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Ten Things I Learned Wrong from a Conservative Church

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Authored by a former prominent Southern Baptist pastor and professor who was once deemed a "rising star" in that denomination, this book provides the wisdom, insights and learnings of a veteran pastor who is now able to reflect back upon the experiences of his truly dynamic career.

This work offers the general public insights into our nation's largest Protestant denomination that only a well positioned insider could possibly have discerned. I read Killinger's book over the course of only two days. It is very well written and truly compelling - you can't wait to read what he has to say next!

The work is somewhat similar to that of Bruce Bawer's "Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity" as well as to the popular "Rescuing the Bible From Fundamentalism" by John Shelby Spong, but is more balanced, less dense, and much less strident in tone than the others.

I am tempted to assert that Killinger, in a few places, may have "overstated" or "overly generalized" in his remarks about the ways and practices of the Southern Baptist Convention, but it could well be that he isn't. If not, then this work shines a truly needed exposing light upon the denomination that is most represented in our current U.S. Congress - and that currently has "the keys to the kingdom" of current U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

In this United Methodist pastor's opinion, this work ought to be required reading in all mainline seminaries and I highly recommend it for adult Sunday School or church book club discussions.

Other books of a similar nature include: "Theological Crossfire: An Evangelical/Liberal Dialogue" by Clark Pinnock and Delwin Brown; "Liberals & Other Born-Again Christians: Many Minds, One Heart," by Sally Geis; "The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind," by Peter Gomes.

For those who are currently reconsidering their theological commitments, I recommend exploring: "Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God," Dennis Linn; "The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Contemporary Faith," Marcus Borg; "God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God," Gregory Boyd; "Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God's Opneness," Clark Pinnock; "The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium," Walter Wink; and "Grace & Responsibility: A Wesleyan Theology for Today," John Cobb, Jr.

My spouse & I were both raised in a traditional conservative church (Church of Christ) and over the past 2-3 years have begun to question many of the things we were taught. We want our thoughts, beliefs, and ideas about God and religion to be our own, not simply what we were spoon-fed growing up. This book has been amazing to read. . .the author is very learned in spiritual things; he is well-read & I find this book fascinating. It's an excellent spring-board for anyone who would like to take a different look at conservative christianity.

Some of this is hard reading; there are many quotes and references and the author's own writing style means some passages may need to be read more than once for clarity, but it's worth it. I plan to give copies of this book to family members & have already recommended it to several friends.

As I begin I remind the reader that a fair-minded person should be able to read a book dispassionately and then wait to the end to draw any conclusions about content or authorial prejudices. The temptation exists to take offense to the title, "Ten Things I Learned Wrong From a Conservative Church" and blithely dismiss anything that Killinger says that could be found (in spite of ourselves) meaningful or useful.

Dr. John Killinger states that he wrote the book to share his experiences with various aspects of conservative Christian expressions over the years and his personal reactions to them. He devotes his introduction to describe to the reader how he was raised in the Southern Baptist Convention and how much his upbringing in a conservative church means to him despite shifts in belief. Right away he proclaims, "A conservative church probably saved my life...I expect my life would have been hell without it."

This book is meant to highlight ten "wrong teachings" of the conservative church that Killinger once accepted, along with the reasons why he disagrees with them now. Therefore, "Ten Wrong Things" suffers from a common malady of such list-based books; that is to say one could write volumes on any one of his chapters. As such, this would frequently leave me with the feeling that Killinger could not adequately state his case.

The first chapter is about the old question of the nature of the Bible. Is it to be regarded as the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, or a product of brilliant but uninspired human beings, or somewhere in between? Like most non-conservatives, Killinger has taken issue with claims about the supposed inerrancy or infallibility of the Bible, yet he believes that truths about relating to God are found within its pages. I did not find much that was new or useful in this chapter. If anyone seeks to form a non-inerrantist framework for approaching the Bible would do better to read the excellent book Inspiration and Authority: The Nature and Function of Christian Scripture by Paul Achtemeier.

The author next sets his sights on "penal theology" that heavily emphasizes sin to the point that people can feel abnormal guilt and shame. He includes a disturbing account of a woman who couldn't bring herself to take Communion because she never felt righteous enough. Killinger proceeds to build an argument that substitutionary atonement was a workable image for ancient people who understood the offering of sacrifices, and that God did not in any literal sense require that Jesus die for the sins of the world. It is highly unfortunate that Killinger writes as if the penal substitution theory is the only understanding of the atonement that Christians have ever known. There have been several theories advocated over the centuries and, as one writer put it, they may all be windows onto a reality we cannot quite grasp. Killinger continues to think in unfortunate either/or categories with his chapter about exclusive claims that Jesus is the only means of access to God. He dismisses John 14:6 as the words of a semi-fictional Jesus of the most contrived gospel, and then goes on to say that while we find something special in Christ, he never spoke of himself in exclusivistic terms. Again, I recommend a book in place of this chapter. No Other Name by John Sanders makes a solid case for inclusivism, the theological middle position between hard exclusivism and open universalism.

The next chapter speaks to a trait of conservative churches that seems to be decreasing - the belief that members of other Christian denominations are probably lost. Killinger also spends some time deservedly berating conservatives for neglecting social issues. "One of the shortcomings of the conservative church," he writes, "is its focus on the value of church membership to those on the inside and its almost total neglect of the mission of the church to those who live in constant pain." After this the author turns to the matter of worship and notes how he came to find the value in prepared prayers, despite the criticisms of some of his conservative students that such prayers are "unspiritual."

Ten Things then moves to criticize conservatives who go overboard about small issues such as alcohol, including one pastor who preached one hour and forty-five minutes on the subject. Killinger condemns the treatment of women as unequal in ministry ability and describes how conservatives would infiltrate moderate churches that elected female deacons in order to sow discord. He also takes his shots at creationism.

There is a chapter on human suffering and Killinger takes to task the idea of a reward/punishment scheme in which God punishes people with plagues and crises for sins and rewards righteousness with prosperity or happiness. It bothers me that Killinger could tell so many stories of "Bible-believing" Christians embracing such a theology even though Jesus rejected it when the disciples asked him about the man born blind.

The last chapter is devoted to a spate of "horror stories" that illustrate the dark side of conservatism. There is a particularly engaging story of his own experience that carries on for several pages, and I could not do it justice here. But it includes censorship, character attacks, foul language from a Southern Baptist Executive Secretary, and the circulation of falsehoods. The story of his conflict with Jerry Falwell's Old Time Gospel Hour includes death threats, phone taps, and mail tampering. Such horror stories like his and those I have heard from others have made me realize why "Southern Baptist" can be such a negative label in our society.

I suggest that Ten Things would be a fascinating read for anyone interested in exploring non-conservative perspectives in Christianity. As a moderate, I would describe Killinger as to the left of my perspective, but I do not think he has fallen off the deep end, so to speak. He continues to acknowledge the Resurrection of Jesus and the work of God in our lives. In my opinion, he treated some of the issues in his book poorly despite his strong academic background. Probably the greatest value of this work is found in the anecdotal "horror stories" that show the darker expressions of conservatism or fundamentalism.

This book was my bridge from Christian Fundamentalism to a more moderate Christianity. The author has written an engaging book about some of the things that he believed as a child but after his mind opened and he completed his education he realized were not true and ignorant beliefs to maintain. So many of the teachings of the the Churches are man made and ridiculous and the author exposes them in this book. Two thumbs up for John Killinger.

Here are the wrong teachings he discusses:

1)The bible is the literal,inerrant word of God.
2)God is a gread moral judge, and therefore Jesus had to die for our sins.
3)Jesus is the only way to God.
4)there is no salvation outside the (Conservative) church.
5)Worship is proclamation before it is anything else.
6)Spiritual people don't drink, dance, or come out of the closet.
7)Religion is a man's business.
8)Faith is always truer than science.
9)When bad things happen to good people, there is always a reason.
10)Conservatives want everybody to be free.

In response to all the negative reviews written about this book, it is the 21st century and time to shed the ignorance and blind belief in what one wishes to be true, so that mankind can live in peace.For some one to hold a myth created by the Catholic Church for the Roman Empire in the 400's AD as a solid fact in 2006 with all the scholarship available to them is bordering on mental illness. Keep the pragmatic morality, shed the Myth.

This is a great book. I find it so because I have come to the place of being dissatisfied with fundamentalist Christianity, and John Killinger has helped me see why and shown me a truly spiritual Christainity, the kind for which I hunger. If you are dissatisfied with your faith as it presently exists, this book will be an eye opener. If you are on the defensive and threatened by anything new, you will not like it. I, for one, recommend it highly for every sincere spiritual Christian who is dissatisfied with conservative fundamentalism and is spiritually hungry for the true meaning of Christian faith. Dr. Killinger really puts things in perspective in this book, quite courageously, I might add.
Thank you John Killinger.

It might be going a bit far to say that John Killinger is a modern day Martin Luther, but the comparison is appropriate.

Killinger encourages us to use our minds in search of God, truth and the meaning of Jesus' life on earth. (And Jesus encouraged us to do the same thing: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, all thy MIND, and all thy strength...) Thus conservatives shouldn't go too ballistic on Killinger, though many already have.

Killinger reassures us that is OK, even fine and good to come to our own conclusions about Truth, God and Jesus. And we shouldn't be surprised when those conclusions (and it really is a life-long journey, this search for truth)don't always match up with the orthodoxy we were spoon fed in our youth and sometimes even in our old age.

Killinger's book offers and encourages a new, freer look at the Bible and the Christian Life, one that could bring us to a closer, more meaningful understanding of faith and of Jesus.

If you are searching and/or thinking and pondering, read this book.If you are looking for affirmation and reassurances of church dogma and orthodoxy, pass on this one.

The author writes well of his journey from a non-religious family and rigid church upbringing to an appreciation of the nuances which were actually in the Bible in the first place. Unfortunately, he still tends to view most church experiences in extremes; everything and everyone are either all good or all bad. His ideas are safe and threadbare. His style is easy to read but sloppy. The author is very self-centered in his presentation. He appears more of an "Anti-Baptist" than a Christian. He had enough ideas for 20 or so pages, and then the book got really predictable and boring.

My men's small group chose this book because we all consider ourselves open-minded and thought we would have a good time reading some of these chapters and saying "Yeah, that's what the Baptists do wrong!" (we are all members of a Southern Baptist church). It was clear right out of the gate that that wasn't going to be the case.

Killinger struck me as very bitter. I agree with one of the other reviewers that he comes across as more of an "Anti-Baptist" than a Christian, and he tends to over-generalize people and (I can only imagine) situations to illustrate his own beliefs, whatever they may be. After reading the book, I really do not have a very clear understanding of how he thinks people get to heaven.

I think his bitterness comes from the fact that he was pushed out of the denomination he grew up in, and he viewed this as wrong, because he thought he should be able to hold completely different beliefs and stay in the denomination. In truth, he had become a mainline Protestant (Methodist, Disciples of Christ, etc.) somewhere along the way, and hadn't realized it yet. He rails against the Baptists for disagreeing with him, but I would like to see how welcomed a more conservative Baptist would be if he were to espouse his more conservative views from the pulpit in a congregation where Killinger attends - it's likely that person would also be pushed out for being too provincial in their thinking or beliefs. That's fine, that's their prerogative, but let's recognize it for what it is and not say the Baptists are worse people for it.

Lastly, what was up with the hit parade of new vocabulary words every chapter? I needed a dictionary to know some of these words. They were so obscure that when he used them it came across as condescending, which distracted from whatever point he was trying to make.

I looked for some truth in this book and found very little of it. I would not recommend it unless you are a strong Christian and you want a window into the beliefs of other faiths.

I admit at the outset that I am not the kind of person who would be considered a candidate to read this book. I am a theological conservative, reared in the conservative tradition, educated in a Southern Baptist university and seminary. I pastor a conservative church. But I was intrigued by the title and purchased the book, believing that it might give me better insight into how conservatives are viewed and better prepare me for dialogue with a culture that increasingly rejects conservative theology and its emphasis on absolutes.

The theology I encountered in the book did not surprise me. The first "wrong" teaching discussed is, obviously, that the bible is the literal, inerrant word of God. As Killinger admits on p, 195, this teaching must be thrown out in order to reach the rest of the conclusions he advances in the book (i.e. that Christ isn't the only way to God, that science is truer that faith, etc...). The conclusions he reaches are basic to liberal theology and I expected to find them in the book and for "Ten Things" to be an advocate for them.

The worldview of the book did not surprise me. Killinger is a product of a worldview that is open to everything except absolutes. And when absolutes are expressed, those expressing them are viewed as unsophisticated, inarticulate, and unthinking...even dangerous. In short, they are attacked. The incongruity of the mindset that pervades our culture and this book, a mindset that says "we are all free to believe what we want to believe...unless you are a conservative" seems lost on Killinger. In the same paragraph where he derides "fundamentalists' exclusivity and condemnation of others" he classifies conservatives as terrorists. Does this sound like a man who wants to preserve the right of conservatives to believe what they wish?

What did surprise me was the hostile tone of the book. One review on this site says that the book is "much less strident in tone" than other books of the same persuasion. It is part of the reason I purchased it. Yet in this book, Killinger's childhood church and its leaders (people for whom he claims to have great respect) are mentioned by name and classified in ways that border on slander. And in the one instance in the book where he does try to shield the identity of one couple, they are described in such detail that the shield is lifted. And can anything be more strident them calling Billy Graham a terrorist (see p. 20 and p. 181)?

So in essence, this book becomes a vent for the bitterness of a bitter man, bitter from a lifelong war with those opposed to his liberal views. It is written with an intellectual arrogance that is only thinly veiled with false humility, reminding me of a quote from Dallas Willard (an intellectual of the first rank) in "The Divine Conspiracy" that intellectuals "especially take pride in being humble about their minds." (p. 103). It offers nothing new or helpful to the debate between conservatives and liberals. If he only believed that Jesus did die for our sins, perhaps he could be delivered from the hurt he has chosen to build his identity around, as this book seems to indicate he has.

If you are a Christian who believes that Jesus is there relm to God but can not stomac The Fundamental church's sexisms and their "We ARE saved! And everyone who disagrees with US is NOT!" Mentality then I would highly recommend The Network For Progressive Christianity. www.tcpc.org/

Also www.MySpace.com has many Progressive Christianian communities.