Forgiving Judas: Manifesto for a New Christianity
From the Back Cover
In this critical assessment of the modern day Church, William Harmening deconstructs many of its longest held beliefs and practices against the backdrop of our contemporary social milieu. He approaches the subject head-on, peeling away the layers of archaic dogma to rediscover the core teachings of Jesus that have been lost through the centuries in the fog of institutionalized religion and ceremonial worship. No area of the modern Church escapes his critique; the clergy, the Bible, the structure and practice of the Church; and even our popular conceptions of the Holy Trinity. He ends with a final chapter in which he offers a new model for a new kind of Church; one that is socially relevant, passionately ecumenical, and empowered by the simple message of love and tolerance found in the story of the Cross. Not since the writings of the radical theologians who came to the forefront during the 1960s has such an honest and thought-provoking critique of the contemporary Church been offered. __________________________________________________ Table of Contents
I. Lucidity II. The Divine Cast III. The Bible IV. The Clergy V. The Church VI. A New Paradigm __________________________________________________ Excerpt from Chapter 1 “So how do we relate the Judas story to the modern day Church? I would argue that his act of betrayal, as chronicled by the New Testament writers, is the single most toxic event in the New Testament; toxic in the sense that the Judas narrative provides a microcosmic glimpse of a young church already drawing a venomous line in the sand, and in the process failing in its first opportunity to put into practice the very teachings upon which this new way of life and spirituality were to be based. You see the great lesson of the Judas narrative is to be found not in his betrayal, as the modern Church has rather obsessively kept at the forefront of its teaching, but rather in the one thing that is strangely absent from the saga; an apparent lack of forgiveness on the part of the disciples. Judas’ unthinkable act, the Crucifixion, and the miraculous resurrection and ascension are presented so dramatically by the Gospel writers that the reaction of the other disciples to Judas easily goes unnoticed, as the reader becomes absorbed in the whirlwind of events that take place from the time of Jesus’ death to the gathering of the disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem some fifty days later.” |
Books by William HarmeningAcademic Psychology
Closing the Gap: The Adolescent Search for Self
A text about the role of adolescent identity formation in personality development, particularly as it relates to juvenile delinquency. I am just beginning this text for Charles C. Thomas Publishers. When the Levee Breaks: Crisis Intervention in the Criminal Justice System
A new textbook I am midway through for Pearson Prentice Hall. I was recruited to write this one. Expected release date in mid-2011. The Criminal Triad: Psychosocial Development of the Criminal Personality Type
An integrated theory of criminality that looks at the developmental processes leading to deviant behavior. Published by Charles C. Thomas. Theology
Forgiving Judas: Manifesto for a New Christianity
A critical assessment of the modern day Christian Church. Mystery at Corinth: Seeking a Jewish Answer to a Christian Mystery
A new interpretation of an ancient mystery. Juvenile Fiction
The Misadventures of Salem Jack & Finnigan Reeves
A story of friendship, loyalty, and of young boys growing into men. Autobiographical/ Humor
In the Belly of a Whale: Tales of a Reluctant Christian
Seeking spiritual identity in a small Illinois town during the 1960s-70s. |
