With the publication of Faith Beyond Belief: Stories of Good People Who Left Their Church Behind, Margaret Placentra Johnston is embarking on her third career*. A practicing optometrist, she has been helping people see better in the physical world for the last thirty years. Now she writes to help people see more clearly in other ways. Captivated by the depth and beauty of the universal worldview described by various spiritual development theorists, Margaret found ten regular, real life people whose stories could show us steps on the way to that worldview. Her book, Faith Beyond Belief, is the result of that search. Margaret 's blog can be found at Patheos: www.patheos.com/blogs/faithbeyondbelief.
A set of questions for discussion groups, and other information about the book can be found at FaithBeyondBelief-book.com.
*high school French teacher, then Optometrist, now author.
What brings people to leave their church, the traditions of their
faith - and sometimes even their friends and family members - to
embark on a personal journey of spiritual discovery? Can we be good
without the rules of a church to guide us? And is it still possible
to find a spiritual home within a church whose creeds and practices
we may have outgrown? In Faith Beyond Belief, an ex-Mormon, a
Muslim apostate, and several former Catholics (including the author
herself) are among those who tackle these issues, sharing stories
to inform and comfort the ever-increasing numbers of Americans who
are leaving their church behind.
Margaret Placentra Johnston takes the stages of spiritual growth
out of the realm of theory to a rubber-meets-the-road discussion of
the very real difficulties, and the joys, experienced by former
believers as they navigate critical turning points on the path to
spiritual authenticity. Based on the work of 14 spiritual
development theorists, including the postmodern philosopher Ken
Wilber, Johnston's book shows how moving through the stages of
spiritual growth must, by its very nature, include a turning away
from the dogmas and creeds of organized religion to something much
more experiential, inclusive, and liberating.Johnston's warm,
conversational, and sometimes confrontational book shares her
vision for the future of religion and gives even those who do not
have a background in theology or philosophy a way to locate their
place on the spiritual path and set their sights on a new kind of
faith.
Rather than keep its adherents mired in childish myths, the
religion of the future will lead its members toward the more fluid
form of faith that can develop beyond belief, she writes. The
religion of the future will be Love.
--Spirituality & Health
-- "Reviews"
In approaching this book to review, I thought the personal stories
would drive my commentary. Instead, I found myself intently
interested in the organizing rubric Johnston built around the
commonalities between them. Her line of inquiry leads her to
investigate theories of spiritual development as they have been
proposed by such divergent personalities as James Fowler, Saint
Teresa of Avila and Adolphe Tanquerey. Johnston attempts to
integrate the various theories into an accessible sequence for the
average reader. She labels these the Lawless Stage, the Faithful
Stage, the Rational Stage, and the Mystic Stage. Johnston's
discussions of the spiritual stages and their implications were
thought-provoking and I turned down a number of page corners,
especially in the second half of the book. I am looking forward to
considering these more deeply as a part of my own spiritual study.
There is a part of me, however, that is concerned some may see the
hierarchical nature of the stages to be parochial in their
insistence that individuals must pass through a period of
questioning prior to becoming spiritually advanced. Those who
remain in the religion of their birth may presume that Johnston is
insulting their faithful constancy, though Johnston does state that
leaving the religion of one's birth is not endemic to the process.
According to an October 14, 2012 Pew Report, 16.1% of Americans
have no religious affiliation. Yet 70% of those believe in God. In
this context, it is difficult to see the trend toward personal
rather than dogmatic faith as step backward in our moral center.
Regardless of your position on this matter, however, Faith Beyond
Belief provides a framework allowing those without a strong
academic background in philosophy to participate in the discussion.
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Blogcritics.org
-- "Reviews"
In this thought-provoking first book, former optometrist Johnston,
who has studied spiritual development, allies herself with the
beyond religion movement, in which nonbelievers or those who are
post-organized religion advance toward spiritual maturity through
emotional intelligence, psychology, ethics, and critical thinking
outside of traditional religious structures and belief systems.
Interweaving personal stories from Catholics, a Mormon, a Muslim,
Protestants, and others with accumulated core insights from human
development experts, including Abraham Maslow, Lawrence Kohlberg,
Gordon Allport, and James Fowler, Johnston identifies five stages
of deconversion and spiritual growth: Lawless, Faithful, Rational,
Rational Plus, and Mystic. Understanding this natural movement,
indicates Johnston, may shift the expanding spiritual, but not
religious demographic toward more satisfying spiritual depths.
Describing many religious institutions as exclusionist,
ethnocentric, judgmental, and triumphalist, Johnston maps a future
for religion that is post-critical, heterodox, mystery-centered,
and teaches moral reasoning rather than doctrinal adherence.
Building on what psychiatrist M. Scott Peck's The Road Less
Traveled (1978) and People of the Lie (1983) did for a segment of
Protestantism in the 1980s, Johnston may provide similar direction
for the postmodern meaning-starved spiritual seekers who are
becoming adults in what philosopher Curtis Carter has termed a
transreligious world. Agent: Lisa Hagan. (Oct.)Reviewed on:
08/13/2012
--Publishers Weekly
-- "Reviews"
Margaret Placentra Johnston's Faith Beyond Belief gives us a good
way to know the experience of those who have rejected their own
church, but who are nevertheless engaged in a spiritual search
beyond the conventional language and categories that left them
feelinng empty and could not engage them. As such, it is an
excellent way to get a feel for what the issues are and the way
they are experienced by a growing segment of American society who
are 'spiritual but not religious.' You can feel the difference in
the openness, the inquiring mind, the caring soul that this book
unveils.
--Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing
and Transformation and The Left Hand of God-- "Reviews"
What happens to the spiritual lives of people who leave the
traditional Christian churches of their childhood? I'm one of those
people, and so is the author of this book. She was curious enough
about the question to begin researching it. Writing as neither a
scholar nor a member of a religious community, she is free to
notate her findings without restraint. The result is an honest look
at spirituality without religious affiliation. She shares her own
story as well as stories from a diverse group of individuals. There
is no one answer to her question, but there are similarities in
what she discovered. For ease of understanding, she has organized
the answers using four broadly-defined spiritual stages: Lawless,
Faithful, Rational, and Mystic. She thought long and hard about the
ramifications of putting her thoughts on public display, but having
left a thirty-year career as an Optometrist in order to study the
topic, she ultimately decided it was time to begin the discussion.
In a world where religion is becoming increasingly divisive, and is
often used as a political weapon, many of your customers are asking
the same question that Johnston did. Her book will not only provide
much-needed insight, it can also serve as a guidebook for
empowering individual spiritual growth. It is a different kind of
Good News.
--Anna Jedrziewski, Retailing Insight
-- "Reviews"
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