RE : Progressive Christianity

Welcome + Acknowledging Our Lenses

Welcome to RE: Progressive Christianity, with Josh Scott. Thanks for visiting! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, and share a bit about the kind of content you’ll find here.

I’ve been a pastor for around twenty years, and during that time my faith has experienced a complete and total transformation. In the beginning, I was deeply entrenched in a conservative Christian paradigm, but over time, and with the experiences of life, that paradigm stopped serving me well. So much of what I had been taught, and was teaching myself, proved insufficient as I met people that continually exploded the categories and boxes into which I tried to place them. This led me to the realization that I, unbeknownst to myself, had been seeing the world, faith, the Bible, God—essentially everything that is—through a lens that was constructed from my context, experiences, and privilege. I had no idea it was there, much like the contact lenses I am wearing right now, but the way I interpreted everything was passing through that lens. Acknowledging that lens led to an unraveling of my faith, as past certainties suddenly seemed not so certain at all. I eventually arrived at a crossroads; I would have to leave Christianity behind, or I would have to go back with the new lenses I had acquired to reimagine, reframe, and reclaim my faith. What was this new lens? For lack of a better descriptor I will simply call it “Progressive Christianity.”

My hope here at Re : Progressive Christianity is to share what that lens looks like for me, and perhaps offer some help and hope for those who are beginning to unravel, or perhaps are on the other side of that unraveling, wondering if there is anything left to hold onto. Spoiler alert : I believe there is! Much, actually!

I hope you’ll join me on this journey, and if what you find here matters to you, if it’s helpful and meaningful, please consider sharing it with others. I’m looking forward to reimagining, reframing, and reclaiming faith with you!

JS

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