He asked me a series of questions that he hoped I would answer yes or no: Do you believe Jesus is the Son of God? Do you believe in the Bible? Do you believe in salvation? I recall most of my responses began, “Yes, but … ” This confounded and infuriated him.
Martin Thielen’s recent book is written for those on the other end of the theological spectrum, those who have rejected fundamentalist beliefs but are not sure they have enough faith left to call themselves Christians — and are seeking the same sort of yes or no answers. Prompted by a conversation with a lifelong atheist who unexpectedly found himself drawn into the United Methodist Church where Thielen serves as pastor, Thielen seeks to answer a question that many pastors will find familiar: “What’s the least I can believe and still be a Christian?”
The book is divided into two sections: 10 things Christians don’t need to believe; and 10 things Christians do need to believe. In summary, Thielen suggests, Christians don’t need to be close-minded, believe that Jews are going to hell or think it’s heresy to believe in evolution. Same goes for the subjugation of women, pre-millennial dispensationalism and biblical literalism. As for what Christians do need to believe, well, that’s pretty straightforward too: They need to believe in Jesus and the resurrection, and they need to join a church.
For the most part, I found myself agreeing with Thielen’s answers, but I wished there had been more nuance. He summarizes each chapter with a “bottom line.” It all ends up sounding just a bit too reasonable. You don’t have to believe all that wacky fundamentalist stuff; just believe in Jesus, live right and you’ll be fine. There is little sense of the struggle that Christian faith entails in the 21st century, or of how deeply countercultural Christian faith can be.
Let’s face it: the doctrine of the Trinity is just as hard to swallow as the rapture. We’re not given a framework to sort the reasonable from the unreasonable, the required from the expendable. In the book’s conclusion, Thielen writes, “At heart, Christianity is a way of life. What we do is more important than what we believe.” This undercuts his argument in the previous chapter, where he encourages his readers to “nail down” their salvation by praying that they affirm the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and accept him as their savior. The chapter on salvation seemed somewhat at odds with the rest of the book.
Bottom line: I would include this book on a reading list for those who are new to the church, but not without other resources that provide a stronger framework for struggling with faith in the 21st century.
Jeff Krehbiel is pastor of Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C., and author of “Reflecting With Scripture on Community Organizing” (ACTA Publications).
