Deconstructing Your Faith?

“In order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first lose hope in everything that deceives.” Georges Bernanos

If you're on a faith deconstructing journey like I am, you make find this book helpful.

Here's a review I wrote, posted over at Christian Courier, and included below:

For the past three years, I have been on a journey of deconstruction – disillusioned by the command-and-control nature of denominations and the modus operandi of the local church.

At times my questioning has felt perilous. Should I be feeling this way? What would the faithful generations in my family tree think? Am I losing my faith?

My relationship with the church used to be clear, but now I’m not so sure.

I jumped at the opportunity to read and review, Blessed are the Undone: Testimonies of the Quiet Deconstruction of Faith in Canada, hoping it could help me find my way.

Authors Angela Bick and Peter Schuurman define deconstruction as, “faith undone” – “having your conservative or evangelical affiliation with God, the Bible, and the Christian faith fall apart, usually prompted by failures of the Church, while simultaneously being emotionally and spiritually distanced from a taken-for-granted religious family, community, and tradition.”

They add this important caveat, “We write as Christians who deeply value faith in a risen and ruling Jesus Christ. Deconstruction for us is not the destruction of faith. Think of deconstruction as prophetic critique of traditions and institutions, calling them back to God’s intentions.”

These definitions are comforting.

They continue, “[T]he act of dismantling tradition and rebuilding a new one is as old as the Tower of Babel. Job’s life and worldview are turned upside down through undeserved suffering. Exiles to Babylon rethink their status as chosen people. Jesus proclaimed, “You heard it said . . . but I say to you.”

A quarter of the way into the book, after an in-depth introduction to the historical, philosophical, and sociological landscape of deconstruction, I found great solace in the book’s pointers to the book of Ecclesiastes.

When I read, “There is a time for everything… a time to tear down and a time to build…”(Eccles. 3:1, 3), I realized there is a time for deconstruction – a necessary time.

I was relieved by the words from French writer Georges Bernanos, “In order to be prepared to hope in what does not deceive, we must first lose hope in everything that deceives.” God is undoing me, and so many others, for a good reason.

Bick and Schuurman help make that reason clear. They lay out a larger context within which to understand all that God has been doing in undoing us. This context is a gift – a gift that helps all the undone process their loss of hope in a thoughtful, wise and God-honouring way.

This book does its illumining work honestly – through the stories of real Canadians from real churches (including those of the authors). When I read their personal deconstruction stories (Angela is a journalist and Peter a sociologist) I found myself deeply moved. While I knew both from a distance, hearing about their personal struggles made me want to defend and support them. I realized that I’m not alone on this deconstructing journey; I’m part of a ‘priesthood of deconstructors.’

Deconstructing can be a very disorienting experience for several reasons and this book addresses many of them: Christianity’s colonial past, the excesses of right-wing American church culture, the cult of celebrity pastors, Christian nationalism, clergy abuse, biblical literalism, the perceived conflict between faith and science, the pandemic, LGBTQ+ inclusion, the mistreatment of our planet, the excesses of purity culture, the marketing of the faith, etc. This book will help with the reorientation process. Blessed are the Undone shares several helpful stories of the Christ-centered paths taken by those who have deconstructed before us.  Through these stories we see what re-conciliation and re-construction could look like – both personally, and for the church as a whole.

The book concludes by inviting the church to become undone – to step back from our idolatries and learn to follow the Spirit anew. “The deconstructive moment is an opportunity to deliberately dismantle church systems and the misuse of Christendom’s privilege and power,” Bick and Schuurman point out. “It’s a chance to remove broken theology, sin-riddled structures, corrupt institutions, commodified faith, and unrealistic expectations for Christian community before everything rots or, worse, is set ablaze. It is the beginning of a grand renovation.”

We’re due for this renovation – for the sake of God’s people. As Bick and Schuurman write, “Christians need different ways of understanding belief, behaviour, and their sense of belonging.” To discover those ways they invite us to, “Consider this book as… [an] opportunity for a spiritual audit.”

As one who has now been audited by this book, I highly recommend the process. I feel undone with purpose, and that has been a blessing that I can continue to carry with me.

Bick and Schuurman remind me that, “Deconstruction brings us to the end of ourselves, if it is thorough enough. Everything can be deconstructed. Everything that is human, at least. And everything that is human needs deconstruction in some season, including the Church and certainly our broken selves.” They also offer this encouragement: “At the point where you exhaust yourself, your ingenuity, your need to control, your perky optimism, you find a longing for something else. Someone else. Reconstruction ensues.”

In a time of great hubris and polarization, this is a re-formation we can all use.

Note: This review was assigned, edited and published by CC‘s Review Editor. Despite their proximity to CC, the authors Angela and Peter did not see the review before publication.