A progressive Christianity reading list

Thursday 9th August 2018

PCN Britain has resisted publishing a list of essential progressive Christian reading. But our partner organisation in the USA has come up with one, and we are happy to pass it on

PCN Britain sometimes gets asked to suggest some book titles that a relative newcomer to progressive thinking might like to read. So we were very interested when ProgressiveChristianity.org in America came up with just such a list recently. We can recommend all these books. Don't expect them to coincide in their theology. (But then PCN members don't all coincide in their theology either!). There is a preponderance of American authors, but that might well be true of any list that we had prepared too.

ProgressiveChristianity.org writes:

A good place to start is a book by Paul Alan Laughlin with Glenna S. Jackson, Remedial Christianity: What Every Believer Should Know About the Faith but Probably Doesn’t (Polebridge Press). Although this book is ten years old, it is still one of the best books on raising the important questions about Christianity.

Here's what one reviewer wrote: Frustrated that his college students thought they understood Christianity because of dim memories of superficial platitudes from Sunday school, Laughlin wrote this book as an introductory text on Christianity. As an added bonus, it features cartoons and is often downright hilarious. I adore this book. Guaranteed to offend all traditional and mainstream Christians.

Other Book suggestions:

The Bible

• Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, John Shelby Spong

Jesus

• The Historical Jesus for Beginners, William M. Linden (2008)

God

• A History of God, Karen Armstrong
• God: The Evidence: The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World, Patrick Glynn (1997)
• With or Without God, Gretta Vosper

A New (or rediscovered) Christianity

• Beyond Belief, Elaine Pagels

What book would you add? Give your suggestions in the comment column below