Book Review: My Church is NOT Dying: Episcopalians in the 21st Century
2016; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 98; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1177/000332861609800223
ISSN2163-6214
Autores Tópico(s)Religion, Society, and Development
ResumoMy Church is NOT Dying: Episcopalians the 21st Century. By Greg Garrett. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2015. xiii + 143 pp. $16.00 (paper).Greg Garrett has written a love-song to the Episcopal Church. He fell love when, his words, he was a church drop-out, in a mess, a barely together trash bag crammed full of grief and despair, and found his way to a profoundly welcoming, primarily African American parish Austin, Texas: Becoming a worshipper at St. James' Episcopal Church saved my life (p. 49). This book amply demonstrates that his first love has not faded, even though he has now spent fifteen years deepening the relationship. That in- cludes earning an M.Div. degree from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, serving as the seminary's writer residence and as a professor at (Baptist) Baylor University, active participation as a lay preacher at St. David's Church Austin, and speaking and preaching widely.The Episcopal Church Greg Garrett loves is not the old (real or imag- ined) dowager of the Establishment but the church as it has emerged the last few decades, unabashedly committed to inclusion of women and the LGBT community at eveiy level of its life, engaged a wide array of social ministries to the homeless, AIDS victims, undocumented aliens, and victims of Hurricane Katrina, and willing to engage people wherever they are on their spiritual journey.In eight chapters, Garrett offers a brief introduction to Anglican Way: Spiritual and Religious, affirms its openness to unanswered (unanswerable?) questioning, celebrates its worship, and embraces its commit- ment to Beauty and the Life of God: Music, Culture, and the Incarnate Way. He acknowledges the reality of the impact of the wars on the Episcopal Church over the last few decades, but insists that they left the church stronger than ever. The last three chapters focus on the need for a new-style evangelism that takes social networking seriously; the church's continued commitment to justice; and the importance of engaging contemporary culture so that others are fully aware of just how attractive the Epis- copal Church is.This reviewer must confess that the Episcopal Church I love is the same one that has captured Garrett's heart. But I wonder about all those Episco- palians, many of them just as committed to the church as we are, who are unable to see their way clear to embrace it with the same uncritical affection. Perhaps they did not receive the same kind of unconditional and healing welcome as Garrett did. Perhaps the worship they participate week by week is not as beautiful or stimulating as that at St. David's. Perhaps they still have doubts about the changes that have rocked the church, and still wonder about some of its decisions and directions. …
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