cultivatorarchivist reviewed on 6/17/2014 + 16 more book reviews

I have gone two pages into this book and already many flags have been raised. The author steps into a church which is lead by a female priest; relegating demons to "energies" and psychosomatic states. Clearly the author holds to heterodox beliefs. But the most interesting statement this author makes is this one: "What is faith? Certainly not simple assents to the set of beliefs that worshipers in that church recited every week...Yet I know from my own encounters with people in that church...that what matters in religious experience involves much more than what we believe". That statement clearly tells me that she doesn't understand what faith is. For me faith is a simple statement, the Nicene Creed, for instance, which is the body of faith articulated by members of the Christian Church. If Dr. Pagels doesn't think the Nicene Creed doesn't constitute faith, then perhaps she should do a little spiritual exercise. Try for a week to hold to the Niecene Creed, recite it in her mind, her heart, her whole being. Try to see how long she can successfully accomplish this simple task.

From what I've gathered so far, Dr. Pages is going to elaborate for the rest of the book what she thinks faith is, something complicated and presumably profound. She is going to do what she was trained to do and does for a living, she is going to make a complicated argument and probably resolve it, too.

Books like this one bring several points to mind, a few of which seem relevant to modern-day Christians. First and foremost, a member of the religious faculty at a university, prestigious or otherwise, a religious authority does not make. Using human discernment and reason to attemp to penetrate the mysteries is an exercise in folly.

I just finished a documentary on C S Lewis, a powerful Christian writer whose life and inner struggles echo modern man's. After watching that documentary I was inspired to write a more lighthearted review of this book, a little less scathing. While I still stand by the previous statements I made, I have to recognize that the reconciliation between the mystery of Christianity in all its forms and our current state of affairs is a challenging one. I myself recognize this challenge because my understanding of the nature and mystery of God has undergone many transformations, and that in a way parallels the transformations of C S Lewis' faith. What is my point? Well, instead of taking the all too common and erroneous humanist approach as Dr. Pagels has done perhaps it's best to address the issue of faith from the divine point of view. I also recommend the book Mere Christianity by C S Lewis, a book that challenges and inspires, a book that can help us surrender to God rather than our own pride.

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