Overview of the Journey

As you read this chapter, note the elements of the journey:

• From fundamentalism to neo-evangelicalism
• Shattered faith in biblical authority
• Return to liberal Baptist Church
• Discovery of the power and poetry of liturgy in the Episcopal church
• Experiment with religious Humanism
• Flirtation with Unitarian Universalism
• Work with Secular Humanism
• Coming to terms with religion to integrate present with past

Discussion Questions — printout

1. Price mentions the “Death of God” theologians of the 1960s. What does the phrase “the death of God” mean to you?
2. Price wonders if, after the collapse of his orthodox Christian faith, his continuing interest in Jesus was perhaps merely vestigial and nostalgic. What are some other types of responses that people might have as their traditional faith beliefs collapse?
3. If a Christian commits to a belief in a neutral or even hostile universe without the assurance of supernatural protection, how might her/his faith survive?
4. How does a spirituality of inquiry stretch the soul more than a belief in dogmatic answers?
5. Do Bible stories have to be historical in nature in order to transform us or to communicate spiritual power? Respond to the idea that, if the gospel stories are unhistorical, they are bunk?
6. If you have rejected traditional faith, have you found anything else to replace it? Do you feel any animosity toward your religious past? Is it time to move on to something else? What might that be?
7. Price describes how he can temporarily suspend disbelief and participate in religious services in a beneficial way. Compare that concept with how you view participation in religious services.
8. Discuss the appeal of Price’s concept of a “poetic faith”.
9. It appears to be difficult for many people to hold intellectual questions open while pursuing spiritual development through religious ritual. Discuss how it might be possible to participate in traditional religious experiences without compromising intellectual integrity.

Class Exercise

• Discuss the Parable of the Madman by Friedrich Nietzsche. — handout

Theological Terms for Consideration — handout

• fundamentalism
• evangelicalism
• deconstruction
• liberal theology
• neo-orthodoxy
• religious humanism
• secular humanism

Religious Thinkers for Consideration — handout

• Paul Tillich
• Thomas J.J. Altizer
• Don Cupitt
• Max Scheler

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