We in the exvangelical community toss around the word "deconstruction" quite a bit, to the point that sometimes perhaps it loses its meaning in favor of simply being a popular hashtag. But what does it really mean to deconstruct? Very simply, it means to do a deep dive into a topic -- to not merely …
Continue reading Children’s Stories; or, the Last Temptation of Mary Shelley
Today, August 30th, is the 225th birthday of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Her mother invented feminism, her father founded anarchy; her step-mother translated fairy tales for the Grimm Brothers, and for her whole life, Mary was surrounded by the greatest philosphers, theologians, poets, and artists of her age. So how remarkable is it that, at the …
Continue reading Exvangelical Meditation: Happy Frankenstein Day, or: Finding Your Sacred Text
This exvangelical deconstruction of Santa Claus comes courtesy of Baptist Accountabilty co-founder Megan South Benninger (read her story here). This fascinating exploration reminds me of the "deconstruction" essays I wrote for grad school in which I searched for the historical roots of Dracula and Frankenstein. Really fascinating stuff, to find the kernel of truth in …
I wanted to give my readers an update: Writing has slowed down here at Surviving the Spirit, but it isn't because I'm taking a break. It's because I've been busy writing an exvangelical memoir, in which I rework much of what I've written here while both expanding existing content and writing entirely new material. With …
I met Royce when I was a college student at the University of Alaska, during the waning days of my evangelical journey. We had a few classes together, and his perceptive and uncouth contributions to our class discussions impressed me and made me chuckle in about equal proportion. For my undergrad thesis in 2006, I …
Continue reading Dispatches: Making the Safe Place by Royce Snyder
Read Part Four -- "An Exiled Christian and a Genderqueer Walk Into a Bar" here. It is 2010. I am 29 years old and living in Mount Vernon, Washington where, for the last eighteen months or so, I've been working through my shit with gloriously backbreaking manual labor on a farm.And I think I'm falling …
Growing up as Christians, we were taught from childhood that our theology was the "Absolute Truth," and that it would never change not collapse under scrutiny. When doubts arose as they inevitably do, it was explained to us as God "testing us" or Satan "tempting us." This is framed in a way that suggests that …
Continue reading Exvangelical Meditation: The Courage to Question
It is my pleasure to present a new voice in our Dispatches column. Self-proclaimed "ex-fundie" Andrew Pledger reached out to me this week to see if I was interested in sharing his story at Surviving the Spirit; after reading his "testimony" (maybe it's time for exvangelicals to take that term back), I was deeply moved and knew …
Continue reading Dispatches: “Religious Trauma is Trauma” by Andrew Pledger
Read Part 3 — “Qualm of Conscience” here. It is a chilly night in Auke Bay, Alaska – December of 2007. Chance and I are staying toasty by the electric fire stove, the shadows of which dance all about this wide space around us filled with rows of books, exotic plants I'm responsible for watering, …
The Christian mystic Instagram page Gnostic Alchemy just published a really interesting overview about sacrificial god folklore in many cultures before Christianity utilized it for its Christ liturgy. Their brief essay reads: "Among those connected historically or allegorically with a crucifixion are Prometheus, Adonis, Apollo, Arys, Bacchus, Buddha, Christna, Horus, Indra, Ixion, Mithras, Osiris, Pythagoras, …
Continue reading Exvangelical Meditation: The Many Faces of Good Friday
Surviving the Spirit 