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 DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO FILE OF THE INTERVIEW HERE!
What is faith? Can you catch it, like a disease? Can you lose it like your car keys? And what about God, the object of faith? What can our current post-secular environment offer this conversation? In an unusual combination of developmental theory, secular culture and Pentecostal/charismatic spirituality, Not The Religious Type by Dave Schmelzer crafts an intriguing response.
Let’s look at the charismatic dimension. Jim Marion, interpreting Ken Wilber’s “Integral” developmental theory for Judeo-Christian faith, once opined that Pentecostal and charismatic Christians “appear to be mythic-level Christians who are attempting direct contact with the spiritual realm by means of the psychic level. This is a feat if one can pull it off.” (Marion, Putting on the Mind of Christ, pg. 76) In other words, those in the ‘Spirit-filled’ camp (where I have my roots) are doing a juggling act they’re scarcely aware of: Living a very woodenly-interpreted faith by means of intensely exterior ecstatic experiences, with the purported aim of having a very subtle and sublime fellowship with God.
Followers of Jesus of all stripes have different ways of arriving at and maintaining faith. Dave Schmelzer manages one of the more interesting approaches I’ve read in a long time in his Not the Religious Type. In a tome that manages to garner praise from as diverse corners as Andre Dubus III and Brian McLaren, the Bostonian and Vineyard pastor explores tough questions of faith and doubt, atheism and belief, the miraculous and the fringes of credulity. In chapters with titles like Why – I’m Guessing – You’d Rather Live in Paris than Tehran, and Three Cheers for Thoughtful Atheism! , Schmelzer talks about why his MIT-educated and positively secularist congregation nonetheless enjoys an interactive relationship with God, replete with healings, answered prayer, and even hearing the ‘still, small voice.’ In a world of shrill attacks on faith and simplistic (often bombastic) platitudes offered in response, Schmelzer is a wise guide to this cacophonous conversation – and the real lives people can build when transcending it.
Critics religious and irreligious alike might critique this book, echoing Sarah McLaughlin’s famous line Yeah you’re working/Building a Mystery; you’re choosing it so carefully, but I for one can appreciate a carefully-navigated mystery of faith. Appreciate it or loathe it, Schmelzer offers readers an experimental stance for living that takes into account the rich tapestry of life’s pageant, listening for hints and Curiously Strong Suggestions of God’s presence in everyday life.
Co-interviewer Brittian Bullock and I talk about all this in more in a free-ranging podcast conversation with the Schmelzer Himself. Check it out!
Mike Morrell is a Graduate Fellow in Emergent Studies, M.A. in Strategic Foresight at Regent University. Mike plies his trade as a journalist and publishing consultant. He is an editor with TheOoze, founder of the popular 'alt.Christian' web directory zoecarnate, and a liaison of Presence International. Mike lives with his wife Jasmin and daughter Jubilee in an intentional house church community in the Southeast.
DOWNLOAD THE AUDIO FILE OF THE INTERVIEW HERE!
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