Heretic in the Pews
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I believe in the value of Jesus’ teachings for today’s often violent, prejudiced, and unforgiving world. The loss of his teachings would be a tragedy for respect and moderation. They ascribe value and dignity to every person, especially the disadvantaged, and treat them with loving kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and empathy. They seek win-win, non-violent resolutions of disputes. I am concerned for the well-being of the Christian church, because it has been the custodian of Christianity for two millennia. Unfortunately, the Christian church in the Western world is in trouble. Members and budgets are shrinking. Churches are closing. I fear we may have only a few decades to save the church from shrinking to an inconsequential influence in the Western world. With the decline of the church, the influence of the Jesus message in Western societies comes under threat. If the church was to fade into oblivion, I fear Christianity would do so, too.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In today’s often violent, prejudiced, and unforgiving world, Jesus’s teachings ascribe value and dignity to every person, especially the disadvantaged, and encourage us to treat others with loving kindness, acceptance, forgiveness, and empathy. Unfortunately, the Christian church in the Western world is in trouble. Members and budgets are shrinking. Churches are closing. We may only have a few decades to save the church from becoming an inconsequential influence in the Western world. In a thoughtful examination of this decline, lifelong Christian John Mendham begins by addressing his concerns for the health of the church and then examines the influence of Jesus’s teachings. With a focus on attracting younger members to the church, Mendham highlights the two church behaviors he believes are dragging it down (resistance to change and refusal to acknowledge science), ponders critical beliefs, and suggests new approaches that will be more appealing to the twenty-first century mind rather than those focused on the traditional story. Heretic in the Pews addresses the decline of the Christian church as well as the influence of Jesus’s teachings and shares new approaches that may help save Christianity from oblivion.
About the Author
I have lived my life in the Christian culture and am deeply attached to it. My faith is a consequence of where I was raised, in Christian England. As an only child, I attended Anglican boarding schools from age six. The school required daily attendance at chapel services. Achieving good marks in school was never a problem for me and I qualified for the Veterinary College of the University of London for six and a half years, earning a first-class honors in physiology and a rare honors designation for my doctorate of veterinary medicine. This was followed by three years of post-graduate study in small-animal work at the University of Pennsylvania. After that, I worked as a small-animal veterinarian in Calgary, Alberta, for nearly 50 years, before retiring at age 70.