Beyond Born Again: Toward Evangelical Maturity

by Robert M. Price

A critique of modern evangelicals.

Genres: Religion

172 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2008

About the author

Robert McNair Price is an American theologian and writer. He teaches philosophy and religion at the Johnnie Colemon Theological Seminary, is professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute, and the author of a number of books on theology and the historicity of Jesus, asserting the Christ myth theory.

A former Baptist minister, he was the editor of the Journal of Higher Criticism from 1994 until it ceased publication in 2003. He has also written extensively about the Cthulhu Mythos, a "shared universe" created by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reviews

[David S. T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was different from what I expected, but still pretty good. In this book Price spends a few chapters discussing common mindsets and beliefs from Evangelical "born again" Christians, then he tries to refute them. Mostly this takes the form of showing that perhaps the bible isn't inerrant because of such as the difference in details / revelation between Mark's gospel and the later ones (showing a progression of myth). He later spends a chapter explaining why perhaps Jesus didn't have a physical resurrection but perhaps was a spiritual one only. Finally the book has some recommendations on moving from an evangelical type of Christianity to one less 'fundamentalist'.

Overall I though it was pretty interesting, because I remember having many of the same attitudes during my fundamentalist period. I'm all for a more tolerant form of Christianity but, I don't really see many evangelicals reading this and changing their mindset.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was really different. Price's thought patterns aren't what I'm used to, but once I adapted I found his style to be refreshing and insightful. He's not telling us what is, just what isn't necessarily, according to apologists' claims, and looking at plausible explanations. I really appreciated his breadth of knowledge and scholarship - he's obviously well-read.

[Peter Stanbridge · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought back memories of why I left Christianity. It is written by someone who was in the fold, who had trained in all the evangelical apologetics and worked as a senior leader in their organisations (especially IVF). This book examines the presuppositions of the fundamentalism that permeates evangelical Christianity, with a large number of quotes from their literature to prove/illustrate the points. The book is dealing with a period of this type of Christianity from the 1970s and a bit before, but strangely, the people have changed, but the style and methods haven't.

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beyond B.A. is not for a general audience (I think Bob himself would agree), hence only 3 stars. This is instead a critique of 1970s-90s evangelical christianity, its theology, philosophy, and its interpretation and reading of biblical history, and as such probably deserves 4+ stars for the intended audience. By 1990 Bob had long moved on from a strict fundamentalist view (as witnessed by this being years after his founding of Heretics Anonymous, ca. 1981) to a more free-thinking, even “liberal,” understanding of evangelical (and similar) christianities. Bob was, and remains today, a radical thinker, an important interpreter and explainer of early christian movements and their modern counterparts. He is a lover of the “sacred” books of christianity and a true Biblical scholar – though do NOT expect his views to always (if ever) align smoothly with standard Sunday-School theologies. I am sure he doesn’t even remember me at this point, but I am glad to remember him as a challenging thinker – as well as a fellow lover of Woody Allen films (at least pre-1987 W.A., when I last spoke with him). Oh, you asked about the book? Sorry, I got off on a tangent there. Those who are studied enough in the various stages of, approaches to, and history of, christian theology, especially regarding the “New Testament,” to follow his arguments make up most of the intended audience. Beyond focuses on the struggles of evangelicals, ex-evangelicals, and others with connections to that movement, and their need to understand how evangelicalism fits with christianity in the late 20th century. Basically, this is for those who share a nerdy need to learn more about what’s under the evangelical hood. I am sure Bob would write Beyond differently now, both because of changes in American evangelicalism and changes in Bob’s own thinking. While this is commenting specifically on where some forms of christianity were in the late 1980s, its criticisms of, and suggestions for, evangelical theologies remain applicable 30+ years later. Reading Beyond helps one understand what Dr. Price came from and how he got to where he is.

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has three sections: the first is really interesting. It talks about Evangelicals and their worldview, and how they cope with life in general. In particular, I've profited from the discussion of Evangelism as a subculture (even in areas where they're a majority!). A subculture requires of its members to limit their exposure to the outside world and to have explanations and rationalizations about the causes of the mainstream belief. Also, a subculture has a particular vocabulary, acting like a shibboleth, and maybe preventing its members to communicate effectively with outsiders. The part about coping was also very insightful for me. The coping mechanism are two: first the combat against demons that are always tempting and trying to do their work. The other is divination: thinking that in every life's event there's God with a purpose, the believer has to guess what's the message hidden, independently of the event being good or bad.

The second section is not of my liking, and the arguments described are not that persuasive, in my opinion. But I have to say that I've learn a lot of legends that resemble that of Jesus taht I wasn't aware of.

The third section deals with theology and exegesis and it's really insightful. For me, the discussion of the conservative claim that liberal theologians reject miracles out of a naturalistic principle is really good. It has changed my vision on the topic.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine, Price is inordinately well read, and often correct, and an interesting anticipation of Matthew Hartke in places, given a love of cognitive dissonance and historic messianic movements.