10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Jim Melcher, February 19, 2007
This review is from: Religiously Transmitted Diseases: finding a cure when faith doesn't feel right (Paperback)
Upon observing Ed Gungor's new book Religiously Transmitted Diseases for the first time, the reader might be forgiven for thinking that the provocative title will deliver a stinging rejection of American organized religion from a hostile critic, such as the recent bestseller Letters to a Christian Nation. However, the reader quickly discovers that Religiously Transmitted Diseases is not an argument that religion has become a disease in American society, but rather a sympathetic call from within the Christian church to heal what has gone wrong within it. Gungor, the senior pastor at Peoples Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, argues that every American Christian church and member suffers from time to time from one of a number of spiritual maladies. All of these maladies reflect a state in which something that was good has broken down in some way, as a disease affects the human body. Yet Gungor does not believe the patients are terminally ill-far from it. He believes that by recognizing these maladies, and by opening themselves up again to God's grace, Christians can get back to a healthier and, above all, more joyful state.
The target audience of Gungor's book is his fellow evangelicals, and in particular those who have lost the joy of their belief or who feel this has happened to their congregation. He speaks to the reader's yearning to return to the joy felt, in the words of the hymn "Amazing Grace", "the hour I first believed". He urges the readers to think back to the time when they chose to accept Jesus and what a joyful experience that was. However, even those Christians who haven't had a cataclysmic, born again experience will find much that is useful in this book. Many of the "diseases" Gungor notes are from over-seriousness or loss of joy, and his enthusiasm for his faith is (if you'll pardon the expression) infectious, even as he is very understanding of the problems people face in their faith. (One is not completely surprised to read in this book that Gungor was one of the "Jesus People" in the 1970s; he still reflects the fervor and the joyfulness in faith for which they were known). This is not to say that Gungor does not recognize the pain in so many places in the world, but he urges the reader to see how pain sometimes can be a gift from God. One would expect in this type of book that the author would have a strong command of the Bible, and Gungor does. Perhaps more noteworthy, however, is that his command of popular culture is outstanding as well as entertaining, and he is able to make most of his points in a way that readers will appreciate.
In addition to his agility to speak about popular culture and the state of America throughout his lifetime, another of the of the themes of this book is that Christians should be open to new ways of looking at things. In one chapter, he notes how as a Republican and an evangelical how disappointed he was in the election of President Clinton in 1992, but that a conversation with a woman in St. Louis after the election helped him understand a different perspective on the outcome. Similarly, in another of his briefer chapters, he notes the need to change attitudes toward the environment to one more protective of God's creation. However, his statement that he believes both the abortion and gay rights movements have "gone too far" is just one thing that helps to show that this is certainly not a theological liberal in the mold of controversial Bishops John Spong or Gene Robinson.
As an Episcopalian, I might not be in the target audience of Gungor's book. But even I can certainly grasp and relate to much of what he is saying about the church and its members, and his evangelical target audience will surely find that this book resonates well with them as well. A wide range of Christians will find much of value in this work. While Gungor's humor is a bit more understated than that of a Dr. Patch Adams, he is still, in this book, a joyful and an effective healer. Religiously Transmitted Diseases does much to show its readers both what needs healing in their lives and how to seek it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The title snared me; the book thrilled me., August 15, 2006
This review is from: Religiously Transmitted Diseases: finding a cure when faith doesn't feel right (Paperback)
I was browsing in B&N when the title of this book caught my eye. I had never heard of it or the author, but I had to buy it, and I had to read it. It was thought-provoking, humorous and candid. I was born and raised a Southern Baptist; still am. But, I've grown weary over the fundamentalism and creedism of the leadership in the SBC. This book should be a "must read" for discussion groups pouring over why church and some Christians are more impediments to faith in Christ than evangelists spreading the good news.
I will read it again!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling and Timely, August 3, 2006
This review is from: Religiously Transmitted Diseases: finding a cure when faith doesn't feel right (Paperback)
Religiously Transmitted Diseases is a compelling look at some of the doctrines, both spoken and unspoken, that threaten to distract believers from the purity of the gospel message. This is an important book, and not for the squeamish of faith.
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