This was a much needed conversation. My husband and I deconstructed a few years ago. I say we deconstructed from our Upbringing, the way we looked at his parents (father in particular), and from legalism. I can honestly look back at my faith walk and say yep up until this point here, I'd say I was a legalist and not actually a Believer. We have also deconstructed from the denomination we were raised in. We've deconstructed in our views on "corporate worship." If you want me to get on a soap box just ask me my views on women teaching in the Church. I get fired UP.
It breaks my heart to see so many of my peers walking away from the Lord when I was able to maintain my relationship with Him but walk away from indoctrination and legalism. It hurts my heart for them and yet I understand why they have chosen to walk away. I've seen the hurt or the betrayal or just the lack of sound teaching. Hello, I see you prosperity gospel, thanks for nothing. Oh, hey, hi purity culture, you made us feel like garbage for a decade, we appreciate that ..not.
My goal now is to be loving and gracious towards people, the way God is with me. If the apostle Paul can say he is one of the most depraved humans ever therefore he cannot stand in a place of judgement then neither can I.
Kristen pointing out that all of the other huge movements in Church history were initially controversial and perceived as bad, to the point of persecution is incredibly encouraging to me. Yet again, we are living in a historical moment that will be talked about for generations to come. Where do I want to be in this movement?
Thank you for this! I’m on the same path. Not leaving my faith in Christ, but walking away from the evangelical denominations doctrine & legalism. Looking at how the evangelical “faith” isn’t built on the bible, but built on the teachings of those who have twisted the scriptures to suit them.
I love your hair and question here...where do I want to be in this movement? Not at the back, I'm pretty sure! I am pretty sure when we ask God the same thing, he is all about our deconstructions! Isn't that what Jesus did with his disciples? He helped them move away from their legalism
Wow. Wow. Wow. I love this and I hope it helps people understand just how long this has been going on and that it doesn't mean a faith departure...just a questioning of harmful systems that every institution needs to watch out for and rarely do.
Thank you for this. I’ve described my faith untangling as the same unmoored, adrift feeling I experienced when my parents divorced when I was 21. This questioning of whether your whole life til then had been a lie, and were there any pieces that could be salvaged because they were actually truth.
I truly don’t understand these faith leaders who get so mad that people are re-evaluating their faith. If you want more people to stick with Christianity, I don’t know, maybe try actually living and loving like Jesus did.
I didn’t decide to deconstruct because I no longer loved the Lord, if anything it was the exact opposite, I realized the church I was in as well as the larger group of evangelical Christians were not living and loving like Jesus did. And then I realized how much of the theology I was taught was the very opposite of Jesus also. I am deconstructing because I want to live out a faith that looks like Jesus, not like some man-made list of wrongs and rights and constant othering of people in order to maintain power and control.
Right there with you, Brittany. I also am an adult child of divorce and think that experience and the “faith untangling” process can feel so similar. I’ve had to do a lot of self-differentiation from my family of origin. That work has also impacted my faith in ways that I think are healthy and necessary for me.
Super helpful and thorough. Thanks for this! I remember many of these milestones from the early 2000s when I was in high school and checking alllll the Jesus boxes.
This was a really helpful timeline, thank you! As someone who grew up through this (graduated high school in 2011) so much of this was happening in my formative years and I was aware of some of it, but really was more aware of my/the church’s response to it - the “othering” of those deconstructing, not encouraging questions, focus on doing the right thing. I remember a group of us seniors in youth group asking our youth pastor to tackle some of the tough topics and lead us through book studies cause we didn’t understand why the church had a certain position, but nothing came of it. The questions made him uneasy. In the decade+ since I’ve learned to embrace questions to seek understanding, but wish that could have come from my church at the time and not have to be developed on my own.
Oh what a great idea! I started going through my journals last night to pull out a specific thing I want to share and was shocked at how early this began for me.
I'm discovering this a good while after you wrote it, but I'm devouring this series, and the timeline you present is fascinating! I appreciated your acknowledgment in the last post that devout believers don't just casually walk away from their faith - they wrestle long and hard. The seeds of my deconstruction were sown in 2016, and I've been wrestling ever since. I've landed in a very ambiguous spot, but as someone with OCD that pushes me towards rigidity, it's actually been a pretty healthy place for me to land. There's a lot I don't know, and that's ok.
I appreciate the history lesson. I started my deconstruction in the mid-80s SBC where I was an associate pastor. It started for me in seeking consistency where there was little, and my distaste for apologetics - if you need apologetics either the scripture or the doctrine is wrong. I did a deep dive into translation and the journey has never ended. My faith is far stronger and more consistent, and I approach my ministry more centered on Jesus and hi teachings. It has been worth every step of the trip.
Thanks for taking the time to write this. I was in a Psych of Religion class in 2007 at a Christian liberal arts institution when I first learned the term deconstruction, so your timeline matches up with my experience. We read authors like McLaren, Bell, and books the Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism.
I’ve long thought it would be so helpful for folks to have a better understanding of faith deconstruction to eliminate the secondary suffering of “what the heck is going on with me.” It’s enough to grapple with differing/growing belief systems and the impact of that on relationships and in-groups.
All that to say, I appreciate your research and timeline and look forward to reading more in this series.
I am so impressed with all the work you did for this! I do think some of those bloggers, especially RHE influenced Gelenon and Hatmaker (Hatmaker talks about her DMs with Rachel). And Rachel refers to others. Anyway, I was probably one of the people in 2020 googling the words faith deconstruction. I wrote an article on it then and was like, "oh there is a term for it." You've done a great job putting this together, btw!
This is a fantastic piece on the history of it all. My favorite metaphor for deconstruction is coming out of the basement of “evangelicalism/fundamentalism/______” to discover rooms and rooms of theology and other Christian thought.
I love this. I am, and will remain (I think) for the foreseeable future, a Catholic, so a lot of this stuff existed parallel to my experience, but the similarities are striking, and the overlap is real.
As a philosophy and English student, I love the nuance and the distinctions you’re making here between beliefs and philosophical systems of thought. Deconstruction should NOT be a dirty word because sometimes we just have to take stuff apart to figure out how it works. I am reminded of a coworker I had at a Catholic publishing company who would lament that young people couldn’t/wouldn’t really learn how their computers work. I am glad that you and I and so many other people are really figuring out how our faith and relationship with God WORKS
Totally resonate with what you said about deconstruction being an intellectual process. It took me 2-3 yrs to really understand and be able articulate what I had learned and how I disagreed with the theology the denomination I grew up in taught. If anyone thinks it was an overnight decision, they didn't walk with me thru the wrestling, crying, sleepless nights, depression etc. So thankful to be out of that particular valley!!!
yes! never overnight, never simple, never easy, and never a cop out! it's such a brutal and draining process on all aspects of ourselves - mentally, emotionally, physically, and relationally
I usually describe it like a tornado to my belief system. The true beliefs stayed & what was rebuilt is so much better &.stronger than the old false beliefs!
This was a much needed conversation. My husband and I deconstructed a few years ago. I say we deconstructed from our Upbringing, the way we looked at his parents (father in particular), and from legalism. I can honestly look back at my faith walk and say yep up until this point here, I'd say I was a legalist and not actually a Believer. We have also deconstructed from the denomination we were raised in. We've deconstructed in our views on "corporate worship." If you want me to get on a soap box just ask me my views on women teaching in the Church. I get fired UP.
It breaks my heart to see so many of my peers walking away from the Lord when I was able to maintain my relationship with Him but walk away from indoctrination and legalism. It hurts my heart for them and yet I understand why they have chosen to walk away. I've seen the hurt or the betrayal or just the lack of sound teaching. Hello, I see you prosperity gospel, thanks for nothing. Oh, hey, hi purity culture, you made us feel like garbage for a decade, we appreciate that ..not.
My goal now is to be loving and gracious towards people, the way God is with me. If the apostle Paul can say he is one of the most depraved humans ever therefore he cannot stand in a place of judgement then neither can I.
Kristen pointing out that all of the other huge movements in Church history were initially controversial and perceived as bad, to the point of persecution is incredibly encouraging to me. Yet again, we are living in a historical moment that will be talked about for generations to come. Where do I want to be in this movement?
Thank you for this! I’m on the same path. Not leaving my faith in Christ, but walking away from the evangelical denominations doctrine & legalism. Looking at how the evangelical “faith” isn’t built on the bible, but built on the teachings of those who have twisted the scriptures to suit them.
Right?! There's a huge difference between genuine faith and moralism.
Oh 100%!!
I love your hair and question here...where do I want to be in this movement? Not at the back, I'm pretty sure! I am pretty sure when we ask God the same thing, he is all about our deconstructions! Isn't that what Jesus did with his disciples? He helped them move away from their legalism
Wow. Wow. Wow. I love this and I hope it helps people understand just how long this has been going on and that it doesn't mean a faith departure...just a questioning of harmful systems that every institution needs to watch out for and rarely do.
Thank you for this. I’ve described my faith untangling as the same unmoored, adrift feeling I experienced when my parents divorced when I was 21. This questioning of whether your whole life til then had been a lie, and were there any pieces that could be salvaged because they were actually truth.
I truly don’t understand these faith leaders who get so mad that people are re-evaluating their faith. If you want more people to stick with Christianity, I don’t know, maybe try actually living and loving like Jesus did.
I didn’t decide to deconstruct because I no longer loved the Lord, if anything it was the exact opposite, I realized the church I was in as well as the larger group of evangelical Christians were not living and loving like Jesus did. And then I realized how much of the theology I was taught was the very opposite of Jesus also. I am deconstructing because I want to live out a faith that looks like Jesus, not like some man-made list of wrongs and rights and constant othering of people in order to maintain power and control.
Right there with you, Brittany. I also am an adult child of divorce and think that experience and the “faith untangling” process can feel so similar. I’ve had to do a lot of self-differentiation from my family of origin. That work has also impacted my faith in ways that I think are healthy and necessary for me.
Super helpful and thorough. Thanks for this! I remember many of these milestones from the early 2000s when I was in high school and checking alllll the Jesus boxes.
This was a really helpful timeline, thank you! As someone who grew up through this (graduated high school in 2011) so much of this was happening in my formative years and I was aware of some of it, but really was more aware of my/the church’s response to it - the “othering” of those deconstructing, not encouraging questions, focus on doing the right thing. I remember a group of us seniors in youth group asking our youth pastor to tackle some of the tough topics and lead us through book studies cause we didn’t understand why the church had a certain position, but nothing came of it. The questions made him uneasy. In the decade+ since I’ve learned to embrace questions to seek understanding, but wish that could have come from my church at the time and not have to be developed on my own.
for sure. here’s to being the people we needed!
Well done. I hope a lot of folks find this helpful. I did!
Thank you, I hope so!
This is all so helpful, seeing it in a timeline. Makes me want to write out my own timeline of deconstruction in my life!
Oh what a great idea! I started going through my journals last night to pull out a specific thing I want to share and was shocked at how early this began for me.
I totally think I am going to do that!
Immensely helpful post, thank you for doing all this research!
I'm discovering this a good while after you wrote it, but I'm devouring this series, and the timeline you present is fascinating! I appreciated your acknowledgment in the last post that devout believers don't just casually walk away from their faith - they wrestle long and hard. The seeds of my deconstruction were sown in 2016, and I've been wrestling ever since. I've landed in a very ambiguous spot, but as someone with OCD that pushes me towards rigidity, it's actually been a pretty healthy place for me to land. There's a lot I don't know, and that's ok.
I appreciate the history lesson. I started my deconstruction in the mid-80s SBC where I was an associate pastor. It started for me in seeking consistency where there was little, and my distaste for apologetics - if you need apologetics either the scripture or the doctrine is wrong. I did a deep dive into translation and the journey has never ended. My faith is far stronger and more consistent, and I approach my ministry more centered on Jesus and hi teachings. It has been worth every step of the trip.
Thanks for taking the time to write this. I was in a Psych of Religion class in 2007 at a Christian liberal arts institution when I first learned the term deconstruction, so your timeline matches up with my experience. We read authors like McLaren, Bell, and books the Psychology of Religious Fundamentalism.
I’ve long thought it would be so helpful for folks to have a better understanding of faith deconstruction to eliminate the secondary suffering of “what the heck is going on with me.” It’s enough to grapple with differing/growing belief systems and the impact of that on relationships and in-groups.
All that to say, I appreciate your research and timeline and look forward to reading more in this series.
I am so impressed with all the work you did for this! I do think some of those bloggers, especially RHE influenced Gelenon and Hatmaker (Hatmaker talks about her DMs with Rachel). And Rachel refers to others. Anyway, I was probably one of the people in 2020 googling the words faith deconstruction. I wrote an article on it then and was like, "oh there is a term for it." You've done a great job putting this together, btw!
Thanks for all the work you put into this, Kristen! What an important conversation to have and to engage with humble curiosity.
This is a fantastic piece on the history of it all. My favorite metaphor for deconstruction is coming out of the basement of “evangelicalism/fundamentalism/______” to discover rooms and rooms of theology and other Christian thought.
I love this. I am, and will remain (I think) for the foreseeable future, a Catholic, so a lot of this stuff existed parallel to my experience, but the similarities are striking, and the overlap is real.
As a philosophy and English student, I love the nuance and the distinctions you’re making here between beliefs and philosophical systems of thought. Deconstruction should NOT be a dirty word because sometimes we just have to take stuff apart to figure out how it works. I am reminded of a coworker I had at a Catholic publishing company who would lament that young people couldn’t/wouldn’t really learn how their computers work. I am glad that you and I and so many other people are really figuring out how our faith and relationship with God WORKS
Totally resonate with what you said about deconstruction being an intellectual process. It took me 2-3 yrs to really understand and be able articulate what I had learned and how I disagreed with the theology the denomination I grew up in taught. If anyone thinks it was an overnight decision, they didn't walk with me thru the wrestling, crying, sleepless nights, depression etc. So thankful to be out of that particular valley!!!
yes! never overnight, never simple, never easy, and never a cop out! it's such a brutal and draining process on all aspects of ourselves - mentally, emotionally, physically, and relationally
I usually describe it like a tornado to my belief system. The true beliefs stayed & what was rebuilt is so much better &.stronger than the old false beliefs!