When I became a Christian in 2005, the emerging movement was near its peak. This diverse group of church leaders, writers, and provocateurs embraced a new type of Christianity suited to the postmodern mindset. I didn’t see the call, but many who grew up in the Church did.
An entire cottage industry has grown up around the movement’s most prominent voices, with book deals and speaking tours to help them share their “bold vision” with the world. Through skillfully employed rhetorical questions, they eroded the foundations of their listeners’ faith. Many of these same voices abandoned their own faith along the way.
Today’s conversation about deconstruction feels like a repeat of those heady days of the early 2000s, but now we have TikTok influencers and deconstruction coaches willing to guide people through the process for a fee. Although there are similarities between the emergent movement and deconstruction, there are substantial differences. The goal of the Emergent movement was to reinvent Christianity; the goal of deconstruction is its repudiation.
Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett understand this distinction. They have experimented as they marched alongside those who deconstruct, those who are pushed to do so, and those who pick up the pieces in the aftermath of deconstruction. In The deconstruction of Christianity: what it is, why it is destructive and how to respondthey seek to describe what deconstruction is and help believers respond to those whose hearts tend to wander.
The deconstruction of Christianity: what it is, why it is destructive and how to respond
Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett
The deconstruction of Christianity: what it is, why it is destructive and how to respond
Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett
Tyndale Elevation. 304 pages.
A movement called “deconstruction” is sweeping our churches and affecting our loved ones. It has disrupted, dismantled, and destroyed the faith of so many, and this book can help you not only understand what is happening, but also how to stand your ground and respond with clarity and confidence.
Some who leave the faith feel hurt by the Church. Others feel repressed by certain moral imperatives found in Scripture. For some, this leads to a tailor-made spirituality. For others, deconstructing their faith moves them away from the truth towards agnosticism, atheism, the occult or humanism.
Tyndale Elevation. 304 pages.
Shared definitions
Some use the term “deconstruction” as a synonym for “apostasy,” the rejection of historical orthodoxy. Others approach it as a synonym for “refinement” or “reform”, adding a modifier like “good” or “bad” depending on the outcome. The latter approach is much closer to how Childers, an apologist and former CCM artist, used the word in her previous book: Another gospel? There, she used it to describe the doubts and questions she experienced under the teaching of a progressive pastor – doubts and questions that led her to find answers in the Bible. Childers has rejected since this use of “deconstruction” because it can lead people with honest questions down the rabbit hole of social media animosity toward the historic Christian faith.
Stand to Reason advocate Tim Barnett joins Childers in offering a third definition, arguing that deconstruction is “a postmodern process of rethinking your faith without considering Scripture as a standard” (26). Defining it as a process and not just an event is absolutely right. This creates clarity about the who, what, and how of deconstruction, but avoids creating a hostile environment that could alienate deconstructors. This leaves room for discussion.
Key to the definition is the rejection of Scripture as the primary source of authority. Deconstruction replaces the authority of the Bible with personal experience, which collides with all historical Christian tradition. But for many deconstructors, historical orthodoxy and biblical authority, as they understand them, are the problem. Doctrine is harmful or “toxic,” an instrument of power and control instead of a guide to truth (144). Using the Bible as the arbiter of truth is the source of the problem for deconstructors, especially if they have experience using Scripture as a weapon against dissent. They argue that doctrine and biblical authority are means of silence CONTESTATION.
Here’s the irony: Many deconstructors will denounce evangelicals as dogmatic fundamentalists who leave no room for disagreement. But many deconstructors are just as dogmatic as those they reject. They have only reoriented their dogmatism, with orthodoxy taking the role of heresy. When the Bible is no longer the standard of faith, personal autonomy takes its place – and no one can say otherwise.
Underlying crises
If deconstruction is a process, how does it begin? Often with a personal crisis. The authors write: “If deconstruction is the explosion, crisis is the fuse that blows it” – for example, the sudden loss of a loved one, Christians treating any expression of doubt with hostility, or sexual abuse or spiritual within the Church. (79). These are all real issues experienced by real people that get to the heart of the problem. credibility crisis of the Church.
Many deconstructors are just as dogmatic as those they reject. They have only reoriented their dogmatism, with orthodoxy taking the role of heresy.
A common theme is that deconstruction begins as a reaction to the political idolatry of conservative Christians, which a flood of books continues to highlight. Although an equal opportunity sin, political conservatism is most often the subject of criticism.
Childers and Barnett note that there is “real pain and confusion about the political atmosphere within the Church” (88), which significantly underestimates the problem in some cases. But he also recognizes that there are cases where politics is used as an excuse for a process already underway. As one deconstructed pastor wrote: “Before I switched (my congregation) to progressivism, I just wanted to plunge them into the throes of deconstruction” (72).
The authors do not defensively dismiss the deconstructors’ accusations against Christianity, nor do they accept them unreservedly. Their approach is to condemn unchristian behavior and question assumptions in light of Scripture. Although some will not be satisfied with this approach, there is some wisdom in it. Childers and Barnett speak to a wide range of readers, some of whom are likely plagued by doubt and others who misinterpret righteous anger over the sins of the Church as cultural capitulation. Overall, the authors do a good job of balancing things out.
Responding to deconstruction
The deconstruction of Christianity shines in presenting advice to those who care for people leaving the faith. Repeatedly, the authors challenge us to embrace questions, to be the kind of people with whom it is safe to share questions and express doubts. But we must also learn to respond effectively to these doubts. They write,
Thoughtful questions demand thoughtful answers. When we respond with incomplete or sketchy answers, we communicate that we don’t take the questions seriously or, worse yet, that we simply don’t have good answers. Wrong answers silence sincere questions. (209)
We must be willing to invest in exploring the answers with the person asking the question. “I don’t know” can be a great answer on its own, especially when followed by “What if we explored this together?” »
They recognize that walking alongside deconstructors can be difficult, and they offer necessary advice: pray, stay engaged, evaluate your role in raising awareness, and set boundaries on interactions. This process is wise, but it does not guarantee a positive outcome. Childers describes going through this process with a friend who has not yet come back to faith. “Each deconstruction is unique,” the authors remind us, so we must “ask God for wisdom and surround (ourselves) with wise and pious Christians” who can encourage us in our help to others (240).
Deconstruction is not inevitable
The most important takeaway from the book is that “behind every deconstruction is a very real person with a complex web of wounds, desires, triggers, foundations, and experiences. Everyone is seen and loved by God” (178). No one is a lost cause. Deconstruction is not inevitable.
We must be willing to invest in exploring the answers with the person asking the question. “I don’t know” can be a great answer on its own, especially when followed by “What if we explored this together?” »
Childers is proof. Instead of walking away from her faith, she leaned in and found the answers she sought not outside of faith but within it – the answers that are life-giving. And although she has said elsewhere that she walks with a limp, she still walks.
Many things can cause people to abandon Jesus. But Jesus does not abandon people. He loves them. This is one of the beautiful realities of the Gospel. Jesus, God the Son, entered this world, adding humanity to His divinity, pursuing the lost, broken, weary, and heavily laden (Matthew 11:28). He has set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18). He died for the helpless so that they might have life in him (Rom. 5:6-11). If Christ did all this and more, if he did not abandon people, then how can we do it?
This book is a helpful resource for pastors, youth leaders, and parents. It reminds us that because deconstruction is not the end of a person’s story, we should not treat them that way. We must continue to show people Jesus as the One who gave everything for them and love them as Jesus does. In doing so, it can lead to a beautiful picture of spiritual renewal.
