A review by drbobcornwall
After Doubt: How to Question Your Faith Without Losing It by A.J. Swoboda

2.0

For many people who grow up in church, they experience a time of deconstruction and doubt. That is, they begin to question the received tradition. It often happens during college. The question is, will there be reconstruction. What the author seeks to do is offer a path beyond deconstruction to reconstruction.

So, why my rather low rating? While the author wants to offer a path between conservative evangelicalism and mainline/progressive Protestantism. What he offers might not be Trumpified Christian nationalism, but it's still conservative evangelicalism without the nationalism. it's biblical inerrancy, traditional sexuality (though more open on women), Jesus the only way to salvation.

Now, on a personal level, the author was recently hired to teach at my alma mater, which presents some concerns to me -- especially since traditionally the college/university has tried to walk a fine line between mainline and non-mainline Protestants within the larger Stone-Campbell Movement. The author is not from our tradition, which is fine, but I'm not sure he understands the ethos of the school at least as it was understood in the past. So, I wasn't thrilled with the disparaging message about mainline Protestantism.