Questions make new worlds possible, asserts author Dark (The Gospel According to America), a key premise in this thought-provoking meander of reflections on, and challenges for, living an engaged life of authentic Christianity. The well-read author draws insight and inspiration from a broad range of sources — Shakespeare, Ursula Le Guin, Johnny Cash and James Joyce — in calling into question the status quo, received history and conventional theology. Dark brings to his writing the kind of energy, offbeat enthusiasm and commitment to relevance that must make his high school English classes exciting places for inquiry and exploration. That each page yokes keen observation to practical application with wisdom and compassion inclines the reader to forgive the book’s bewildering organization and abstruse section headings. Questions for further conversation at the end of each chapter will be useful for groups eager to put Dark’s appeals into action. The author’s passion for social justice, clarity about the sacred obligation of taking nothing at face value and confidence that unsettling questions yield rich rewards for both individuals and communities is convincing and moving. ~ Publishers Weekly

Table of Contents

• • 1 Never What You Have in Mind: Questioning God   9
  • 2 The Unbearable Lightness of Being Brainwashed: Questioning Religion   27
  • 3 Everybody to the Limit: Questioning Our Offendedness   47
  • 4 Spot the Pervert: Questioning Our Passions   69
  • 5 The Power of the Put-On: Questioning Media   95
  • 6 The Word, the Line, the Way: Questioning Our Language   121
  • 7 Survival of the Freshest: Questioning Interpretations   141
  • 8 The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere: Questioning History   171
  • 9 We Do What We’re Told: Questioning Governments   189
  • 10 Sincerity as Far as the Eye Can See: Questioning the Future   217
  • End Note That Means to Signal a World without End   245
  • Notes   249
  • Acknowledgments   263