Customer Reviews

Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This timely and well-written book is a quick, satisfying read (and for only $11). Dave Schmelzer is the pastor of a thriving, hip, intelligent, and artistic church in Cambridge, MA (fair disclosure: I attend the church. So sue me for thinking it's great! But I actually don't know Schmelzer personally.). These short chapters are the fruit of Schmelzer's 10 years of working with, and preaching to, a largely secular (even if 'secular Christian') audience, culled from the vibrant, multi-racial/ethnic communities of greater Boston and the halls of Harvard and Boston Universities.

I won't summarize the book chapter by chapter or point by point (much, but not all, of the content can be discovered by clicking on the 'Look Inside' book image above), but I will re-state a couple of positive things that stuck out to me:
1. This is not a bland refutation of the so-called 'new atheist' movement (though the sometimes ugly elitism, caricatures, strange rhetorical tactics, and even tacit racism of the new atheist crowd falls under the purview of Schmelzer's comments!), but rather it is a relational, idiosyncratic, and very often funny engagement with the issues that draw us to faith and the barriers that push us away.
2. Here's a great example of Schmelzer's technique: He doesn't give a theological discourse on 'The Cross' or the atonement, etc. Rather, he tells a moving, personal story in the book of how he (literally!) crashed into a cross while searching for God...
3. Schmelzer promotes a 'relational universe', where 'God is good. Religion is bad'. This is not new age drivel, as Schmelzer presents it, but rather, it is a move toward the center of Jesus's relational call to faith, a call that transcends the popular churchy language of 'insider' and 'outsider'.
4. Schmelzer adopts a multi-stage faith-development model that charts the way many of us move along the faith journey, where we often get stuck at the 'rules and regulations' stage or the 'rebellion' stage. Schmelzer argues that Jesus waits for us beyond rules and beyond rebellion, in a hazy and often messy place of trust and even miracles.
5. Those familiar with the so-called 'Emergent' movement will find that Schmelzer emphasizes many of the same things as the emergent cohort--but Schmelzer seems much more comfortable talking about wild miracles and having a 'chatty' relationship with God. Schmelzer is quite creative, and often theologically sensitive, but his tone is the opposite of elitist.

Criticisms: The subtitle ('confessions of a turncoat atheist') may have been a marketing ploy by the publishers; if so, or even if not, it's a little weak, since most of us think of 'atheists' as hard-core, Christopher Hitchens types, not brooding teenagers or college freshmen (as Schmelzer was during his atheist days, as he says in the book). However, it should be said that the author is only telling the story of his journey to faith, which does literally move from atheism to faith, so it's valid in that sense. (And besides, would anyone deny that children and teenagers can have true faith? If not, why should anyone deny that they can be true atheists? But anyway.) Also, some of the writing style is highly quirky, and thus will be hit or miss. But such is life...

But anyway, my best personal endorsement is this: After a long period of going to various churches, and periods of atheism/agnosticism, anger, and doubt, I've been able to move into a place of prayer and faith, and relative peace, and this book encapsulates the attitude and freedom and ambiguity and honesty that helped get me there.

There's a lot of bad 'Christian' writing out there, but this is clearly something different. I would give it 4.5 stars, but why don't we just round up...

If you've read any of the last few rounds of atheist books, you'll note one common approach: they're joyless books without any ray of sun. In fact, they're more like amusement parks rides: you strap yourself in, ride the ups and downs, and return to the place you started once it's over. The author remains tirelessly in control.

By contrast, Not the Religious Type is a less of a polemic and more of a conversation starter. It's a book best discussed more than read by one's self. And Schmelzer even chats himself up -- arguing one conclusion for a chapter and then backing up, taking a contrapositive stance, and re-approaching the issue.

It's breezy, accessible, and while it doesn't buttonhole conclusions in a 7 or 21 step fashion, there is course charted in the book that is not merely the playing out of a well-written first chapter. For that reason, perhaps the book is best read with a companion on the journey.

Great reading for just about everyone - believers, unbelievers, with faith, no faith, you name it! Dave's conversational tone is inviting. He is witty, yet quite profound and thought provoking. Like Jesus, Dave offers a non judgmental religious perspective. He successfully depicts a God who is pretty much alive and available to all who simply believe and seek Him.
After reading this book you will know that following this God is much easier than a lot of religious and preachers impose. (Thank God for such a guilty free, pleasant "religious" perspective for a change!)

This was a the right book at the right time. The author articulates things that I have been feeling for a long time. I now better understand the journey of faith that I have been on. Things make a little more sense to me.

IT IS PROBABLY TOO MUCH to say that I like Dave Schmelzer, based simply on having read his short memoir, Not the Religious Type: Confessions of a Turncoat Atheist. I don't think it's too ambitious, though, to at least say this: I'd be surprised if I met him and didn't like him.

Here is a book that is part memoir, part apologetic, and which never seems to over-do either. In this quick and pleasant read, Schmelzer shares his spiritual journey and presents life with God as a kind of adventure.

He makes the case that truth is relational rather than simply abstract or propositional (Personally, I think it is both). He explains why we are better off entering into a relationship with God and others as part of a Christ-centered life journey (rather than a group/my team/us-and-them existence).

He also makes the bald statement "God is good. Religion is bad." At first I found it, I suppose, kind of annoying. The more I thought about it though, I saw his point. It is a view shared by prominent Orthodox Christian thinkers such as the (late) Rev. Fr. Alexander Schmemman (For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy*) and the Rev. Fr. Thomas Hopko (in many of his lectures). I agree that although Christianity may be characterized as a 'religion' in certain contexts and discussions, it is above all a "Way." (Acts 18:26; 24:22).

Eastern Christians will appreciate this book in that it reminds us to keep union with God in Christ as our paramount aim in life. It also holds a unique value to those who serve in "ethnic" churches. While cognizant of the need to serve the needs of those coming from a particular cultural milieu, we are warned not to be snagged by cultural trappings.

And he is a good writer. Having earned his undergrad degree in English from Stanford, Dave has a way with (few) words. He is mercifully stingy with his words and generous with his ideas. He has masterfully combined the fields of memoir and apologetics (he makes some powerful, succinct observations on the 'new atheist' movement).

While I think he and I would probably disagree on some points of theology and ecclesiology, I liked the book overall. I heartily recommend this work for pastors, college-student ministers, and as a gift for the skeptic in the cubicle next door.
__________
*Schmemman writes, "Christianity, with its message offering fullness of life, has contributed more than anything else to the liberation of man from the fears and pessimism of religion...

"Christianity quarrels with religion and secularism not because they offer 'insufficient help,' but precisely because they 'suffice,' because they 'satisfy' the needs of men. If the purpose of Christianity were to take away from man the fear of death, to reconcile him with death, there would be no need for Christianity, for other religions have done this, indeed, better than Christianity. And secularism is about the produce men who will gladly and corporately die-and not just live-for the triumph of the cause, whatever it may be...

"Christianity is not a reconciliation with death. It is the revelation of death, and it reveals death because it is the revelation of Life. Christ is this Life. And only if Christ is Life is death what Christianity proclaims it to be, namely the enemy to be destroyed, not a mystery to be explained." (pp.98, 99)

I came to this book after a few months of reading the posts and conversations at the blog launched in conjunction with the book - [..] . I had found the ideas on the blog very thought provoking and helpful in my own wrestling with faith and culture.

The title of the book struck me as if it were going to be something of a book on apologetics. I'm fine with books on apologetics but so often those books, while articulating clear reasons for belief, do very little redemptive or helpful beyond that. Thankfully this was not one of those kinds of books!

There seems to be 2 prominent views these days on faith and culture. One version sees the surrounding culture as something that must be pulled away from, that the culture itself is an evil and corrupting force and is the arch enemy of those of faith. This view fails to take into account its own cultural baggage.
The other view in our world these days sees the culture as something which Christians must very much engage or at least account for in Church. While this view of church has shown some promise it has also very much had its pitfalls as some have sought so much to be culturally relevant that they have lost the very distinctive of what being a Christ-Follower is all about.

Enter Dave Schmelzer...
'Schmelzer makes the case very convincingly that each of us has cultural baggage, Christian, secular or otherwise, that can be detrimental to following Jesus, but that rather than fighting over issues of one culture over and against another he argues simply for the experience of God wherever a person may be. The way Schmezer sees it is that God wants us to experience him and that each time we do it validates our journey towards Christ. This argument isn't just some abstract argument that Schmelzer came up with but is rather drawn from his own story of journeying from atheism to faith in Jesus. The ramifications are that Christ followers need not spend a whole lot of time arguing with people over beliefs but simply trying to help others to experience God wherever they are. This is a very simple idea but profoundly helpful in my own wrestling with the dynamics of faith and culture.

In Not the Religious Type Schmelzer has articulated ideas on faith and culture that I have felt for a long time but have never quite been able to put into words. This book is a very relevant contribution to current discussion of faith and culture in our world which of late has seemed to deteriorate into constant fighting over beliefs and boundaries.

Not the Religious Type is written in a way that feels as much like a conversation as reading a book (which also makes for a quick read). I hope that more folks get a hold of this book because no matter where a person may find his/herself in their journey or culture, I believe that this book will help them begin moving towards Jesus.

Hey I'm actually quite thrilled that someone has broken down the essential message of Jesus without creating a dogmatic protocol. Pastor Dave does a fantastic and unalienating job of explaining the real potential and satisfaction of a working relationship with God without the baggage and guilt of religion. Im sure the fundamentalists will baulk, but those same fundamentalist rejected Jesus, because he was preaching the same thing: its not about the rules its about the relationship and that relationship doesn't require a religious middleman. Actually it really only works if its personal. Dave is human and clearly demonstrates that the greatest human problem is forgiveness, once that is mastered, it paves the way for a happier more peaceful life. This book reiterates in a fresh way the approach to an unconditional loving God as a focal point rather than having to join some exclusive club and fit a stereotypical personality mold.

A valuable collection of experiences from this guy's life, rather than a re-hashing of the same standard apologetical arguments for Jesus.

Length:: 5:56 Mins

In this video Dave Schmelzer describes M. Scott Peck's theory of human spiritual growth (a key concept in the book) and how that ties into faith in 21st century America.

Once i started this book i couldn't put it down.
Compelling, well scripted with great candor and much thought. Its handled with the sort of grace required to maneuver minefields and booby traps unscathed.
Great read!