Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Saying No To God , new book by Matthew Korpman

No Fear, No Trembling.











Korpman walks beyond Kierkegaard's leap.
He asks: can one say no to God and answers - Yes, sometimes it must be yes. 

This book is a loud No to fundamentalism, it is a radical step away from literalism and bibliolatry.
Not since Desmond Ford has an academic with a seventh day Adventist background set such a
challenge to his home church. There are implications for broader christianty, potentially for other
theisms also.

The lens used to view the bible is good first, god second.
Cherry picking yet in practical terms done in a good way. There's a loud no to texts saying god says
slaughter the neighboring tribes, huge no to homophobia, nay to misogyny, slams patriarchy etc.

Tools are provided for dissecting “difficult texts”, there's a great selection of specific ones highlighted 
(atheists and non Christians might have a field day with these as gotchas) but there is an override
provided; ie if its not good then don't do it. 

The book’s single most powerful idea (distilled into the title) is to be able to say no, to say no in a good
way, to not be a slave to ancient ideas. 

It remains to be seen if this leads to more open minded Christians, hopefully less fundamentalist ones,
who knows, maybe some ex Christians eventually? 

Written for a christian audience it does not question whether or not a god exists. Atheists could simply
say, take it one step further: Saying “No God”.

Influenced by Rob Bell and Peter Rollins yet goes beyond them. Less fluff , more substance. 



Disclosure, I am an ex seventh day Adventist.  
Thanks to the author for bravely providing this loud atheist an advance copy to review. 
Peter Veitch the Postatheist Nurse and admin of Sdafightclub facebook group
available from quoir at Saying no to god or amazon and other booksellers