After the Good News: Progressive Faith Beyond OptimismProgressive faith is at a crossroads. Liberal pulpits ring with grand sermons about the arc that bends toward justice, and about progress “onward and upward forever.” Meanwhile, the people in the pews struggle to attend to the suffering of their souls and the tragic aspects of life. In this engaging polemic, using stories and metaphor, Nancy McDonald Ladd issues a call for change. Speaking from a rising generation of clergy and lay leaders who formed their commitments to liberal religion at the end of the optimistic modernist age, she shows how the religious life is not characterized by endless human advancement, but by lurching movement, crisis-management, and pain. With humor and humanity, Ladd calls religious progressives to greater authenticity and truth-telling rather than blind optimism. She charts a course forward that includes reclaiming rituals of atonement and lament, and becoming more vulnerable and accountable in our relationships. She shows how, together, we might build a necessary and greater resilience among ourselves and for the generations to come. |
Contents
TwentyFirstCentury Church | 23 |
Kingdom of God | 55 |
Five The Will to Power and the Power | 69 |
Six We Are Not Going to Get This Right | 81 |
Interconnected | 125 |
Appendix A On Prayers of Confession or Atonement | 145 |
Notes | 155 |
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Common terms and phrases
abstract American atonement authentic believed benevolent Boatload of Knowledge broken called century comfort commitment congregations cultivated culture dead utopias dream encounter estrangement faith feel fundamentally God’s heart holy honest hope human nature ideals imagine inherent James Luther Adams Jesus leaders liberal church liberal religion liberal religious tradition liberal theology liturgies of lament looking means ment metanoia middle-class minister modernist moral mutuality narrative oppression optimism ourselves Owen’s Owenite pain pastors perception perfect society prayer preach preacher privileged proclaim progressivism racial Rappites reform relationship religious liberals Robert Owen self-assured seminary serve Skinner House Books social sometimes soul spiritual story struggle suffering Sunday morning tell theologian theological anthropology things Thomas Rideout Tillich tion town truth twentieth-century Unitarian Universalism Unitarian Universalist upward trajectory utopian vision Wabash River white supremacy whole new world words worship Zadie Smith