Saving God from Religion

Meyers (Morning Sun on a White Piano), senior minister of the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, Okla., makes a plausible case for progressive Christianity in this credible, engaging work of popular theology. He opens with a critique of a distant, hierarchical God that fails to meet modern needs, and draws on personal anecdotes and understandable, if skimpy, discussions of quantum mechanics and chaos theory as he articulates a theology of consequences, in which choices have natural and complex repercussions rather than divine rewards and punishments. He expands this to define sin as acting as if one can control or avoid the effects of one’s choices. Faith, he argues, is trust rather than intellectual assent and is opposed not by doubt but by anxiety. Meyer provocatively applies Old Testament prophets to show that the kind of prayers that are litanies of requests can be more harmful than helpful—creating a relationship with God of expectations and rewards. He closes with two chapters about how all people are interconnected and religion’s purpose is to help people act in certain ways—rather than believe specific doctrines. Traditionalists might balk at his application of theoretical science to Christianity, and hard-core skeptics may want a bit more rigor, but Meyer’s case stands as a promising, contemporary reframing. Progressive Christians looking for a fresh spiritual orientation will be moved by Meyer’s clarity and conviction. (Jan.)