​​​God After Deconstruction

Zoom Book Study

Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM

January 8 - January 26, 2025

 

Led by Rev. Phillip Bass

 

Deconstruction is hard.  Bad views of God and harmful experiences lead many of us to deconstruct. But we're right to run from the nonsense we've been taught and from those who hurt us. God After Deconstruction will not be welcomed by traditionalists. It's not a book for people who think conventional theology works. It isn't for people who just want to tweak a bit what they've been taught.

Thomas Jay Oord and Tripp Fuller offer an open and relational vision of God. This vision makes sense; it fits our experience; it's livable. The open and relational view aligns with our deep intuitions about love and freedom.

God After Deconstruction is for those deconstructing and those wanting help after deconstruction.

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Beyond A Binary God

Zoom Book Study

Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM

February 5 - February 26, 2025

 

Led by Rev. Phillip Bass

 

All are made in the image and likeness of God. If this is what we believe, then trans people, like all people, reflect something of God, and not just in the ways that they share in common with others, but also in the ways that they are different. They remind us that God is beyond all of our categories, even gender. In this book, Tara Soughers explores theology from the position of a trans ally―a parent of a trans young adult as well as priest. What does it mean about God and about humans, that there is not a strict gender binary? How can we affirm and include what we have learned about the permeability of boundaries to affirm those whose path does not follow traditional cultural stereotypes, and how might the broadening help us to understand the God who is never two for Christians, but both one and three? What gifts does this broader understanding bring to the church?

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When Religion Hurts You

Zoom Book Study

Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:30PM

March 5 - March 26, 2025

 

Led by Rev. Phillip Bass

 

In When Religion Hurts You, Dr. Laura Anderson takes an honest look at a side of religion that few like to talk about. Drawing from her own life and therapy practice, she helps readers understand what religious trauma is and isn't, and how high-control churches can be harmful and abusive, often resulting in trauma. She shows how elements of fundamentalist church life--such as fear of hell, purity culture, corporal punishment, and authoritarian leaders--can cause psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual damage.