Perhaps Krista Tippett, of “Speaking of Faith” fits in well here, http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/ and though I haven’t read her recent book, I think her faith journey has been on the surface similar to Falsani’s.
I’ve been thinking about this myself, and appreciate your explanation here. Helpful for me to think further through it, and makes good sense. I would guess or think that in the end one has a stronger faith, even though gentler.

Scot,
Your observations on suspending or bracketing faith are heavy – but important. Perhaps this practice impacts more of us (not just religion writers) more than we would care to realize or acknowledge. Interesting …

The book sounds very good.
As a former religion reporter, I would say what shook my faith was not getting in the skins of other religion–that actually helped me understand what makes my faith distinct and to understand that there’s really more of divide between faith and secularism than any two people who deeply and sincerely hold a faith–but meeting a lot of “cracked eikons” in positions of high clerical authority. There’s nothing like being screamed at by a clergy red with fury that you “can’t write that article because I forbid it!!” to the story on the clergy who embezzled $40,000 from the church charity fund to make you start wondering to lunch with the clergy who is living a tad too comfortably whilst talking about how hard it is too maintain two homes on a mere $100,000 a year salary …. and you start asking yourself: is there any true faith left or is it just a big racket? On the other side, it’s good to be de-mystified and to realize people are people. And that God works with what he has and does good things with us anyway.

yes, I agree with Diane. I think that it may be a good thing to deconstruct one’s religion … and encounter the personal living Truth in Jesus more deeply.
I just finished reading McDermott’s book, “God’s Rivals” after reading you overviews in this blog. I found his perspective helped me to appreciate the “seeds of the logos” that are scattered in other religions without having to cast them in black or white or “good or bad” categories.

josenmiami,
I read McDermott’s book this summer as well, and found it to be quite good and quite useful.

RJS: I have really appreciated Scot’s review of books in this forum … it is like a graduate degree in religion and theology for me. I read through the series on McDermott and then ordered the book, and also read the review of Tiessen in here, and I am about 1/3 of the way through it.
I had been arguing with some of my ministry friends for a form of soft, ?C.S. Lewis-style? inclusivism for while and they were suspecting me of heresy in not enthusiastically endorsing what Tiessen calls an ?ecclesiocentric? view of salvation. It has been very helpful to read through both books and find support for a broader (and still Christ-centered) approach for salvation in the early Greek fathers and in many current theologians. I find that it helps me in my outreach to secular people on the university campus to not make assumptions that they are lost, but rather to respectfully look for the ?seeds of the logos? in their own minds and heart and to encourage the measure of faith that they already have, while encouraging them to consider Christ more deeply.

Scot,
I smell some reactions coming from those who will not or cannot understand the phrase “…those experiences soften their convictions…” I think you introduce a grand if not mysterious reality affirmed by Diane’s comments (#3) that we can have granite convictions that are *relationally soft.* This reality is not “compromise” or “relativism” but the grace of God at work in us as human beings. There seem to be the “grace-grinders” (where did I get that term?) who believe that if we hold to granite convictions we then have to be relationally idiotic. I see this even within our own traditions when Christian fundamentalists have a knee-jerk, almost panic attack response to anything emergent/ emerging.

Religion newswriters … are required to tell stories of various faiths, suspending judgment often, to get into the skin of what others think and believe. I often wonder how religion writers can believe.
I can see how you might think that spending so much time around other religions could make Christian exclusivism hard. Beyond that, though, I don’t see why it would be a problem. I’ve studied Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Shinto, and Confucianism and didn’t find it caused me any problems in my beliefs. In some ways, considering other religions can strengthen yours because it causes you to think about about your own faith more than you might otherwise.
As for reporters, when non-religious people write about religion, it shows. It’s almost like they’re describing the nesting behavior of the red-bellied sapsucker or some such; it’s obviously so foreign to them. Religious people are more sympathetic to the idea of devout religious practice, even when they don’t share a particular belief.
I see this in everyday life, too. I’m far more sympathetic to my coworkers who are Hindu vegetarians or are observing Ramadan etc, even though I think those religions are false, than my multicultural Christmas-and-Easter-Christian coworkers.

ChrisB,
I’m not so sure this is a matter of studying other religions as learning to write about them in non-judgmental ways. There’s a big difference, I’m suggesting.
My view is this: bracketing has its impact.

Scot,
I find that I suspend or bracket faith quite often – and I agree that this has an effect on faith. Do you think the impact is positive or negative?

Can you “suspend” or “bracket” your faith and still adhere to the Jesus Creed?

Can you adhere to the Jesus Creed without bracketing your faith?

I’m at the Wheaton College library today reading, so I won’t be online as much but …
RJS: I think bracketing does permit us, so far as we are able — and scientists tend to have more confidence in this — to be objective about ourselves and our faith.
But, bracketing teaches us to think apart from our faith and that, in and of itself, is not good. My sense is that bracketing does more damage than it does good.
On “bracketing” and Jesus Creed … two questions at once and I’m not quite sure the point. Can one “adhere”? Yes, to be sure. One wonders though if that adherence is eroded by bracketing.

I wonder if it is possible to “bracket” the Christian religion without bracketing the person of Jesus?
Because I studied Catholicism in the 1960s in Brazil and Colombia, i think I developed a tendency to bracket both Catholicism and my own evangelicaiism … and my contact with a diverse group of graduate students with a diverse set of religious faiths has caused me to try to be ‘objective’ and to see their views through their eyes (again, McDermott helped me on this)
but I don’t think I have attempted to ‘bracket’ my committment to follow and trust Christ … he is still my foundation and the center of gravity for my life.

Perhaps I misunderstand what is meant by “bracketing,” but — having never been a religion reporter — I can’t see why you can’t do the job well without compartmentalizing anything.
I can be sympathetic to people of other religions, recognize the beauty of their ceremonies, and acknowledge the truth of some of their teachings without giving up anything in Christianity. Don’t we see Paul do this a few times in the NT?
If you do set aside your own beliefs when you meet another faith, I don’t see how you can be loving God with your mind.

It just seems that bracketing or suspending one’s faith is somewhat antithetical to the idea of walking with God and loving Him “with all our…..”. It also seems to downplay of idea of being a new creation, missional, and incarnational.
Will the Holy Spirit still lead us in appreciating and understanding the views and faith of others, without us intentionally putting our faith on hold/setting our relationship to God aside?
Do we stop “abiding” in Christ when we “suspend” our faith?

In “Deconstructing Evangelicalism” Hart suggests that the refusal to ever bracket faith leads to anti-intellectualism. He uses the example of a Christian university that requires students to sign a statement of faith… and how ultimatley that can mean “You’re not allowed to question anything in this statement very seriously.” And thus, the statement is dead in the sense that it is only be memorized and signed-off on, without anything new springing forth from it.

I think it depends on how we view “faith”. If it’s like a commodity, or a “thing” we somehow “get”, then there is the possibility we can “lose” it or “think apart from it”. But if we view it more as Trust, or a “condition” into which we enter, then I think we can still bracket some things, anyhow, without thinking apart from our faith, trusting Jesus even more than our cogitations and remain safely in him. Trust does not have to be suspended at all. I think this is how Paul, for example, had to do it to make sense of Jesus and his work within the Jewish framework.
I would wonder, Scot, if this kind of “bracketing” without suspension of trust is a feature of the experience of many of the converts and their stories that you have studied?
Dana

I have probably done more “bracketing” than is good for me in the course of many years in both the secular University and the evangelical church. And suspending or bracketing off what I really think or the questions I really have goes on in both venues. The result has likely been primarily, but not entirely, negative. To objectively consider the faith is a good thing, to understand how others think is a good thing ? to live in different isolated, not entirely compatible worlds is not always healthy.
Jennifer ? I am not sure that the impact of faith statements is quite so negative for students, excepting the very conservative restrictive covenants. The impact on faculty can be devastating ? and the consequence of a rupture is loss of community, position, and livelihood. Bracketing to conform to a statement of faith is at least as destructive to faith as bracketing for a religious reporter or in another secular work environment.

Jennifer #17-
“In ?Deconstructing Evangelicalism? Hart suggests that the refusal to ever bracket faith leads to anti-intellectualism.”
I can see how that is possible, but it does not have to be inevitable.

thank you, brother. this is beautiful, inspiring and great food for thought.
many blessings and audacious grace,
cath

Wouldn’t it be more helpful to simply talk about faith in a God of love than “bracketing” one’s faith–Christian love as dying to oneself in order to truly hear another’s voice with respect and empathy (though eventually with discernment); the humility and vulnerability of Christ that allows another’s perspective to challenge us (and perhaps surprises us with an encounter with a “seed of the Word”); faith from an encounter with Christ that draws us to follow after him with growing insight and transformation and moments of awe that somehow make our language of an ineffable God go limp.

Scot, thank you for your great review, and for recommending the book to friends. I heartily agree that, “this book is a missional exploration for those who are seeking for grace.”
Beth Murphy
Zondervan

I think that “bracketing” is probably one of those things which a Christian needs to be very careful and aware of. However, it’s hard to see how one can enter into real, meaningful conversation with those of other beliefs or no beliefs without doing it. I was heartened to read something from John Eldridge a while back saying that he has a sign near his bed that says, “God is real.” He says he put it there because he forgets in his sleep that God is real and needs to be reminded of that fact each morning. In my experience, when we spend too much time bracketing off our faith in order to engage in conversation with others, we do have a tendency to forget. I think that, as Mr. Eldredge’s sign shows, it takes deliberate acts of awareness on our part to counter-act that tendency.
One of the other things which I have struggled against is not sliding into a mushy embrace of all faith and lose sight of the exclusive claims of Christianity. I try to look for those signs of logos which are embedded in other religions and other people who are simply trying to live good lives without being Christian. However, it can be tempting to take those signs as repudiation of the exclusivity of Christianity without even realizing it. OTOH, struggling against that has forced me not only to be more thoughtful about my own faith, but to expand my understanding of the role my faith plays in the drama of humanity and how all these different beliefs and experiences fit into my understanding of God’s plan for mankind. All in all, this has been a good thing, I think. Although there are no doubt some who would find my understanding heretical.
While I can see the very real problems of bracketing, I don’t see how we can engage in a world where we are increasingly surrounded by friends, loved ones, family, coworkers, etc. who do not share our values, our beliefs, or even our language (in so far as our religion shapes our way of speaking) without bracketing. How can we love, engage and hopefully influence others if our faith is actually a barrier between us? Paul’s words about becoming all things to all men come to mind. I wonder how he did it?

Interesting discussion. Pondering publicly…
Holding up the lens of the Jesus Creed, does bracketing refer only to the mind portion?
When I love with my heart (vs my mind), do I bracket that as well? EG, if I experience love for one child at a singular moment in time, does that affect my experience of love for my other child? If I love God at a singular moment in time, does that affect my love for humans? I think we would tend to say – “Of course not”. We believe that we can hold love for many simultaneously. But we cannot hold ideas for many simultaneously?
If I view someone of another faith with compassion and understanding, does that necessitate bracketing of my understanding of my own faith? Just the mind part? Or the heart part too?

RJS,
It is a truism, but perhaps helpful to say that faith can only be bracketed if it is bracketable. You probably have other convictions that are less bracketable. Do you have any thoughts on what makes the difference when it comes to faith, and why the difference is greater for you than for many other people?

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