader in the Emergent church movement, came to faith as a teenager at a Passion play, but Christian theology often didn't cohere with his own raw, powerful and inclusive experiences of and intuition about God. Here Pagitt tells his own story and weaves together a new theology for the Emergent movement, viewing Christian doctrine from a slightly different perspective and trying to break it out of the firm grasp of Greek thinking by returning it to its Jewish context, the way it would have been understood by first-century readers. To Pagitt, humanity's fallen state as a result of sin should not be emphasized so much as God's desire to partner with people to do good work in the world. The Bible is not so much about truth and error as it is a picture of God attempting to reconnect, while Jesus represents our potential to live in love and establish the kingdom of God now. Pagitt clearly articulates both the heart and theology of the Emergent movement. Conservative critics will no doubt consider this Christianity subtly twisted out of recognition, but postmodern readers struggling with current expressions of faith will see love and hope.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Pagitt, a leader in the Emergent church movement, came to faith as a teenager at a Passion play, but Christian theology often didn't cohere with his own raw, powerful and inclusive experiences of and intuition about God. Here Pagitt tells his own story and weaves together a new theology for the Emergent movement, viewing Christian doctrine from a slightly different perspective and trying to break it out of the firm grasp of Greek thinking by returning it to its Jewish context, the way it would have been understood by first-century readers. To Pagitt, humanity's fallen state as a result of sin should not be emphasized so much as God's desire to partner with people to do good work in the world. The Bible is not so much about truth and error as it is a picture of God attempting to reconnect, while Jesus represents our potential to live in love and establish the kingdom of God now. Pagitt clearly articulates both the heart and theology of the Emergent movement. Conservative critics will no doubt consider this Christianity subtly twisted out of recognition, but postmodern readers struggling with current expressions of faith will see love and hope. (June) (Publishers Weekly, June 2008)

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (June 2, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0787998125
  • ISBN-13: 978-0787998127
  • Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,202,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Doug is a speaker and consultant for churches, denominations and businesses throughout the United States and around the world on issues of postmodern culture, social systems and Christianity.

Doug has worked in churches, for a non-profit foundation and owns three businesses in Minneapolis.

Doug's current professional endeavors include pastoring a Holistic Missional Christian Community in Minneapolis - (www.SolomonsPorch.com), speaking and writing (www.DougPagitt.com) and owner of JoPa Productions (JoPaProductions.com)and host of Doug Pagitt Radio (www.DougPagittRadio.com).

He is seeking to find creative, entrepreneurial, generative ways to join in the hopes, dreams and desires God has for the world.

Doug is married to Shelley and the father of 2 young adults and two teenagers.

Doug has a BA in Anthropology and a Masters of Theology from Bethel Seminary.

Doug is the author of A Christianity Worth Believing (Jossey-Bass 2008),
Church Re-Imagined (Zondervan 2004),
Preaching Re-Imagined (Zondervan 2005), and
BodyPrayer (Waterbrook 2005).
He is the co-editor of An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Baker Books 2007).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 45 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars Borrow It Before You Buy It June 8, 2008
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I became an instant fan of Tony Jones with his latest "The New Christians" so I was ready for another fun ride in the second of the Jossey-Bass "Living Way" Series: Pagitt's "A Christianity Worth Believing";

Imagine my disappointment then when I discover:

1) Pagitt plays very fast and loose with his interpretation of history (he wants to set right 1800 years of Greek (i.e., "bad") theology) that has lead the Christian church astray from the original Hebrew intent,

2) He utilizes a very limited reading and selective use of biblical citation to make his points--(e.g., atonement really wasn't in the cards for Jesus-as-lamb; that was just a cultural imprisonment of the metaphor attributed to the angry Greek gods--never mind John's Gospel and Paul's gospel affirming that metaphor (of course, Pagitt would claim that is my aberrant reading of the original)),

3) Proof-reading missed so many typo's that I suspected there was a rush to get this book to print (Not Pagitt's fault, I know) I can understand maybe 2-3 misprints in a big-name publication, more for a smaller budget press)--third sentence in the very first chapter: "But I have problem...."; a minor point to some perhaps, but quality thinking from a quality press deserves quality print; I noted 6-8 of these that only made it harder to take this book seriously

Finally, 4) the "straw men" set up, the theological perspectives that Pagitt sees hampering the Christianity-worth-believing, which reflects Jesus the Messiah, which he seeks to knock down, are so simplistic I hardly recognized them as faith perspectives worth worrying about.

Perhaps Minnesota is a hotbed of churches and people who still think the four spiritual laws is the gospel, but there were so many instances of Pagitt describing "what's wrong" in ways that I thought, "of course that clouds the gospel, but I've not met anyone like that since I was a teenager in the '70s"

Pagitt glosses over an attempt to discern strands of theological value from long-standing traditions like the Orthodox church; he never touches on other contexts such as Coptic view of the spirit, Moravians and worship, Anabaptist view of community, or even Methodists and grace; each with their variant metaphors and cultural contexts--he just keeps harping on "Greek" thinking as reflected in "Augustine, Aristotle and Calvin" and rails against antiquated 14th and 15th century "confessions". Those targets are too easy.

There is much I find unbelievable throughout the history of the church, statements of belief, declarations on the supposed nature of discipleship; however, I think Doug throws the proverbial baby out with the bathwater and, though emergent is about conversation, from his perspective of Christian Theology, there is much that he has taken off the table and cannot be discussed.

Anyway, I found reading this book actually diminished my affection for the emergent/emerging church movement.

Pagitt came across like a teenager complaining about things he's already biased against; similarly, perhaps due to his youth, he has not had the worldly experience that exposes his whole being to the nuances and harmonies in Christianity or in the rest of the world.

For example, I've known about sub-atomic particle physics for 20 years and how these energies have a "preference" in behavior, rather than following hard rules; also, holistic medicine is a long-standing, authoritative resource to my 49-year-old thinking. So what's the big deal with taking a holistic view of life, the body, creation, etc AND talking about the lordship of Jesus, spiritual disciplines and even, careful now, the Trinity?

I think Pagitt's "issues" stem more from a dislike for traditional metaphors than for the theological concepts behind them--Pagitt goes to great lengths to get away from the "distance" language of God-across-the-chasm and seeks to engage a language of "re-integrating relationships". That's fine with me, if it's a both/and, not an either/or proposition for the metaphors--not everyone feels "dis-integrated" in a stressed relationship, sometimes my wife and I just feel "far away" from each other, but we are still married; lighten up, Doug!

This isn't to say there are some brilliant, inspirational passage on some important themes--I just don't think the book warrants a lot of praise; for a book touting the holistic view and critiquing the supposedly too-intellectual "Greek" view, I think the tenor of this book swings too far into an emotional view, rather than healing the rift.

In the end, contrary to the expansive and proactive spirit I felt while reading Tony Jones' The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier, I found "A Christianity Worth Believing", well, unbelievable.

So, I recommend you borrow Pagitt's book or buy it used and see what you think of it. If my review is off the mark for you, then no harm done.

If you find similar concerns, well, I've saved you some cash to put toward other thoughtful books, such as:
Why We're Not Emergent: By Two Guys Who Should Be or Life with God: Reading the Bible for Spiritual Transformation.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars "Worth Believing" Meaningful & Encouraging June 1, 2008
Format:Hardcover
I was able to take the slow flight reading time last week to finish up Doug Pagitt's new book. It falls into the conversation with Tony Jone's latest (The New Christians) as books that open up a behind-the-veil look into the emerging church thought processes. What I appreciate about Doug is that he makes me think. He's got a gift for saying that one thing that tweaks the world just enough to cause my pause and make me think, and he's done that with this book, with this conversation.

In sharing his own trip through the Christian life and Christian community, Doug shares many of the questions that have held many of us at arm's length away from something meaningful. There's so much head knowledge, but have any of us gotten beyond that to the joy of first coming to the Lord? Where the story of Jesus won Doug over to real living, he's had to dig back out from all the extra stuff that weighs us down and hinders the inherent pressing on in Christ.

A discussion of Greco-Roman influences on the current state of Western theology is necessary, but provide the only slow part of the book. Make your way through that and find that Doug pulls out some great metaphors for sin, for repentance, for real relationships with God and with each other.

As an example of what was making me think, I wrote this in the margins of my copy: "Is my faith constrained by the Bible? does my faith constrain the Bible?" That's a different kind of question that, if we're honest and open to really challenging our own internal status quo, will wreck a week. Doug's writing and conversation does that in the best way, somehow seeking to leave everyone in a better position, on better footing to live out this Christian life. I appreciate this more than any I've read so far this year for its honesty and that tweak-me-ability - I'm usually the tweaker, but this time I was definitely the tweak-ee.

One more point: this is the book that I might finally jump the shark with, the one that I think I could buy for friends on either side of this fence for either encouraging, or for further tweaking. I think Doug stretches the thoughts gently enough and severly enough to make a difference in the coversation, and he raises questions that cannot be easily set aside. Not everyone needs to "go there", but for real growth and depth, I think more of us need to wrestle through some of our preconceived presumptions. I'm looking forward to future discussion over this book, hopefully, and can't wait to be able to bulk order for a few special friends.
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars don't let the understated title fool you May 27, 2008
Format:Hardcover
a bit of a disclaimer on this review: doug (the author) is a person i care about as a friend. we've slugged it out over emergent conventions, and lived to tell the tale (and greatly strengthened our friendship in the process). he's stayed in my home many times. we know each other's kids. his wife and my wife are friends. when yaconelli died, doug got on a plane and flew to san diego merely to be the guy who would get stuff done for me, to support me.

all that said, this is a great book. as any good pomo christian knows, it's impossible for me to remove my thoughts and opinions from my experience and biases. but if i were to hazard a guess as to what my reaction would be to this book were the above disclaimer paragraph not a reality, i think i would still say it's a great book.

pagitt's primary thesis is that christianity, over the past 1900 years, has been co-opted and re-framed by a greek mindset, worldview, values and ideas. and, in keeping with that mindset, christianity has been reified into an unchanging, immutable theological system that is widely divergent from the hebrew mindset and values and ideas and worldview in which it was developed, authored, spoken and framed. pagitt explains that this wasn't necessarily bad when it first happened, as it was the culturally appropriate contextualization of the gospel at the time. the problem is: most of us are stuck with this thousand-year-old approach to christianity that is horrifically outdated in our current cultural context.

doug builds a case that this greek mindset has a whole wad of resulting implications, and he unpacks these in chapter after chapter:
- a perception that god is "up and out" (separate from us, away from us, up there somewhere, unable to be with us because of god's holiness and our depravity)
- a christianity that is more about someday in some other place, than about the here and now.
- a distorted perception of jesus and a distorted understanding of both his role and his message.
- and a bunch of other stuff.

building on his own story (the book is wonderfully memoirish) and his long struggle with the categories of this greek-influenced faith of the up-and-out god, pagitt uses stories from his life (then, subsequently, from science and scripture and theological history) to introduce and unpack the notion of "integration" (which he sets in opposition to dis-integration). one might call it holistic faith, or holistic theology. this "integrated" theology, or, the integrated lives he proposes, are built on a hebraic understanding of the gospel and all of scripture. pagitt brings, chapter after chapter, the ways this approach to christianity would and should change the way we believe and live. he talks about an "in and down" god who is present in creation, present to us.

let's be straight about this: "a christianity worth believing" is going to royally piss some people off. doug will get more speaking engagements in some quarters, and a whole lot less in others. the people who already don't like doug will be well-armed to write him off or write against him as "the coming apostacy" or speak against him at ministry events of various kinds. this will especially be true of the nu-reformed crew. while doug's book is surprisingly winsome in tone (especially for a guy who openly explains in the beginning of the book that he is a natural contrarian), chapter after chapter attempt to pull the rug out from under stack of building blocks foundational reformies play on. dude, seriously: you're not just poking at their blocks; you're yanking the rug. they don't like that.

i found the book really helpful in lots of ways. most of the ideas (the greek-hebrew tension, for example) weren't totally new to me; but pagitt "packaged" them with a clear list of implications in a way that i could get my brain around. the suggestions for what we could be believing, and how we could be living, were mostly hopeful to me. i say "mostly", because there's a sense where some of the stuff doug suggests as "better" doesn't necessarily sound better to me, whether it's correct or not. also, i'll have to have a conversation or two with him to understand a bit more what he's proposing about jesus. i get the "jesus came to show us a new way to live" with all the political, theological, relational and ecclesial implications of that. but there were aspects of the christ story and its implications - specifically: the cross - that i didn't think doug was clear on (was that intentional avoidance?).

if jossey-bass, doug's publisher, can get this book widely placed in the ABA (bookstores like borders and barnes & noble), and get doug some good pr opportunities, this thing could be huge; really. it's easily readable, full of wonderful stories and examples, not mean-spirited (yes, it's generous), invitational and thoughtful. and much of what doug suggests has that "resonance" quality, where it causes my god-invented soul to respond with, "yes, that makes sense."
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars At least he doesn't let facts get in the way of his theology...
The book describes Mr. Pagitt's quest to find and/or develop a theology that appealed to his own preferences (as is evident from the title). Read more
Published 1 day ago by Stephen Fisher
5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, interesting, engaging
It's it's got pages of words, hard cover, and even a stylish dust jacket; off to a great start already! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Matt
1.0 out of 5 stars A book for your inner child
Did you ever study the Bible closely, or try to memorize verses from it? If so, this book has an important message for you: What a waste of time! Read more
Published 7 months ago by Namyriah
4.0 out of 5 stars Great building block for faith thinking
Pagitt has managed to be entertaining and thoughtful. This book will help any/all who are just exhausted by the typical evangelical faith expression. A lot to consider. Read more
Published 7 months ago by A. Christian
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely wonderful book-
Doug Pagitt eloquently touches many of the concerns of intelligent modern seekers and Christians. Where so many of the Emergent conversations offer nothing new just bashing people... Read more
Published 23 months ago by T Pace
1.0 out of 5 stars A Christianity Worth Believing? Not really.
I know Doug Pagitt. I like Doug Pagitt. I absolutely hated 'A Christianity Worth Believing.'

There is one basic theological truth that all who would subscribe to Doug's... Read more
Published on May 6, 2010 by David Berge
1.0 out of 5 stars Paget starts a new (but unknowingly old) religion with this book
If you're looking to join a new pagan religion pick up this book. If you're looking for a book on Christianity, this is not it. Read more
Published on December 28, 2009 by Timothy Willett
3.0 out of 5 stars Conflicted feelings about this one...
I wanted to like this book. I like Doug, I've enjoyed the bits of preaching and whatnot that I've heard from him before, and I (for the most part) have come to the same conclusions... Read more
Published on April 17, 2009 by Timothy Essex
2.0 out of 5 stars Review of A Christianity Worth Believing
I just read "A Christianity Worth Believe" by Doug Pagitt; he is a leader in the emerging Church movement. Read more
Published on January 31, 2009 by Kevin Oneill
5.0 out of 5 stars A choice pick for anyone who wants to reclaim their religion
So many in the modern era are faced difficult questions of faith, finding themselves bombarded with controversy surrounding their religion. Read more
Published on August 10, 2008 by Midwest Book Review
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