If we stop listening when trigger phrases such as “deconstructing faith” are mentioned, then how can we remain in rather important conversations?
In Invisible Jesus, longtime theologian and seminary professor Scot McKnight and co-author pastor Tommy Preson Phillips defang deconstruction. “We believe deconstruction is a prophetic movement resisting a distorted gospel. It is not a problem; it is a voice. And we need to listen to what it is saying to the church.”
Why befriend deconstruction?
Evocative chapter titles begin to answer the why: “Hearing from Jesus in Our Doubts” and “Burying Jesus in Production” to “Discerning Jesus as the Way.”
In chapter 2, stats show the exodus from the church and an ironic increase in faith. “A 2022 HarperCollins quote shows that one of four adults” altered their religious beliefs while a Religious News Service article reveals how the COVID-19 pandemic added muscles to beliefs. In other words, leaving the church might not be leaving the faith.
In the chapter “Burying Jesus in Production,” these authors ask new questions: “When did Sunday worship become all about the sermon?”
And perhaps a harder-to-hear one: “When did our Sunday gatherings become a form of entertainment, a facsimile of a concert?”
Won’t asserting this cause some ire? So why do the authors spend time on challenging what our beloved worship songs are? Because the power of these songs, these authors say, can muddy theological truths and play fast and loose with theological tenets.
McKnight and Phillips cite a disturbing 2023 article exploring how most of our worship songs came from four megachurches—very wealthy churches to boot. “Many of the most popular songs—what we call mountaintop songs—make little to no reference of the crucifixion, loving enemies, dying to self, or God’s resurrection power that comes through the cross.”
Later chapters tighten the focus on Jesus and hint at the fact that we might have gotten distracted. In the section, “Petty Pastors and Their Doordom,” the writers say, “The only story the church is empowered to tell is the story about Jesus. Not a story primarily about the church, the musicians, the preacher, or another platformed personality. Branding the church or those on the platform pushes Jesus off the platform. We are not the message. We are not the mission. And we are certainly not the main attraction. Jesus is.”
An important takeaway in this oh-so-timely book is this: Let’s not confuse Christian culture, as Frederick Douglass said, with the Christianity of Christ.
And besides, might deconstruction be another word for reformation? (Zondervan Reflective).
About the Author
Cynthia Beach authored the #ChurchToo novel The Surface of Water and the writing book, Creative Juices. She co-directs Scriptoria Workshop with Newbery-winner Gary Schmidt.