BLESSING THE DOUBTERS

This week we look at the musings of Barbara Brown Taylor from our Life of Meaning book. A former Episcopalian parish minister, author and commentator on faith, Taylor speaks about her leaving the institutionalized church in search of the essential faith of following Jesus himself. "To practice the religion of Jesus instead of the religion about Jesus, she states. As the illustration from the cover of Newsweek testifies, this appears to be a common occurrence among many "faithful" today. The title of the interview for Taylor is given as "Blessing the Doubters." A truly growing part of the faith spectrum in these times.

How do you respond to her impressions below?

From the response to her writings she states, "I seem to appeal to people who have left the church or who are uneasily in the church...So I hear from a number of people who just want a religious person to bless their doubt...their skepticism...(I say) What you're asking is good to ask."

In speaking about jettisoning old beliefs and moving into new places. Taylor speaks to a new definition of faith as "openness to truth, whatever truth may turn out to be."

From her experience inside the institutional church she equates that structure as being the reason for blood-shed...terrific division...incredible cruelty to other people in the name of evangelism or preaching the gospel. As a result she says she is now in a "small humble place" regarding her faith.

What is Taylor's response to the scripture text attributed to Jesus, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...?"

In her reflections on her ministry work, Taylor speaks of her primary confusion"...but too much of parish ministry seemed to me as if I were being paid to love people."

Walter Morton for Terra Incognita