Wes Howard-Brook

Theological books by authors with whom I have theological disagreements can be quite unsettling. I can be going along, getting into what's being said when all of a sudden the author makes some statement that totally turns me off. Or in other cases, the author starts off by saying the "wrong" thing and I spend the rest of the book discounting what she or he has to say. Mr. Howard-Brook's tome kind of straddled the line in that respect. He admitted to being a "flaming liberal" (my phrase, not his) up front, and while that made me wary about what he had to say in the rest of the book, I had a great deal of respect for his plain declaration of where he was at. I was very intrigued by his topic -- a look at what the apostles intended the church to be as opposed to what has evolved over the centuries. But every time I started getting into his historical analysis, some phrase or concept would remind me that I disagreed with his view of history and scripture and I would have to reconsider his conclusions. Anyway, while I might agree with him that our churches today have gone astray from the original game plan, I'm not at all convinced that he's on the right track for reformation. (And of course, I must also admit that maybe there was no game plan in scripture for how to operate a congregation, outside of a few general guidelines.) Anyway, I'll rate this as waiting room material, though if you're looking for alternatives to the religious status quo, Wes Howard-Brook's voice is one that should also be heard.
--J.… (meer)