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	Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Frequently Asked Questions Here are some of the questions I have been asked by parishioners, friends, and by those who have read my books and articles, along with my responses. Q. You describe, in the book, The Dishonest Church, the divine as The Numen. I find this difficult and confusing. Could you say more? A. I recognize that the term, Numen, as a description of the divine, works for some people and does not work at all for others. I was attempting to offer alternative ways of speaking of the Ultimate Reality. “God” is a term we will continue to use, but it is irredeemably masculine (as over against “goddess”). The word “God” has long been used and abused by those who want to believe that their particular tradition has a monopoly on spiritual truth. Numen can be seen as the Reality that is ever present, that breaks forth especially in moments, places, and people that are truly numinous. I appreciate the fact that Numen is used by animists, who assume that every item, from a stone to a complex human being, has its own numen that allows that item to fulfill its function. A simple step forward in logic leads to the conclusion that there might be a Numen that allows the entire universe to fulfill its function. The purpose of offering terms such as Ultimate Reality and Numen as ways of referring to the divine is to open the discussion to new insights. A congregation that wants to create excitement will encourage its people to think outside the box. The term God, when it is the only way people know of referring to divinity, is a very confining box. Q. Are you a born-again Christian? A. Not in the sense that born-again is used in conservative church circles. The phrase usually refers to an once-in-a-lifetime, largely emotional, experience that turns a person from a secular life to a spirit-filled life. In contrast, I cannot think of a time, in the home in which my brother and I grew up, when we were encouraged to think of ourselves as anything other than children of God—as spiritual beings whose definition was not in what we did but in who we were. Thanks to that environment, I have never felt a need to make a radical turn in some new direction. Nonetheless, the secular forces that would encourage me to define myself by physical attributes, by accomplishments, or by what I own, are powerful. So, for me, being born again is a constant process, an on-going course correction. As I read scripture and the stories of other models of spiritual living, I find that most of them followed a course similar to mine: a gradual, never ending process that includes gain and loss, struggle and growth. I understand and appreciate those whose entry into a spiritual journey was more focused than mine. Disagreement comes only with those who want to insist that spiritual re-birth can occur in only one way. Q. You refer, in one of your books, to the Bible as the family album of a community of faith. Does this mean that you do not see the scripture as divinely inspired? A. The final chapter of the book deals the subject of inspiration. In short, I do not believe every word of the scripture is the result of divine guidance. Indeed, as several other writers have pointed out, many parts of the Bible are based on an ethic that is embarrassingly low. One would have to assume that the divine is bi-polar to believe that both the second half of Isaiah, the Sermon on the Mount, and the fifth chapter of Numbers are all inspired by the same spirit. On the other hand, some passages of Scripture (Second Isaiah and the Sermon on the Mount are two such texts) rise to such spiritual and ethical heights that the reader must assume that something beyond the writer is at work. The basic point I attempt to make in The Bible: Faith’s Family Album is that the scripture as a whole, with all its arguments, all its highs and lows, is the true carrier of the Spirit. When we confront it all, realizing that it represents our spiritual heritage, we can be moved to join the “great cloud of witnesses” that extends this tradition into the modern age. If progressive Christianity is such a wonderful thing, why is almost all the church growth is among the conservatives that you criticize? Q. This is a question that must be answered on a variety of levels. A. First progressive Christianity is not interested in entering a contest of numbers with any other faith expression. Progressive Christianity is an alternative offered to the rising number of persons who can no longer accept the traditional doctrines of Christianity. The number of such people—the religious drop-outs—is growing at an astounding rate. (The growth of the non-affiliated is much faster than the growth of the fundamentalists/conservatives, even if those church’s own membership figures are accepted.)Persons who are put off by doctrines (such as the one that states that God would kill his son to vacate a curse put on all humankind because of one act of rebellion) often feel their only alternative is to disappear from the church scene. Progressive Christians want to be present for such people if they choose to continue their spiritual growth along a different path. Second, as implied above, I have serious doubts about the membership figures offered by many conservative Christians. Without doubt many conservative congregations are growing at an amazing speed. For this they are to be congratulated. But are conservatives as a whole growing as rapidly as they claim? I have serious doubts. I am not a church sociologist, so I am working only from anecdotal information. I have encountered sufficient anecdotes, however, to begin to believe that membership figures are often wildly exaggerated. The magachurches that have sprung up in urban areas are, I suspect, made up mostly of people who were already conservative Christians, who were enticed away from other, smaller congregations. Finally, I believe we are seeing now, and will see more clearly in the future, a realignment of congregations. After this realignment, a more accurate picture of conservative vs. progressive Christianity will be seen. The United Church of Christ, the most liberal of the major mainline denominations, reported at their last General Synod (national gathering) that more than ninety congregations across the country are either new church starts, or are churches of conservative denominations that want to associate themselves with the UCC. As groups such as the Southern Baptist compete within themselves to see who can be most conservative, more and more of their people will look elsewhere for a comfortable denominational fit. Q. Are you engaged in other writing projects? A. I have two documents in progress. The longer one has the working title, Passionate Jesus, Passionate Living: The Interplay of Emotions and Values. This manuscript attempts to do two things. It is, first, a kind of self-help book in the field of human emotions. Emotions are, I argue, the way human beings relate to the value structures that guide our lives. By choosing what to value, we exercise considerable control over the emotions we will experience. Jesus of Nazareth is a model of one who chose a clear set of values, and whose emotions were an outgrowth of those values. My second goal in this manuscript is to present Jesus as a full human being whose actions and decisions were guided and energized by both intellect and emotion. He was not, therefore, a puppet on divine strings, but a passionate person who invited his followers to be passionate also. Those who have read my sermon, “Puppet or Passion” on this web site, will recognize the underlying argument of my latest work in progress. I am now seeking a publisher for Passionate Jesus, Passionate Living. My other current writing project is, to me, especially enjoyable. I am attempting to weave together a number of the wedding meditations I used when presiding at weddings. Near my retirement, I realized that many couples had asked me to preach on the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. Across the years I had addressed every phrase in that passage. These brief (about 750 words each) wedding meditations allow me to explore a central theme of my preaching and writing: the religious/Christian understanding of love is radically different from the romantic notion of love expounded by the common culture. The romantic view says love is entirely emotional. We “fall” into love, as if falling into an open manhole on a dark street. The religious view of love, while welcoming the emotional aspect, insists that love is a way of acting, a habit of relating that is “patient and kind…rejoices in the right…” The working title for these meditations is Radical Love.
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Jack Good
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