Strange and Gaudy Fruit: Toxic Theology
Ebook
The history of Christianity includes many doctrines adopted (and actions taken) to meet immediate problems but which had unintended consequences; they are bad fruit (Matt 7:15-20). The oldest is antisemitism, which arose from the competition of the early church with early Judaism. It was built into the New Testament and was developed by the church fathers. Having learned to dehumanize, it was easy to apply the same techniques to other groups; the church became complicit with enslavement, misogyny, and other forms of oppression. One response to the bad fruit is to reject religion, in the manner of Christopher Hitchens. However, the dogmas are part of our culture even if in secular form. If the roots of marginalization are not understood, they cannot be eliminated. This work uses a range of critics and defenders of traditional Western Christianity to identify poisonous fruits and detoxify them. The critical voices do not create a consensus. Nevertheless, a core can be perceived, what Erasmus called the "few truths." Grounded in the religious tradition, they can be shared with secular people as a basis for an ethical, merciful, and respectful society. Although the history of Christianity is bloody, there are ways to go forward.
“Nicoll’s work is indeed strange and good fruit, filling and nutritious. There is much meat in this fruit, much to savor, much to chew on. These are heady times, and Nicoll has produced a heady work—but heady and hearty. It is a work of head and heart, intellect and passion. A heady—even headstrong—work for heady times. A heartfelt work for full-hearted times.”
—Michael Willett Newheart, Howard University, emeritus
- Title: Strange and Gaudy Fruit: Toxic Theology
- Authors: Jeff Nicoll, Ronald Hopson
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2023
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666799873, 9781666738773, 1666738778, 9781666799866, 1666799866, 1666799874
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666799873
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-06-13T09:58:55Z
Jeff Nicoll received his doctorate in theoretical physics from MIT and a Master of Arts in religious studies from the Howard University School of Divinity. He has published papers in physics and cosmology and is the author of Augustine’s Problem: Impotence and Grace (2016).