Christianity Lite: A Pastor's Struggle with a Heavy-Handed Religion - Paperback

by Jimmy R. Watson (Author)

Christianity is collapsing under its own weight. In much of its institutional, localized, and individualized forms, the church has become a bastion of heavy-handed dogma and unrelenting limitations. Its ethos appeals primarily to those who see no other option but to get in line and stay in their lane. There is no shortage of thinkers that would love to forge a new path through this malaise. As a pastor who has witnessed firsthand the last thirty-five years of this quandary, Jimmy R. Watson stumbled upon a philosophical approach--an attitude--that could help the church throw off its ankle weights so it can run the race of faith with freedom and flexibility. After reading the late Daniel Dennett's comment about "Religion Lite" in Atlantic Monthly in late summer of 2023, Watson thought that just as we are being asked to leave behind a lighter carbon footprint, maybe we should consider leaving behind a lighter Christian footprint. From that moment on, he began writing these essays, all of which reflect a Christianity that is less heavy-handed and more light-hearted, less constraining and more creative, less oppressive and more open, for a twenty-first-century church.

Author Biography

Jimmy R. Watson is a United Church of Christ pastor. He is the author of Big Jesus: A Pastor's Struggle with Christology (2015) and People Are No Damn Good: A Pastor's Struggle with Ethics and Morality (2022).