Finding faith in our secular, postmodern world can be difficult. Especially when it appears that the two are mutually exclusive. That's what Dave Schmelzer thought when he was an atheist. However, he did come to faith and now leads a large church in Boston, MA. In the tradition of C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity", "Not the Religious Type" explores the reality of faith in a postmodern world, and suggests a new, unexpected way of seeing the world and our place in it.
As an atheist, Dave Schmelzer never thought of himself as the religious type--and he still doesn’t, even though he now believes in God and leads a large Boston church in the shadow of some of the nation’s most impressive universities. Religion is usually about rules and codes, about "being good," about what will get you embraced and what will get you shunned. But God, according to Dave, is all about how you can become a closer friend with him, with others, and with yourself.
In the tradition of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity and G. K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy comes this illuminating collection of thoughts on faith in a postmodern world. Not the Religious Type bridges the gap between the two communities in which many of us live--the secular and the religious--and suggests a new, unexpected way of seeing the world and our place in it.
Whether we’re the religious type or not, there’s a certain part of each of us that invariably wonders if it’s true--if there’s a God we can connect with who is alive and active, with the kind of perspective on our lives and futures that we could never have on our own.
As Dave engagingly explores these most important questions, he invites his readers into "a new and warmer spring," a way of thinking that will help both secularists who never imagined they would become people of faith and also people of faith who perhaps haven’t experienced all from God that they’ve hoped.
The title of this book is misleading since it characterizes the author, pastor of a Boston-area Pentecostal church, as an ex-atheist. But as Schmelzer recounts in the book, his atheism was a teen phase, and adolescent explorations are generally not cited on one's intellectual résumé. The title also sets the reader up to expect some apologetic rejoinder to trendy bestselling polemical atheists. This book, however, is much broader (and better) than that, and almost antipolemical. Schmelzer has a disarmingly low-key way with words, a refreshing change from the fighting terms so often employed in battles over religious truth . His self-deprecating tone is persuasive even while he makes bold statements about the power of faith. He asserts, for example, that prayer can bring about physical healing, a statement he backs with evidence from his own family and a few other instances. Yet he's honest enough to admit he has no answer to the question of why God permits suffering. Schmelzer's mild-mannered theological humility is winning. (July) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.
Praise for Not the Religious Type “With prose as warm and conversational as an old friend just trying to share some good news, former atheist Dave Schmelzer does an admirable job here of encouraging us to look at the possibility of a life rooted in the mystical, a life where a faith in Jesus is not restrictive but freeing. As someone who could well be called an unbeliever, I find this book to shine with the kind of non-judgment that might, just might, get me to consider much of what Dave Schmelzer gracefully argues here.”--Andre Dubus III
Author of House of Sand and Fog
“Dave Schmelzer is not the religious type, but his spirituality rings with the kind of authenticity many of us are seeking. Not only that, but he’s a delightful writer, evoking the work of Anne Lamott (without the cussing) and Donald Miller.”--Brian D. McLaren
Author and activist
“In the combined clarity and sophistication of his message, Dave Schmelzer has become very much an American C. S. Lewis. It is hard to overstate the potential of his work.”--Gregory Crane
Professor of classics, Tufts University
“Disarming and provocative . . . a wonderfully unique perspective on faith, filled with hope, possibility, and encouragement.”--Trish Ryan
Author of He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
“Wow. As fun, smart, and refreshing as he is in person. Dave Schmelzer delights us while igniting passion to experience God—here and now.”--Kelly Monroe Kullberg
Founder of the Veritas Forum and author of Finding God beyond Harvard
“I was one of those who didn’t see myself as the religious type, who sought the Truth, who wanted life to matter, but who stayed as far away as possible from prepackaged Christianity. . . . Dave encourages us that as long as we’re moving toward God, in the best and worst of times, when we don’t have all the answers, we will have access to an infinity of good things.”--Sue Brown, Ph.D.
Resident dean of freshmen, Harvard College
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