"The church is tired of seeing Christians act ungraciously toward one another when they disagree. Social media has added to the carnage. Christians routinely block each other on Facebook because of doctrinal disagreements. The world watches the blood-letting, and the Christian witness is tarnished.
But what if every Christian discovered that their favorite teacher in church history had blind spots and held to some false–and even shocking–views?
Bestselling author Frank Viola argues that this simple awareness will soften Christians when they interact with each other in the face of theological disagreements.
In ReGrace, he uncovers some of the shocking beliefs held by faith giants like C.S. Lewis, Luther, Calvin, Moody, Spurgeon, Wesley, Graham, and Augustine–not to downgrade or dismiss them, but to show that even “the greats” in church history didn’t get everything right.
Knowing that the heroes of our faith sometimes got it wrong will empower us to treat our fellow Christians with grace rather than disdain whenever we disagree over theology."
Sometimes, the back cover says it all!
I was in Red Deer with my mother and we stopped by the Kennedy's Parable book store en route to see my niece. We had some time on our hands and I like browsing the shelves. This book popped out and I picked it up. Frank Viola is not a stranger to the library of my life. I read two of his books a few years back... "Pagan Christianity (co-authored with George Barna) and "Reimagining Church". Both books were transitional for me at the time. I was transitioning out of the organized system of "church" and looking for something less organized (for lack of a better descriptor). Frank was, for me, that middle step that helped me get to the next level on my journey, because jumping the whole distance at once could have hurt me. When I saw ReGrace, it brought me back to that middle step in my memory and I realized that there was still something of value there.
"ReGrace has but one objective: to foster grace, civility, and tolerance among Christians when they disagree with one another over theological matters." FV
That may have been Frank's objective in writing the book, but for me as a reader, it was like sitting in the mall "people watching". I got to sit on the bench and watch some of the Greats of Christianity walk by, not in their perfected Sunday best, but in their Monday work duds. Frank gave me an inside scoop on the humanity of some people that have been stuck high in the clouds for way too long. That for me was enlightening, and not because I thought these "dudes" were perfect, but because this side of their story is rarely exposed to poorly informed humans like me. I am giddy with excitement when I get to see the humanity in people. It is something to be treasured and respected, not hidden under a carpet.
"Some of the so-called shocking beliefs that I cover in this book are beliefs that I myself agree with. Others I find abhorrent. Consequently, just because a shocking belief is listed doesn’t reveal how I personally feel about it. It simply means that many evangelical Christians will find the belief to be shocking (at worst) or peculiar (at best)." FV
As I read some of the "shocking beliefs" of men like Charles Spurgeon, John Calvin, Martin Luther, C.S. Lewis and even Billy Graham, I found brothers on a journey. Maybe others who have read this book, who have put these men high on a pedestal, weren't as understanding as I was, but that is their journey. I really enjoyed discovering a few things.
Here are a few factoids that I found "refreshing"
- "C.S. Lewis believed that the book of Job wasn't historical and that the Bible contained errors."
- "Charles Spurgeon was never ordained and didn't believe that ordination was important, He was also against the use of honorific titles."
- "Dwight L. Moody didn't believe in making doctrine an issue."
And my favourite!!!!
- "Martin Luther believed using profanity was acceptable."
(I wonder if my dad knew that little tidbit! Maybe if he had, there would have been a little more "ReGrace" when I had to tell him that I got caught swearing at school in Grade 9. If I knew about Luther's potty mouth, it would have made for a better defence.)
Some factoids aren't that inspiring but are entertaining.
- "Augustine believed in praying for the dead"
(maybe that's not funny if you belong to the LDS church)
- "John Wesley believed in ghosts and other paranormal phenomena."
What really melted my heart was the chapter on Billy Graham. I discovered that the Billy Graham of my youth, was not the Billy Graham that wrote the book "Nearing Home". He had his own slide with certainty as the years progressed. Maybe he had the chance to rethink all the sermons he preached over the years and maybe the conclusions he came up with in his early years weren't the same as the doubts he was having in his later years. I really respect him for not hiding those doubts in interviews and admitting that there is indeed "a wideness in God's Mercy"
After Frank goes through the chapters on the "Great Christians", he spends some time talking about what really matters... and it's not the doctrine or the lack there of. It is the whole purpose of the book... I like the chapter "The Art of being a Jerk Online." That chapter alone is worth the cost of the book.
"Beware the person who quotes short excerpts from a book and then purports to interpret the author of the book. In many (if not most) cases where the interpretation is negative, the person is misrepresenting the author. You'll also discover something else in virtually every case -- the person quoting and interpreting has never gone to the author to ask if she is understanding the author correctly." FV
Oh I really hope I don't do that in my book blog. The books I share on my blog have been very helpful on my journey. So far, I don't personally know any of the authors, even though I have met some of them on occasion at public events or online. When I have access to their email address, I send the author a link to my blog post and on occasion, I get a response back. It is comforting to get confirmation back that I am doing something good with this blog.
I will never be able to speak for the author, but hopefully, I can let someone else in on an exciting journey of discovery. That is why I do this. And maybe that is what this book does... invites the reader on a journey of discovery, not only of some pretty famous Christians, but hopefully of that friend, or neighbour who needs a little "ReGrace".
My Disclaimer: This book seems addressed to people who have adopted the label "Christian" and maybe that is a label that Frank Viola has adopted. I am not one of those people who claim that label anymore, but I still enjoyed the book and there were a lot of valuable nuggets of wisdom for me. I have that approach to most books I read. I don't always agree with everything the author writes, but if I let those little things bother me, I would miss so much more.
Thank you Frank, for yet another timely read. I just wish I could have passed along that little tidbit about Martin Luther to my dad... I wonder if we could have laughed about it now.
I will end this post with a quote in the book that made me laugh.
"People understand me so poorly that they don't even understand my complaint about them not understanding me." Søren Kierkegaard
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