Table of Contents
Preface xi
Part I Setting The Stage
1 Why Modern Men and Women Can No Longer Be Believers 3
Part II Stating The Problem
2 How the First Reformation Began 17
3 Differentiating the Experience from the Explanation 23
Part III Thesis 1: God
4 The Challenge of the Copernican Revolution 33
5 The Impact on Theism from Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin 41
6 Dealing with the Insights of Freud 49
7 A Place to Begin-Being Not a Being 55
8 The Quest for God: A New Form 61
9 Our Definition of God: Evolving, Never Fixed 69
Part IV Thesis 2: Jesus The Christ
10 Escaping the Idolatry of the Incarnation 77
11 The Collapse of the Salvation Story 83
Part V Thesis 3: Original Sin
12 The Garden of Eden 93
Part VI Thesis 4: The Virgin Birth
13 The Story of the Virgin Birth 103
14 The Actual Details Behind Jesus' Birth 111
Part VII Thesis 5: Miracles
15 When Miracles Entered the Bible 121
16 The Miracles in the Moses/Joshua Story 129
17 Elijah and Elisha-Miracles Expanded 135
18 The Miracles of Jesus 141
19 Messiah Miracles-The Final Clue 149
Part VIII Thesis 6: Atonement Theology
20 Renouncing "Jesus Died for My Sins" 155
21 Incomplete-Not Fallen 161
Part IX Thesis 7: Easter
22 The Resurrection 169
23 Paul's List of Resurrection Witnesses 177
24 The Gospels' Understanding of Easter 183
Part X Thesis 8: The Ascension
25 Elijah Magnified 191
Part XI Thesis 9: Ethics
26 Finding the Basis for Ethics 199
27 How the Ten Commandments Have Changed Through History 207
28 Meet Moses' Father-in-Law 215
29 The Questionable Relevance of the Ten Commandments Today 221
30 Modern Ethics 227
Part XII Thesis 10: Prayer
31 The Death of Prayer 237
32 Prayer: An Act of Being or of Doing? 243
33 Driving Prayer Toward a New Understanding 249
Part XIII Thesis 11: Life After Death
34 Life After Death-Still Believable? 257
35 A New Perspective on Eternity 263
Part XIV Thesis 12: UNIVERSALISM
36 The Marks of Tomorrow's Christianity 273
Part XV Epilogue
37 My Mantra: This I Do Believe 283
Bibliography 289
Scripture Index 299
Subject Index 303