A Christianity Worth Believing: Hope-Filled, Open-Armed, Alive-And-Well Faith for the Left Out, Left Behind, and Let Down in Us All

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.