How to Be an Open-Minded Christian Without Losing Your Faith

by Jan Linn

In a moderate voice, Linn examines core beliefs about the Bible, Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit that we can believe in and share with others without claiming to know all the truth there is.

Genres: Christian, Faith

132 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2002

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brillant. Though i had a few disagreements for the most part this book really is transformative and a must read for Christians, non- Christians and former Christians on a spiritual quest toward a lasting peace in ourselves and our world.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to what someone gravitating to a more liberal understanding of Christianity might believe about some core and contemporary issues. Chapters cover what you can believe about: the Bible, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, "moral questions" (e.g. abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, and others), and other religions. In providing an affirmative, strong-faith based approach to such questions that someone raised in or more familiar with a more conservative Christianity might be asking this book could be useful.

There does seem to be an unacknowledged basic disconnect in describing what an "open-minded Christian" can or should believe. While most liberals would agree with much of what he suggests as appropriate beliefs, the very idea of telling an "open-minded" Christian what they can or cannot believe feels a bit legalistic and contrary to the very spirit of being "open-minded." An open acknowledgment of this tension and some time spent wrestling with it in addition to the present chapters would have greatly helped this book in my opinion.

[Matt Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh . . some good things about this book, but my main opinion is that the author doesn't really have a ton of authority behind him to write this type of book . . no degrees, no national platform, etc. . . he's not a "biblical scholar" etc. . . and he leans really heavily on a few key thinkers: NT Wright, etc. . . not that i blame him for the Wright, but that's not a way to get people to totally buy a book that constantly proclaims what you "can" believe . . in any case, i felt he leaned too far on some issues . . he appears to be a pretty unabashed universalist, for instance . . and issues like that deserve more than small sections of chapters in an already pretty short book . . interesting in parts and well-intentioned i think, but be leery . .

[Robert D. Cornwall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this several years ago. Jan Lin is a Disciples of Christ pastor, now retired, I believe. He has a strong sense of evangelism and offers this as a way into the conversation.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this guardedly, but it turned out I could be generous with the author--and myself. There were some things we could agree on, even with the dubious cover art.