Overview of the Journey

As you read this chapter, please note how the journey has evolved:

• Childhood participation in a worshipping community that was steeped in nationalism
• A Christian missionary is confronted by indigenous spiritualities
• Social inequality and Christian capitalism
• Indifference to Christianity from secularism
• What is means to live “in the shadow of the Galilean”
• Ecological concerns
• The redefining of faith for an ever-changing world
• Theological investigation as a life-long passion

Discussion Questions — printout

1. What do you think about the traditional church’s stance of opposing acceptance of homosexuality?
2. How does the discovery at Nag Hammadi in 1945 change our understanding of early Christians and their beliefs?
3. How does the current trend toward a “theological monism” contrast with the findings of more than 50 ancient Christian texts at Nag Hammadi?
4. Read and discuss the Ten Resolutions of Geering (p. 29). With which ones do you agree? Which ones are you violating?
5. What should be the missions of Christians to cultures with a meaningful religion and spirituality?
6. Do you agree that if Jesus was “exclusively a wandering wisdom teacher” that he would not have been crucified? If he was one of thousands of wisdom teachers who have lived, why should we care what he said?
7. Would Jesus have been a savior of any kind if he had died of old age rather than crucified?
8. How might the “greening of Christianity” affect you personally and as a member of the global community?
9. In what ways did Leaves’ global experiences challenge his conception of the church?
10. What stands has the Anglican Church taken that exemplify social and religious issues that have driven many to join the “church alumni association”?
11. How does Leaves answer his own question, “Is it reasonable to give one’s life to an organization that is always at least a generation behind the rest of the world’s best and latest thinking?”
12. What encouraging and discouraging signs do you see for the faith and the church in today’s world?

Theological Terms for Consideration — handout

• mysticism (apophatic or negative theology)
• God is “the beyond in the midst of life”
• post-Christianity
• church alumni association
• apocalyptic

Religious Thinkers for Consideration — handout

• John Shelby Spong (1931–)
• Don Cupitt (1934–)
• Lloyd Geering (1918–)
• Richard Holloway (1933–)

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