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    Believe Again: a Journey Back to Faith: Book I
    Believe Again: a Journey Back to Faith: Book I
    Believe Again: a Journey Back to Faith: Book I
    Ebook140 pages1 hour

    Believe Again: a Journey Back to Faith: Book I

    By Andrew Johnson

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    About this ebook

    This book was written for those who have left their Christian faith or who have become what Bishop John Shelby Spong calls, believers in exile. It also speaks to those who are questioning their current Christian faith. It describes a mystical view of Christianity that incorporates Gnosticism, quantum physics, shamanism, cognitive psychology, Jungian psychology, and biblical scholarship. At the end
    of each chapter are prompts, questions, and activities that invite readers to make personal connections with the ideas presented. These are designed to be recorded in a journal. This book can be used with a book club, a study group, or individually. It will be a tool for your spiritual growth and renewal.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateOct 20, 2010
    ISBN9781450256643
    Believe Again: a Journey Back to Faith: Book I
    Author

    Andrew Johnson

    Andrew P. Johnson was a 1976 graduate of Grantsburg High School in Grantsburg, Wisconsin. He attended the University of Wisconsin River Falls where he graduated with a B.S. degree in Music and Speech-Communication. After getting his elementary teaching license, he taught 2nd grade in River Falls, Wisconsin from 1983-1986. He went on to teach 1st grade in the Twin Cities area and also spent three years teaching back in the Grantsburg, Wisconsin. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in Literacy Education in 1997. He is currently Professor of Holistic Education at the University of Minnesota, Mankato. His professional studies include spiritual intelligence, psychology, transpersonal psychology, holistic intelligence, educational philosophy, creativity, literacy, and learning theories. His personal studies include spirituality, world religions, Gnosticism, and early Christianity. In the last ten years his personal and professional worlds have merged. He is the author of eight books and more than 30 academic articles. He lives in North Mankato with his wife, Dr. Nancy Fitzsimons and their dogs Mickey and Emmet. www.believe-again.com

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      Book preview

      Believe Again - Andrew Johnson

      Copyright © 2010 by Andrew P. Johnson, Ph.D.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      iUniverse books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      iUniverse

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.iuniverse.com

      1-800-Authors (1-800-288-4677)

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      ISBN: 978-1-4502-5663-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4502-5664-3 (ebook)

      Printed in the United States of America

      iUniverse rev. date: 10/07/2010

      Table of Contents

      PREFACE

      INTRODUCTION

      CHAPTER 1: BELIEVE AGAIN

      CHAPTER 2: THE BASICS OF BELIEF

      CHAPTER 3: BRAINS, BELIEFS, AND BALONEY BINS

      CHAPTER 4: THE JESUS EXPERIENCE

      CHAPTER 5: THE WORD OF GOD

      CHAPTER 6: FAITH AND A TRANSCENDENT SET OF PRINCIPLES

      CHAPTER 7: DEFINING, REDEFINING, AND REFINING OUR TERMS

      CHAPTER 8: THE PROBLEM WITH HAVING A PROBLEM WITH GAY MARRIAGE

      CHAPTER 9: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

      CHAPTER 10: PRAYER

      EPILOGUE

      BIBLIOGRAPHY

      PREFACE

      In 1976 when I was 18 years old I left Grantsburg, Wisconsin to attend the University of Wisconsin, Superior. My religious world up until then was defined by Faith Lutheran Church which I and my four brothers had attended every Sunday of our lives. For the first time in my life I encountered people of other religions. I checked a book out of the library on world religions to see if I could understand it all.

      What followed was 34 years of reading books and having a wide variety of experiences. I traveled for a time with a Christian gospel group. I have been a part of fundamentalist Christian churches, charismatic churches, a variety of traditional Christian churches, and a couple of Unitarians churches. I have also studied A Course in Miracles, Buddhism, theosophy, Jungian psychology, transpersonal psychology, perennial philosophy, quantum physics, shamanism, mythology, and a variety of world religions. I took angels classes, chakra classes, and had weekly sessions with a shaman all the while thinking that enlightenment and understanding was just around the corner.

      Along the way I also became a 2nd grade teacher, a high school wrestling coach, and a 9th grade girls volleyball coach, and I went on to earn a Ph.D. in literacy instruction at the University of Minnesota. I am now a professor of holistic education at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

      The Process

      I have written several academic books and many journal articles but nothing quite like this. For one thing, this book is about Christianity. However, the process I used here was very much the same as that used with my academic books and articles. For each chapter I would: (a) start with a question, (b) collect initial data based on the question, (c) immerse myself in the literature related to the question, (d) take careful notes, and (e) look for patterns to arise from my notes. After these steps I would then begin to write.

      However, there were two differences. First, I allowed myself to use all parts of my mind. Logic and knowledge were used along with emotion, intuition, and spirituality in shaping these ideas for an audience I imagined would be reading them. And second, I gave myself more freedom than I normally do in letting the ideas speak to me, guide me, and shape what ultimately appeared on the computer screen in front of me. (I shaped the ideas as much as they shaped me.)

      APA Format for Citations

      To keep this book reader-friendly I have used as few citations as possible. This is very hard for an academician whose normal impulse is to cite the heck out of everything in order to build context and establish credibility. When I do cite a source I have used the American Psychological Association (APA) format as this is the easiest to read. Here you will find the author’s name and a year of publication in parentheses behind the idea cited within the text. This lets you know where the idea came from and the year it was written without breaking comprehension. The full citation can be found at the end of the chapter. I have found this to be much more effective in maintaining the flow of ideas than using Chicago Style with footnotes, Ibids, and notes buried at the end of the book.

      A full bibliography is included at the end which lists all of the sources used for this book. However, since I have pulled in ideas from over 30 years of study this must be considered a very condensed list.

      INTRODUCTION

      DREAMTIME

      This is a book examines Christianity from a perspective you may not have considered up to now. I present here a view of Christianity that is more real and vital then what you may have experienced previously. However, its reality and vitality lie not in the outer, historical realm of time and space, but in the inner realm, dreamtime, or the intrapersonal dimensions of our conscious and unconscious mind. This is the realm of the spirit known as the Kingdom of Heaven. This too is where you will experience God, the burning bush, and the Christ.

      However, to enter this place you must take off your shoes and leave some of your old ideas behind (preferably the ones that were not working for you). This is the only way for you to find new knowledge and new growth. We all must die before we can be born again. It is hard for a rich person to find the Kingdom of Heaven. This means that it is difficult to move to a new place if we are clinging to the perceived riches of our old place.

      And now … join me on the journey.

      A JOURNAL

      What you take from this book can be enhanced by recording your thoughts in a journal as you read. Also, activities and journal prompts have been included at the end of each chapter. These are designed to allow you to interact with the ideas presented and link them to your own life. After reading each chapter, record your responses to one or more of these activities in a journal as well as any other thoughts you might have. Some tips for creating an effective journal:

      1. Make this a sacred space. Buy a new notebook to use for this and try to use neat handwriting.

      2. Include diagrams and pictures to hold your ideas.

      3. Include song lyrics that come to mind as you read and think. Then link these lyrics to your life.

      4. Keep your journal where nobody else will read it. You must have complete freedom to write and explore ideas. If you think somebody will read your ideas you will not be completely honest.

      5. Put a date before your entries. This gives you a sense of time and context and it also allows you to look back and see how your entries relate it to other things that were happening in your life.

      6. Write on only one side of the page. This allows you to go back and make comments to yourself and draw pictures or diagrams on the back side.

      CIRCLE GROUPS

      This text and the accompanying activities can be used as part of a class, a study group, or a spiritual growth group called a circle group. A circle group consists of people who are willing to meet at a regular time, once a week or once every two weeks to share the divine experiences they perceive in their daily lives. It works best to start a circle with four to six participants and then encourage others to join. As the numbers increase, sharing should be done in small groups of four to six.

      For every session participants should agree to focus on the same chapter, part of a chapter, or topic. It works best to have different circle members choose a focus for each session. Also, decide on at least one activity that everyone will do before the next Circle. You might choose to use an activity found at the end of a chapter or simply have people reflect on the topic. Record your responses in a journal or log. When you come together participants will share their journal responses in small groups.

      Tips for Small Groups

      Here are six tips to ensure the effectiveness of small groups:

      1. Make sure everyone contributes.

      2. Keep the conversation moving. (Do not spend undo amounts of time on any one person or issue.)

      3. Make sure that no one person dominates the group and that all views are heard.

      4. Accept and validate all ideas. It is okay to have different ideas and beliefs.

      5. Try always to understand.

      6. Never seek to disprove of someone’s idea or force your opinion on another.

      Meetings

      An inherent part of this group will be its ability to evolve in both form and function, thus, the general structure of the meetings described below will most likely look much different in a year (given that the group is still meeting in a year). Set aside about a 2-hour block of time for your meetings. The meetings might consist of the following:

      1. Opening prayer, song, or meditation.

      2. Share personal happenings.

      3. Break into small groups and share how the identified theme has interacted in the lives of each person. This will be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. Near the end, each small group will gather at least three insights to share

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