Rethinking God: Undoing the Damage

DR. MUNGER CHALLENGES READERS TO RETHINK THEIR CONCEPT OF GOD.

After twenty years of focused overseas, an American missionary looks home.

Dr.Scott Munger applies to his own people, especially to fellow evangelicals, his experience in culture, language, and the Bible. Their often distorted picture of God saddens him. The loving One who woos humanity, the sovereign One who chooses to risk and be wounded, is wrongly perceived on both sides of a growing cultural rift. God is often seen as an omnipotent egotist and angry legalist, brooding plotter, agent of hucksters and buffoons, an irksome meddler. His image, dark and contorted, is becoming increasingly unlovable. We who claim to follow Him do much harm-His "name is blasphemed among the Gentiles" because of us (Romans 2:24).

Rethinking God: Undoing the Damage transcends the cultural divide by exposing common distortions of the great, grieving lover. The book starts by establishing the nature and validity of faith. Firsthand stories from the former USSR vividly portray atheism as the foil. Later, key areas are introduced that most often damage God's reputation: church leaderships, practice, and political involvement; distorted theology; the problem of evil; the fate of people who never hear the gospel; and our understanding of Jesus, Ultimately, Dr. Munger challenges Christians to sift their unquestioned assumptions, and he gives honest reason and courage to look again at the beauty of humanity's source and only hope.

DR. SCOTT MUNGER  is a former agnostic who came to faith in God. He trained in both science and the humanities (Ph.D., Linguistics, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands). He has lived and worked in a rough-and-tumble world, from the guerilla-tracked Philippine rain forest to the concrete jungle of the collapsing Soviet Union. Dr. Munger has served as missionary, consultant, Bible translator, church leader, teacher, and administrator. He has taught (university, seminary, and church) in three languages. An avowed Evangelical, Scott is a retired member of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and a former Vice President of International Bible Society. He has discussed religious issues on radio, CNN, and Fox News.