When Faith Turns Ugly: Understanding Toxic Faith and How to Avoid It
When Faith Turns Ugly: Understanding Toxic Faith and How to Avoid It
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Publisher: Send The Light
ISBN: 9781842278574
Number of Pages: 200
Published: 01/04/2016
Width: 14 cm
Height: 21.6 cm
Following the huge success of The Tortoise Usually Wins, 2012, and The
Big Picture, 2015, in When Faith Turns Ugly Brian Harris explores why
the Christian faith sometimes wears two masks - usually life-serving and
transforming, but occasionally escapist, illusionary and even poisonous.
What are the warning signs that faith is at risk of turning toxic? What do
we mean by the conviction that the gospel liberates? Brian Harris' take on
what constitutes life-serving faith is refreshing and will be appreciated by
all who would like to be sure that their obedience to Jesus the Christ will
help to build a world with a better name.
1 Jekyll or Hyde: More Than a Minor Dilemma 1
A Perplexing Problem 1
Intra- and Inter-Faith Differences 7
Faith as an Opiate 10
Faith as Illusion 10
Faith as Poisonous 11
Some Ways Forward 12
On Not Defending Fundamentalism 12
In Conversation with Victor Owuor 14
To Ponder and Discuss 17
2 What about Other Religions? 18
Getting Going 18
When Faiths Encounter Each Other 20
But the Bible Is Not Sympathetic to Other Faiths . . . 25
But I Believe My Faith Is True . . . 28
What about Different Versions of Our Own Faith? 31
In Conversation with Lloyd Porter 32
To Ponder and Discuss 35
3 Marx: Faith as Escapism 36
Religion, the Opiate of the Masses? 36
Is Worship Escapism? 37
Is a Contemplative Lifestyle Escapism? 40
Seven Risks to Watch Out For 42
In Conversation with Travis Fitch 52
To Ponder and Discuss 56
viii Contents
4 Freud: Faith as Illusion 57
A Father Christmas Faith? 57
Extrinsic, Intrinsic and Quest Religious Orientations 59
The Explanatory Power of the Christian Metanarrative 62
What Does This Mean? 68
In Conversation with Yvonne Kilpatrick 70
To Ponder and Discuss 72
5 Hitchens: Faith as Poisonous 74
An Encouraging Story 74
Attitudes to Avoid 77
Systemic Risks 83
Regaining the Right to Be Prophetic 86
In Conversation with Deborah Hurn 87
To Ponder and Discuss 90
6 And What About . . . ? Some Other Temptations 92
A Worrying Story 92
Leadership Traps 94
Forgetting That People Matter 99
Cultivating Burnout 102
Muddled Thinking 106
In Conversation with Dianne Tidball 107
To Ponder and Discuss 110
7 Contours for a Transforming Christian World View 111
The Link between Belief and Lifestyle 111
Six Common Problem Areas 112
Piecing This Together 123
In Conversation with Stephen O'Doherty 124
To Ponder and Discuss 129
8 Life-Serving Faith: Transformed Individuals 130
The Big Picture 130
What 'Whole in Christ' Might Look Like:
An Orthopathy Filter 134
Contents ix
When Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy and Orthopathy
Meet: Ten Signs 136
Putting It Together 148
In Conversation with Rob Furlong 149
To Ponder and Discuss 151
9 Life-Serving Faith: The Global Impact 152
A Heartening Claim 152
Snapshots from the Early Church 153
Contemporary Options 159
In Conversation with Phillip Nash 166
To Ponder and Discuss 168
10 Theology Matters: The Case for a Core Conviction 170
Some Background 170
Why This Topic? 171
Discovering Grenz 175
The Case for a Core Conviction 183
In Conversation with Becky Oates 186
To Ponder and Discuss 189
11 A Closing Portrait: The Jesus Question 191
The Jesus Question 191
The 'I Am' Claims 192
In Conversation with Peter Christofides 196
To Ponder and Discuss 200
Bibliography 201
Endnotes 207
