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Curious Faith
God created us curious. We innately wonder about the world, one another, ourselves, and God. But technology, fear of the unknown, cultural taboos, or even church leaders can smother our curiosity.
Popular writer Lore Ferguson Wilbert has belonged to Christian communities that discouraged curiosity. The point of the Christian life was to have the right answers, and asking questions reflected a wavering faith. But Wilbert came to discover that the Bible is a permission slip to anyone who wants to ask questions.
Reflecting her own theological trajectory toward a more contemplative, expansive faith, Wilbert invites readers to foster curiosity as a spiritual habit. This book explores questions God asks us, questions we ask God, and questions we ask each other. Christianity is not about knowing good answers, says Wilbert, but about asking good questions--ones that foster deeper intimacy with God and others.
A Curious Faith invites readers to go beyond pat answers and embrace curiosity, rather than certainty, as a hallmark of authentic faith. Foreword by Seth Haines.
Popular writer Lore Ferguson Wilbert has belonged to Christian communities that discouraged curiosity. The point of the Christian life was to have the right answers, and asking questions reflected a wavering faith. But Wilbert came to discover that the Bible is a permission slip to anyone who wants to ask questions.
Reflecting her own theological trajectory toward a more contemplative, expansive faith, Wilbert invites readers to foster curiosity as a spiritual habit. This book explores questions God asks us, questions we ask God, and questions we ask each other. Christianity is not about knowing good answers, says Wilbert, but about asking good questions--ones that foster deeper intimacy with God and others.
A Curious Faith invites readers to go beyond pat answers and embrace curiosity, rather than certainty, as a hallmark of authentic faith. Foreword by Seth Haines.
191 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2022
140 people are currently reading
4008 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews
July 28, 2022
I still haven’t finished this book—not because it’s not good, but because I feel like I have to collect myself after each chapter, in a good way. I can already tell this will be a book I recommend regularly. The only other book I've done that with in the last couple of years has been Dane Ortlund's "Gentle and Lowly," if that gives an idea of the company "A Curious Faith" could keep.
At the time of this writing, I’m in the second part of "A Curious Faith," about the questions we ask God, and I find some old friends there. Where are you? Why haven’t you shown up? How long, Lord? The questions themselves still vex me, but knowing I’ve been here before, that Lore has been here, and that saints of old have wrestled with God this way too offers a kind of resolve to live the questions rather than scramble for answers, and a fellowship along the way.
At the time of this writing, I’m in the second part of "A Curious Faith," about the questions we ask God, and I find some old friends there. Where are you? Why haven’t you shown up? How long, Lord? The questions themselves still vex me, but knowing I’ve been here before, that Lore has been here, and that saints of old have wrestled with God this way too offers a kind of resolve to live the questions rather than scramble for answers, and a fellowship along the way.
July 2, 2022
Interesting Mix Of Rachel Held Evans And Max Lucado. This book is perfect for fans of the late Rachel Held Evans who miss her type of voice and are looking for someone who can write in that type of mindset. Better, for those who disagreed with Evans' more liberal positions, is that Wilbert doesn't expose any of those here. Instead, Wilbert writes in a more inviting style very similar to Max Lucado's, making her points but also asking the reader to consider a lot of questions and their own answers to them. And yet Wilbert retains the essence of the questioning faith and openness that brought so many of us to Evans. She is open about her struggles as someone who was single into her 30s, who then has actively tried to have children only to suffer through several miscarriages and, now in her 40s, begins to realize that one thing she so wanted may not be in the cards for her family. And so, she questions. But she questions with a yearning, with a hope, that - again turning to the Evans reference - was so evident in Searching for Sunday and is what ultimately made this reader such a fan of Evans. Ultimately the only mars on this incredible work were two issues that I am on a one-man crusade to stamp out any time I see them: prooftexting and discussions of COVID. In each case, my only real weapon in this crusade is a one-star deduction, and thus the two stars removed here. But truly, don't let that deter you from reading this otherwise exceptional book - particularly if you don't mind either or both of the above issues. Very much recommended.
July 13, 2022
I'm a huge fan of asking questions. I love, love curiosity. My dream for this delightful new book from Lore is that we form small groups, as diverse as you dare, and take one question at a time. They're all from scripture, so call it a Bible study if you will.
But you can't stay shallow. Not with this book. This book bids you to ask questions, of God, yourself, and one another. I'm so glad she wrote this gift of a book.
But you can't stay shallow. Not with this book. This book bids you to ask questions, of God, yourself, and one another. I'm so glad she wrote this gift of a book.
March 30, 2025
This book wrecked me in the very best way. I have never felt more seen or known by a book. As a Jesus follower who has wrestled for the majority of my Christian life with big, hard, often wearisome doubts and questions, this book made me feel so safe and seen and not so alone. And made me think of the summer I met with Jon and Morgan to wrestle with some of my questions and doubts. For people to make space for doubts and questions, fears, sadness and grief is a beautiful thing. “Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then, gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
The chapter “What is in Your Hand” about Moses made me instantly weep. “This was not the story I wrote for myself. This is the shepherd’s staff in my hands. This is the gnarled piece of wood I hold. This is the life I have been given, not the one I would’ve chosen for myself…..What’s in your hand?…What unexpected parcel of your story comes to mine? What are you holding that you never wanted to hold? What story are you sharing that still shocks you that it’s yours? What takes you into the wild places alone? What comes to mind when you stand before the burning bushes of your life? What are you hiding and holding so close to yourself that you’re almost afraid of what it might mean for your future if you released or revealed it?”
From the chapter “What Are You Looking For” Lore writes, “Being honest about what it is we want from God, apart from God himself, is hard work. It means allowing the questions of God to bear weight on us and in us and through us and for us, to not skip over the ones that are too hard or too uncomfortable or take too much work.” 😭
From the chapter “Do You Believe I Am Able to do This?” Lore writes “This is how I comfort myself when my faith feels thread-bare or the string of doubt threatens to strangle me: God is not wasting this fear of mine, this lack of belief, this shred of uncertainty. He is at work in it and threw it for me, beginning with my honesty that it exists.”
This will be a book I come back to over time. Very grateful for this one.
The chapter “What is in Your Hand” about Moses made me instantly weep. “This was not the story I wrote for myself. This is the shepherd’s staff in my hands. This is the gnarled piece of wood I hold. This is the life I have been given, not the one I would’ve chosen for myself…..What’s in your hand?…What unexpected parcel of your story comes to mine? What are you holding that you never wanted to hold? What story are you sharing that still shocks you that it’s yours? What takes you into the wild places alone? What comes to mind when you stand before the burning bushes of your life? What are you hiding and holding so close to yourself that you’re almost afraid of what it might mean for your future if you released or revealed it?”
From the chapter “What Are You Looking For” Lore writes, “Being honest about what it is we want from God, apart from God himself, is hard work. It means allowing the questions of God to bear weight on us and in us and through us and for us, to not skip over the ones that are too hard or too uncomfortable or take too much work.” 😭
From the chapter “Do You Believe I Am Able to do This?” Lore writes “This is how I comfort myself when my faith feels thread-bare or the string of doubt threatens to strangle me: God is not wasting this fear of mine, this lack of belief, this shred of uncertainty. He is at work in it and threw it for me, beginning with my honesty that it exists.”
This will be a book I come back to over time. Very grateful for this one.
July 27, 2022
Reading this book felt like taking a deep breath. It was both soothing and firm, a gentle and constructive prompting to ask questions because hope is found in the curiosity. I needed the hope Lore seems to promise comes with doubt, and in this book she maps out how questions and curiosity are both necessary and intended by God. In her writing she demonstrates clearly that in asking the questions we are invited to see, know, and love God more. I could not dream up a lovelier invitation than Lore’s invitation to ask questions and trust that God can handle anything we could throw at him. She paints a picture of a loving and curious God. The world is better with honest, gentle, and thoughtful writers like Lore in it. She and this book are such a grace of God.
July 26, 2022
This book was all I was hoping for, as I have been in a long season of grief after leaving our church community. I never felt a lot of freedom to ask a lot of the hard questions, believing that if I did, I wasn’t “trusting God enough” or that maybe I wasn’t even a believer.
I have learned in the years since, that there is plenty of room for my doubt, my uncertainty, and my questions. God isn’t angry at me for wrestling. Lore’s kind, compassionate writing helps make space for those questions, and makes me feel seen, and that I’m not alone in my wrestling. Her writing has challenged me to dig deeper, to be curious, and most of all, believe in the goodness of God through all the ups and downs of my faith journey.
I have learned in the years since, that there is plenty of room for my doubt, my uncertainty, and my questions. God isn’t angry at me for wrestling. Lore’s kind, compassionate writing helps make space for those questions, and makes me feel seen, and that I’m not alone in my wrestling. Her writing has challenged me to dig deeper, to be curious, and most of all, believe in the goodness of God through all the ups and downs of my faith journey.
June 7, 2023
My main response while reading was "She is so brave to write about herself that much. And she is so honest."
The honesty is the best part part of this book. Lore dares to ask what some of us might only whisper. She puts those questions on the table, pushes around on them, and suggests we live the questions. I think she's on to something. Postmodernists are more comfortable with mystery and ambiguity than their parents are, and this book speaks to children of modernists.
I sometimes wondered if Lore is mapping her agendas onto the questions she lifted from the Bible, but in general, the book is a permission slip, as she put it, to ask the questions that are out there. I felt very seen as I read, which is a kind of gift--and its own kind of beautiful answer.
The honesty is the best part part of this book. Lore dares to ask what some of us might only whisper. She puts those questions on the table, pushes around on them, and suggests we live the questions. I think she's on to something. Postmodernists are more comfortable with mystery and ambiguity than their parents are, and this book speaks to children of modernists.
I sometimes wondered if Lore is mapping her agendas onto the questions she lifted from the Bible, but in general, the book is a permission slip, as she put it, to ask the questions that are out there. I felt very seen as I read, which is a kind of gift--and its own kind of beautiful answer.
August 4, 2022
One of the things I encourage others with the most is, "God won't be offended by your questions, your pain, your anger."
And this book makes me face that fact, confronting me with how I avoid asking God questions - and avoiding the questions He asks of ME.
It's been read in bits & pieces in the wee hours of the night, and I'm better for the savoring.
With Biblical faithfulness, strength of empathy and storytelling, Lore has crafted a needed work for anyone who's ever even hesitated in asking God a question. Who longs to be asked questions. And for anyone who wants to know a d love God more.
And this book makes me face that fact, confronting me with how I avoid asking God questions - and avoiding the questions He asks of ME.
It's been read in bits & pieces in the wee hours of the night, and I'm better for the savoring.
With Biblical faithfulness, strength of empathy and storytelling, Lore has crafted a needed work for anyone who's ever even hesitated in asking God a question. Who longs to be asked questions. And for anyone who wants to know a d love God more.
July 25, 2022
This is Lore Wilbert, writing at her best. The book feels natural and easy, and by that I mean—uncontrived? It feels like the writing came from a place of peace and acceptance, even in the midst of all the unanswered questions Lore is asking herself and the ones she’s revealing in Scripture. That’s what I’m after. Reading A Curious Faith peeled back another layer on this God Who Can Be Asked, and Lore did it by revealing bits of her story along the way. “Me, too!” is the comfort of this book.
July 25, 2023
This book feels like a sigh of relief. Lore carefully explores the questions that permeate Scripture, demonstrating that God is not afraid of our questions and is not threatened by our doubts. Instead, he invites us to be honest about them.
This is a book I’ve already bought additional copies of to give away.
This is a book I’ve already bought additional copies of to give away.
July 26, 2022
Lore’s gentle hospitality to those of us who come to faith full of questions, is a breath of fresh air. This book makes a friendly, encouraging companion for pilgrims who wonder as they wander.
October 7, 2022
Summary: A book about the questions God asks, we ask, and those we wish we were asked, all with the message of living the questions and not hastily grasping for answers.
There is a strong and deeply embedded streak within me to want to have the answer to any question. Perhaps it came from being the class nerd, somewhat overweight, who compensated for his lack of athleticism with being a good student. Later, as a young follower of Christ, it seemed to be important to answer the questions my friends who didn’t believe would ask. Yet I began to notice that my “answers” didn’t reach to the heart of my friends’ questions. Then midlife hit, and deeply painful life junctures and I became aware that the answers weren’t reaching to the heart of my questions. And because the questions were existential ones like, “does my life really matter?” and “does God really care?”, they mattered, and I began to learn that living the questions rather than hastening to answers that really didn’t work was vital. Those questions laid bare what was in me and awakened in me my longing for God, not as an answer, but One to be known.
That journey is one Lore Ferguson Wilbert traces in her own life. The book opens with epigraphs from Madeleine L’Engle and Rainer Maria Wilke about living the questions. Wilbert traces her own journey from certitudes to questions, finding a church that loved her despite all her questions, living them with her. What is most striking though is that in three parts she explores the questions we find in scripture: The questions God asks of people, the questions we ask of God, and the questions we wish someone would ask of us, the questions asked by Jesus during his ministry.
The chapters (32 in all) are short, allowing readers to pause and sit with the questions and reflections and consider where these might connect with the questions they are living in their own lives. One chapter I appreciated was God’s question to Moses: “What is in your hand?” Wilbert observes: “When God asks what is in Moses’s hand, the staff in his hand is there because so many things have just gone wrong in Moses life.” She sees in that staff all our failures in life and then moves to consider what that staff in his hand came to mean as Moses shepherded God’s people. She considers the question Jesus asks the woman caught in adultery, “Who condemns you?”, and reflects on how often we have a condemning voice in our head and think ourselves utter failures at being good Christians when Jesus’ first concern for the woman is that she be safe and know that no one condemns her–only then is she or any of us free to refrain from sinning.
The invitation throughout is to be curious. To sit with questions, to keep questioning, to bring our questions to God, opening ourselves to God. Her curiosity sometimes leads her to ask a raft of questions in some of the chapters and this perhaps can be overwhelming. Sometimes, a single good question is enough. She urges us to not be hasty to grasp at answers that are too small for our questions. In various ways she holds out the hope that there is really one Answer, and to wait for Him and to allow his questions and ours to take us on that journey to Him, however that comes to pass.
I thought her most profound chapter the one on “The Unasked Questions” where she describes the Tenebrae service that ends with the cry, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” followed by all lights extinguished. Sometimes we don’t even know the questions to ask, we live a kind of death, as we await the coming of light, and life. Only what has died may be raised.
This is an uncomfortable book. But there are many living with uncomfortable questions. To them, this book is a kind of balm, that encourages them to keep living them. They are questions that matter, questions that break us open to God, questions that lead us to far more than just “answers.” Often such people are thought to have lost their way. This book proposes that a curious faith that lives the questions is the only way to find one’s way.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
There is a strong and deeply embedded streak within me to want to have the answer to any question. Perhaps it came from being the class nerd, somewhat overweight, who compensated for his lack of athleticism with being a good student. Later, as a young follower of Christ, it seemed to be important to answer the questions my friends who didn’t believe would ask. Yet I began to notice that my “answers” didn’t reach to the heart of my friends’ questions. Then midlife hit, and deeply painful life junctures and I became aware that the answers weren’t reaching to the heart of my questions. And because the questions were existential ones like, “does my life really matter?” and “does God really care?”, they mattered, and I began to learn that living the questions rather than hastening to answers that really didn’t work was vital. Those questions laid bare what was in me and awakened in me my longing for God, not as an answer, but One to be known.
That journey is one Lore Ferguson Wilbert traces in her own life. The book opens with epigraphs from Madeleine L’Engle and Rainer Maria Wilke about living the questions. Wilbert traces her own journey from certitudes to questions, finding a church that loved her despite all her questions, living them with her. What is most striking though is that in three parts she explores the questions we find in scripture: The questions God asks of people, the questions we ask of God, and the questions we wish someone would ask of us, the questions asked by Jesus during his ministry.
The chapters (32 in all) are short, allowing readers to pause and sit with the questions and reflections and consider where these might connect with the questions they are living in their own lives. One chapter I appreciated was God’s question to Moses: “What is in your hand?” Wilbert observes: “When God asks what is in Moses’s hand, the staff in his hand is there because so many things have just gone wrong in Moses life.” She sees in that staff all our failures in life and then moves to consider what that staff in his hand came to mean as Moses shepherded God’s people. She considers the question Jesus asks the woman caught in adultery, “Who condemns you?”, and reflects on how often we have a condemning voice in our head and think ourselves utter failures at being good Christians when Jesus’ first concern for the woman is that she be safe and know that no one condemns her–only then is she or any of us free to refrain from sinning.
The invitation throughout is to be curious. To sit with questions, to keep questioning, to bring our questions to God, opening ourselves to God. Her curiosity sometimes leads her to ask a raft of questions in some of the chapters and this perhaps can be overwhelming. Sometimes, a single good question is enough. She urges us to not be hasty to grasp at answers that are too small for our questions. In various ways she holds out the hope that there is really one Answer, and to wait for Him and to allow his questions and ours to take us on that journey to Him, however that comes to pass.
I thought her most profound chapter the one on “The Unasked Questions” where she describes the Tenebrae service that ends with the cry, “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?” followed by all lights extinguished. Sometimes we don’t even know the questions to ask, we live a kind of death, as we await the coming of light, and life. Only what has died may be raised.
This is an uncomfortable book. But there are many living with uncomfortable questions. To them, this book is a kind of balm, that encourages them to keep living them. They are questions that matter, questions that break us open to God, questions that lead us to far more than just “answers.” Often such people are thought to have lost their way. This book proposes that a curious faith that lives the questions is the only way to find one’s way.
____________________
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher.
July 31, 2025
I loved this book so much! As a curious (and maybe a bit skeptical) person, I appreciated the way Wilbert helps the reader lean into the idea that we don’t need to have God all figured out to love him.
“God is not interested in followers with all the right answers or even the right questions. He wants us to ask the questions, whatever kinds of questions we want, to lead us right to the locus of his love.”
“God is not interested in followers with all the right answers or even the right questions. He wants us to ask the questions, whatever kinds of questions we want, to lead us right to the locus of his love.”
February 5, 2023
“[…] what’s true about me to my core is not that I am a worm but that I am loved […]
I am one who is beloved by God and, like it or not, that changes everything.”
if you’re questioning or doubting or deconstructing, or know anyone who is, I would gently but also strongly (lol) recommend this. If only to discover how much God loves you.
I am one who is beloved by God and, like it or not, that changes everything.”
if you’re questioning or doubting or deconstructing, or know anyone who is, I would gently but also strongly (lol) recommend this. If only to discover how much God loves you.
August 22, 2022
I cried my way through this book and truly felt touched and comforted by the Spirit while reading it. So much so that I am considering writing to Lore and thanking her and I don't know that I have ever considered doing such a thing before. I loved the unique format, I loved her gentleness and honesty, I loved her gorgeous writing voice. There are probably a few theological differences I would have, but this book moved me closer to Jesus in a way that very few have, so it's earned its five star rating. I plan to reread, slowly, and pray and possibly journal my way through the second time around.
October 24, 2022
I find it somewhat hard to rate this book…I think it lands between 3 and 4 stars for me. The questions it asks I found to be a good mirror for my own heart to give language to the questions I may be asking. However, in some cases, it felt like words were just filling the page rather than saying much. I enjoyed the first 1/3 of the book and the chapters that were more focused on biblical examples rather than personal stories. It is an easy read, so I would recommend it if someone is interested in this topic.
September 16, 2022
Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Having loved Lore’s previous book I was excited for this and it didn’t disappoint. It’s so refreshingly written, with hard won wisdom and offers hope to those questioning, curious and wondering.
August 2, 2022
Lore is real, raw, gracious, thoughtful, and vulnerable in this book. She prompts readers to lean into the many questions (with sometimes scary and unknown answers) that run through our hearts and minds so often. Lore’s book and voice are a gift to the Church and to the world.
Several quotes that stuck with me as I was reading:
“Knowing you are loved is better than knowing all the right answers.”
“God is more interested in my honesty before him than in my pretense of belief about him.”
“Because of my doubt, I need a God to whom lightning bolts report, who knows every inch and measure of the earth and conducts the morning sunrise and choreographs the evening sunset, who knows every single star and moon and planet in the universe and has a name for them. Why? Because I need a God who knows me.”
Several quotes that stuck with me as I was reading:
“Knowing you are loved is better than knowing all the right answers.”
“God is more interested in my honesty before him than in my pretense of belief about him.”
“Because of my doubt, I need a God to whom lightning bolts report, who knows every inch and measure of the earth and conducts the morning sunrise and choreographs the evening sunset, who knows every single star and moon and planet in the universe and has a name for them. Why? Because I need a God who knows me.”
July 26, 2023
Man, am I glad this book exists. Any book that can make us feel less alone while combating harmful lies that if you're a person of faith, you need to have all the answers and can never ask questions is a win. For this question asker, once again, it feels good to feel seen.
May 25, 2022
Years ago Tom Skinner wrote a book titled If Christ Is The Answer, What Are The Questions?. He was responding to the message some were proclaiming back in the day about Jesus being the answer to every question. He wanted to push people deeper, especially since some of the questions he was raising had to do with race and civil rights. These days there is a lot of talk about deconstruction and the importance of doubt. For many deconstruction is important because the faith that they had inherited or embraced had proven faulty. The question then becomes, once you've deconstructed your faith, what do you put in its place? There is, however, another path that others have taken. It might include deconstruction and a bit of doubt, but more likely it simply involves the need to ask questions. After all, Augustine and others talked about faith seeking understanding. That process requires asking questions. Or, as Lore Ferguson Wilbert puts it in the title of her book, "A Curious Faith."
The book under review by Lore Ferguson Wilbert, who is a blogger and writer at Sayable.net, came to me as an advanced reading copy from Brazos Press. So, the book is, as I write this review, not yet released but available for pre-order.
Wilbert writes from a fairly traditional theological perspective. She's not so much a deconstructionist and a doubter as she is a person who simply wants to understand this faith that sustains her and encourages others in their journey. Her opening chapter, which falls under Part One, which I'll describe in a moment, is titled "Living the Questions." She writes there that she grew up in a context where the Christian faith was "more behavior modification and moralism than it was abundant life." She wanted instead certainty, but she didn't find that anywhere in her life until she encountered a word from Rainer Maria Rilke that invited her to "Live the questions." As such she found "safety and security in spaces where my questions were welcomed and my doubts not judged. But I also found friendship with God, security in him, and hope in me." (pp. 17-19). She speaks of this process of curiosity and asking questions as a spiritual discipline in which we can inspect "our lives, our faith, our friendships, our friends, our churches, our communities, and God himself" (p. 25).
The subtitle of the book suggests the trajectory of the book, which she divides into three parts. Part One focuses on "The Questions God Asks." Yes, God has questions for us, which invite us to live curiously. She offers twelve questions under this section that begin in Genesis 3, with God's question to Adam and Eve -- "Where are you?" and concludes in Jonah 4 with the question "Is It Right for you to be angry?"
Having invited us to live curiously by listing to God's questions, in Part Two, she points us to the questions that we ask of God, so that we might listen curiously to God's answers. So, she turns to Jeremiah 20 and asks of God why we are born (ch. 130. You will notice the chapters move us from Genesis forward through the three parts to the New Testament. Thus Part Two, like Part One, draws on passages from the Old Testament. So, we begin with why we're born, ponder the question of where God is (Isaiah 63), and conclude the section of 8 chapters with a question from Habakkuk 1: "Why do you make me look at injustice?"
Part Three is interestingly titled "Questions We Wish Someone Would Ask Us: Loving Curiously." She speaks of the question in this section in terms of questions that those who seek to emulate Christ should "ask of others and be asked by others." (p. 124). The twelve chapters in this section are all drawn from the Gospels, beginning in John 1 with the question "What Are You Looking For? This is the question Jesus asked of those who drew close to him after his baptism in John 1. These folks answer Jesus with a question of their own, "where are you staying?" Here is an invitation to be honest with God about what we as Christians want from God. She notes that the process here of deconstructing and reconstructing involves not only our minds but our hearts. Here is an invitation to pursue the integration of our faith into our entire lives. As she moves us through questions we ought to ask of each other, reflecting on passages from the Gospels, she brings the conversation to a close with a reflection from John 21 on the question Jesus asked Peter: "Do you love me?" Here she writes about a faith that centers in one's love of God, for "God is not interested in followers with all the right answers or even the right questions. He wants us to ask the questions, whatever kinds of questions we want, to lead us right to the locus of his love." (p. 182).
As one who has been on a journey that has taken me many places within the Christian faith (see my book Called to Bless: Finding Hope by Reclaiming Our Spiritual Roots0, I welcome the invitation to engage in a curious faith. I believe that we are better off if we continually pursue the questions that deepen our faith in God. It's not always easy, because it can require us to let go of easy answers, but in the end, we are better for it. Lore Ferguson Wilbert writes from a pretty stable evangelical perspective that is open to learning new things, of asking and hearing questions that one's faith. That is good news for us all.
The book under review by Lore Ferguson Wilbert, who is a blogger and writer at Sayable.net, came to me as an advanced reading copy from Brazos Press. So, the book is, as I write this review, not yet released but available for pre-order.
Wilbert writes from a fairly traditional theological perspective. She's not so much a deconstructionist and a doubter as she is a person who simply wants to understand this faith that sustains her and encourages others in their journey. Her opening chapter, which falls under Part One, which I'll describe in a moment, is titled "Living the Questions." She writes there that she grew up in a context where the Christian faith was "more behavior modification and moralism than it was abundant life." She wanted instead certainty, but she didn't find that anywhere in her life until she encountered a word from Rainer Maria Rilke that invited her to "Live the questions." As such she found "safety and security in spaces where my questions were welcomed and my doubts not judged. But I also found friendship with God, security in him, and hope in me." (pp. 17-19). She speaks of this process of curiosity and asking questions as a spiritual discipline in which we can inspect "our lives, our faith, our friendships, our friends, our churches, our communities, and God himself" (p. 25).
The subtitle of the book suggests the trajectory of the book, which she divides into three parts. Part One focuses on "The Questions God Asks." Yes, God has questions for us, which invite us to live curiously. She offers twelve questions under this section that begin in Genesis 3, with God's question to Adam and Eve -- "Where are you?" and concludes in Jonah 4 with the question "Is It Right for you to be angry?"
Having invited us to live curiously by listing to God's questions, in Part Two, she points us to the questions that we ask of God, so that we might listen curiously to God's answers. So, she turns to Jeremiah 20 and asks of God why we are born (ch. 130. You will notice the chapters move us from Genesis forward through the three parts to the New Testament. Thus Part Two, like Part One, draws on passages from the Old Testament. So, we begin with why we're born, ponder the question of where God is (Isaiah 63), and conclude the section of 8 chapters with a question from Habakkuk 1: "Why do you make me look at injustice?"
Part Three is interestingly titled "Questions We Wish Someone Would Ask Us: Loving Curiously." She speaks of the question in this section in terms of questions that those who seek to emulate Christ should "ask of others and be asked by others." (p. 124). The twelve chapters in this section are all drawn from the Gospels, beginning in John 1 with the question "What Are You Looking For? This is the question Jesus asked of those who drew close to him after his baptism in John 1. These folks answer Jesus with a question of their own, "where are you staying?" Here is an invitation to be honest with God about what we as Christians want from God. She notes that the process here of deconstructing and reconstructing involves not only our minds but our hearts. Here is an invitation to pursue the integration of our faith into our entire lives. As she moves us through questions we ought to ask of each other, reflecting on passages from the Gospels, she brings the conversation to a close with a reflection from John 21 on the question Jesus asked Peter: "Do you love me?" Here she writes about a faith that centers in one's love of God, for "God is not interested in followers with all the right answers or even the right questions. He wants us to ask the questions, whatever kinds of questions we want, to lead us right to the locus of his love." (p. 182).
As one who has been on a journey that has taken me many places within the Christian faith (see my book Called to Bless: Finding Hope by Reclaiming Our Spiritual Roots0, I welcome the invitation to engage in a curious faith. I believe that we are better off if we continually pursue the questions that deepen our faith in God. It's not always easy, because it can require us to let go of easy answers, but in the end, we are better for it. Lore Ferguson Wilbert writes from a pretty stable evangelical perspective that is open to learning new things, of asking and hearing questions that one's faith. That is good news for us all.
August 2, 2022
If you’re weary of a strident, dogmatic version of Christianity without room for nuance or mystery, this book is for you. Please don’t misunderstand me. It is Biblically sound. It’s just more realistic and thoughtful than most of what I’ve been exposed to in Christian publishing.
I’ve been reading Lore Wilbert’s work for years, and the word that comes to mind to describe her is FAITHFUL. She seeks to know Jesus and to walk with him rather than to align herself with a particular ideology or movement—something that is desperately lacking in our current “Christian” culture in the U.S.
For me, Chapter 12: Is It Right for You to be Angry?, was alone worth the price of the book. An excerpt:
“That’s what this whole book is about. That’s what these questions are about. They are asking, at their core: What are you happy/sad/angry/glad/fearful/grieving about? What is underneath these big emotions you have? What is behind the stoic mask you wear? What hull of a ship or belly of a fish or withering plant does God want to take you to, to help you see how big and unpredictable, how surprising his grace and goodness can be?”
If you want more of the grace and goodness of God, read this book.
I’ve been reading Lore Wilbert’s work for years, and the word that comes to mind to describe her is FAITHFUL. She seeks to know Jesus and to walk with him rather than to align herself with a particular ideology or movement—something that is desperately lacking in our current “Christian” culture in the U.S.
For me, Chapter 12: Is It Right for You to be Angry?, was alone worth the price of the book. An excerpt:
“That’s what this whole book is about. That’s what these questions are about. They are asking, at their core: What are you happy/sad/angry/glad/fearful/grieving about? What is underneath these big emotions you have? What is behind the stoic mask you wear? What hull of a ship or belly of a fish or withering plant does God want to take you to, to help you see how big and unpredictable, how surprising his grace and goodness can be?”
If you want more of the grace and goodness of God, read this book.
April 1, 2023
I… could not put this book down. This was so so healing for me, a breath of fresh air. Drawing questions from the Bible (asked by God and humanity), Lore shows us what holy curiosity can look like and what God really thinks of our honest questions - spoiler alert, he welcomes them. He loves us, truly cares about us, and he is the safest one to bring our questions and fears and doubts to. I wept more than once as Lore preached the gospel to me through each of the 30+ questions she expands on in this book. Highly, highly recommend.
February 21, 2023
honest & lovely
May 27, 2024
I loved this book. I’ve found myself frustrated about oversimplification and abstraction of many Christian books I’ve read. Platitudes sound nice but when life is crumbling all around you, how do you hold on?
Through the framework of questions — ones God asks about us and ones we ask about Him— and as Lore shared pieces of her story as a fellow doubter and fellow sufferer we see a God big enough for all our deepest questions, how he wants our deepest selves and how grounded and real our faith can feel when we believe this.
Through the framework of questions — ones God asks about us and ones we ask about Him— and as Lore shared pieces of her story as a fellow doubter and fellow sufferer we see a God big enough for all our deepest questions, how he wants our deepest selves and how grounded and real our faith can feel when we believe this.
July 26, 2022
Written with the voice of a trusted friend whose faith has been well walked, A Curious Faith invites you to not only ask questions but also not be afraid of the answers (or lack of). Lore's voice
is one I've read for years. Her writing has mentored me, guided me, and made
me think deeply. Over the past several years, my faith has become full of doubt
and questions. And honestly? I've been in no rush to figure out where I stand or
what I believe. I don't reach for Christian books or music anymore because they
make me prickle. But I do find myself reaching toward people like Lore who
make me know that it's ok to not be ok. To not know. To not be settled. To have a
million questions. Don't hesitate to buy this book. It will meet you where you are and walk alongside you while learn to "live the questions." (Rilke)
is one I've read for years. Her writing has mentored me, guided me, and made
me think deeply. Over the past several years, my faith has become full of doubt
and questions. And honestly? I've been in no rush to figure out where I stand or
what I believe. I don't reach for Christian books or music anymore because they
make me prickle. But I do find myself reaching toward people like Lore who
make me know that it's ok to not be ok. To not know. To not be settled. To have a
million questions. Don't hesitate to buy this book. It will meet you where you are and walk alongside you while learn to "live the questions." (Rilke)
January 7, 2023
I was really encouraged by, and really resonated with, a number of chapters of this book. I loved how Lore invites us into the space of “living the questions”; having the curious faith of a child instead of letting the questions/wrestlings make us fearful or defensive.
However, there were also quite a few chapters that felt a little bit disjointed or like they were just there to fill up space (especially towards the end, so it took me a bit to get around to finishing it). So that’s why I brought the rating down a bit.
However, there were also quite a few chapters that felt a little bit disjointed or like they were just there to fill up space (especially towards the end, so it took me a bit to get around to finishing it). So that’s why I brought the rating down a bit.
August 2, 2022
I don't know where to start. This book was not what I expected, but in all the best ways. Lore's wrestling with these questions shakes me to the very core of how I seek God, seek answers, and seek faith. She gently leads us through the places we often fear to be in our journeying with God, others, and ourselves. And she reminds us that ultimately in those fearful places is a God who keeps lovingly living these questions with us.
May 8, 2023
I give it a 3.5 mainly because some of the main points felt a little repetitive and I think I would have more enjoyed reading it than listening to the audio book. Overall a valuable read with an overarching theme of God allowing more space than we can imagine for our doubts and questions.
May 30, 2024
I’m not sure I’ve ever related to a Christian non-fiction book as much as this one. Thank you, Lore, for writing this book.
This is a book I will need to read twice. The first time I devoured it, the second time I will savour it. Sit with each Bible passage and question.
This is a book I will need to read twice. The first time I devoured it, the second time I will savour it. Sit with each Bible passage and question.
August 2, 2022
Bear with me as I try my best to put into words what this book meant to me.
Asking questions and curiosity is just as much a foundational aspect of my spiritual formation as Scripture reading and quiet prayer time are. The closeness I feel to God today, is made on a foundation of questions I have silently asked God in prayer. I catch myself, dozens of times a day, asking God questions. In church, I ask questions. With friends, I ask questions. I like the idea that maybe this act of inquisitiveness will bring the conversation deeper, will get us thinking. I like that with each question (sometimes answered, sometimes not), I find myself being pulled closer into the arms of a curious God who made me in His very own image.
I lost my great grandmother in August of 2014, a week into my senior year of high school. She was the matriarch of my family and I was closer to her than I was to anyone at the time. God blessed me with her. It was unexpected. In my naive 17-year-old mind I thought I had many years left with her as my best friend. I had never known a grief so strong. I asked “If God loves me so much then why would He take her away from me?”
All of my questions involved not being able to reconcile the evil and suffering of the world with God’s goodness, love, and holiness. If He was all-powerful, why couldn’t He stop it? If He loved us so much, then why allow us to feel such pain and sorrow? My family couldn’t handle my questions, they told me not to ask them because I “was not supposed to.” I closed my Bible, put it on a shelf, let it collect dust. I stopped praying and talking to God. I stopped worshipping.
I retreated from everyone, including God, with my questions. I moved away. I made bad decisions. I put as much space between God and I as I possibly could — not realizing that He is everywhere. Gently nudging me to talk to Him. To pour it all out at His feet so He can begin the necessary work.
A Curious Faith is a book that I wish I had at 18. I wish someone would have packaged it up and gave it to me as a gift for graduating high school with a note that reminded me to “live the questions.” I wish that someone, anyone, would have told me that my big questions did not scare God. And that, if anything, my big questions could bring me closer to Him. It’s true. Lore points us to major figures in Scripture that seemed held closely as God’s chosen — and they asked Him big questions. It, too, shouldn’t surprise us that we are asked big questions by God. And finally, it shouldn’t surprise us that God in flesh, the fully human-fully God Jesus Christ, asked big questions, too. To His Father, to His friends and followers.
Clint Watkins said “Blessed are those who wrestle with God.” I have wrestled and lost to the goodness and mercy and love and grace that flow from His being. I have wrestled and lost to the God who wants every part of me: the curious me, the hurt me, the grieving me, the joyful me, and the wrestling me. I have wrestled and lost to the realization that nothing scares nor surprises Him, not even my questions that surprised and scared my relatives and the church.
You see, friends, Lore’s book is a reminder that just because the church can’t handle our questions doesn’t mean that God can’t. Its a reminder that we are made in the image of a curious and inquisitive God. A good God. He can handle your questions. Ask Him. He may answer you. He may tell you to wait and to watch. He may not answer back at all. But ultimately trust Him. He cares about you. And He cares about your questions.
My hope is that for every person who reads this book, they begin asking questions. My hope is that their questions lead them from A Curious Faith to Scripture. My hope is that they go from Scripture to prayer and quiet meditation with God. My hope is that you can find solace in knowing Jesus Christ is the answer to it all.
Lore gave us a gift, y’all. I hope you all read it and feel better, less alone, and seen in every line. Like I did.
Asking questions and curiosity is just as much a foundational aspect of my spiritual formation as Scripture reading and quiet prayer time are. The closeness I feel to God today, is made on a foundation of questions I have silently asked God in prayer. I catch myself, dozens of times a day, asking God questions. In church, I ask questions. With friends, I ask questions. I like the idea that maybe this act of inquisitiveness will bring the conversation deeper, will get us thinking. I like that with each question (sometimes answered, sometimes not), I find myself being pulled closer into the arms of a curious God who made me in His very own image.
I lost my great grandmother in August of 2014, a week into my senior year of high school. She was the matriarch of my family and I was closer to her than I was to anyone at the time. God blessed me with her. It was unexpected. In my naive 17-year-old mind I thought I had many years left with her as my best friend. I had never known a grief so strong. I asked “If God loves me so much then why would He take her away from me?”
All of my questions involved not being able to reconcile the evil and suffering of the world with God’s goodness, love, and holiness. If He was all-powerful, why couldn’t He stop it? If He loved us so much, then why allow us to feel such pain and sorrow? My family couldn’t handle my questions, they told me not to ask them because I “was not supposed to.” I closed my Bible, put it on a shelf, let it collect dust. I stopped praying and talking to God. I stopped worshipping.
I retreated from everyone, including God, with my questions. I moved away. I made bad decisions. I put as much space between God and I as I possibly could — not realizing that He is everywhere. Gently nudging me to talk to Him. To pour it all out at His feet so He can begin the necessary work.
A Curious Faith is a book that I wish I had at 18. I wish someone would have packaged it up and gave it to me as a gift for graduating high school with a note that reminded me to “live the questions.” I wish that someone, anyone, would have told me that my big questions did not scare God. And that, if anything, my big questions could bring me closer to Him. It’s true. Lore points us to major figures in Scripture that seemed held closely as God’s chosen — and they asked Him big questions. It, too, shouldn’t surprise us that we are asked big questions by God. And finally, it shouldn’t surprise us that God in flesh, the fully human-fully God Jesus Christ, asked big questions, too. To His Father, to His friends and followers.
Clint Watkins said “Blessed are those who wrestle with God.” I have wrestled and lost to the goodness and mercy and love and grace that flow from His being. I have wrestled and lost to the God who wants every part of me: the curious me, the hurt me, the grieving me, the joyful me, and the wrestling me. I have wrestled and lost to the realization that nothing scares nor surprises Him, not even my questions that surprised and scared my relatives and the church.
You see, friends, Lore’s book is a reminder that just because the church can’t handle our questions doesn’t mean that God can’t. Its a reminder that we are made in the image of a curious and inquisitive God. A good God. He can handle your questions. Ask Him. He may answer you. He may tell you to wait and to watch. He may not answer back at all. But ultimately trust Him. He cares about you. And He cares about your questions.
My hope is that for every person who reads this book, they begin asking questions. My hope is that their questions lead them from A Curious Faith to Scripture. My hope is that they go from Scripture to prayer and quiet meditation with God. My hope is that you can find solace in knowing Jesus Christ is the answer to it all.
Lore gave us a gift, y’all. I hope you all read it and feel better, less alone, and seen in every line. Like I did.
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