"Surprised by Doubt" by Joshua Chatraw and Jack Carson. A Review

 

So much of our social encounters feel off these days: marriages, sex roles, parental responsibilities, educational tasks, and more. Even Christianity in North America seems off kilter with allegations of patriarchal heavy-handedness, charges of abuse, and stories of deconversion. Into this odd time steps Joshua D. Chatraw, the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement at Beeson Divinity School, and Jack Carson, the executive director of the Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement and as an instructor at Liberty University. These two have teamed up to publish a new 192-page hardback, “Surprised by Doubt: How Disillusionment Can Invite Us into a Deeper Faith”. The book is about the credibility of the Christian faith. But it reaches deeper into the questions, misgivings, and suspicions of those who have felt burned by their Christian experiences. And it’s readable, friendly, serious without any of the highbrow paternalism of some apologetic approaches.

 

The authors pick up and use C.S. Lewis’s analogy of the house. They track with Lewis regarding the main floor hallway being mere Christianity and the rooms being the different forms of the Christian faith expressed by different denominations. But Chatraw and Carson go beyond Lewis. They climb up into the attic in the house, that unseen upper story that has many narrow rooms built to keep the residents from external contamination and to attain certainty. Unfortunately, these constructed spaces become all-encompassing worlds that are presented as essential Christianity. These rooms often use the rhetoric of resentment “that reinforces the practice of defining itself in opposition to others” (31). These are the spaces where the heart of the New Testament’s “vision of the Christian life – faith, hope, and love – is gradually overshadowed by fear, anxiety, and disillusionment” (29).

 

I found this whole section discussing attic Christianity intriguing and insightful, especially from my early personal experiences inside a sect that promoted itself as the only form of Christian faith acceptable to God. What was touching was how the authors charitably dealt with the attic rooms. But how they also talk to those who have ‘jumped out’ of the attic thinking they know what Christianity is, based on their attic experience, and have said ‘good riddance!’ There is much in this section that goes beyond apologetics, to helping readers feel seen and heard, even the ‘deconverted’. It was, maybe accidentally, profoundly therapeutic.

 

The authors then come down out of the garret and walk outside the house to converse with those who jumped out of the attic windows. Whether they have fled into new atheism, optimistic skepticism, open spirituality, or mythic truth. Chatraw and Carson engage with the mouthpieces of each of these approaches, to include Jordan Peterson, Richard Dawkins, Bart Ehrman, and Rhett McLaughlin, among others. But they’re not confrontational or demeaning. Instead, they acknowledge what is legitimate about each, and reasonable regarding their critiques of Christianity. But they also thoughtfully respond in ways that keep the conversation going, with a goal in mind of helping others to consider coming inside and investigate the ground floor of the house.

 

Finally, the authors open the front door and walk into the house, inviting readers inside. And the authors do not disappoint. Remaining ever charitable, they show the layout of the house from the foundation with Jesus as the center, the loadbearing walls and more. This whole section helps to bring those who jumped out of the attic windows to consider that maybe there’s more to Christianity than they had believed, to ponder how expansive the house is, and to reassess their skepticism. Though much inside these chapters might be thought of as classic apologetics, nevertheless the authors remain gracious and add their own approach that is helpful, even for Christians.

 

“Surprised by Doubt” seems primarily focused on challenging attic Christianity’s overreach as it asserts a ‘beyond any doubt certainty’. But it also addresses the modern fundamentalist mindset of many who have deconverted, jumped out of the windows, and fled the premises. If you’ve been in the attic, you should grab a copy. You may find it restorative. If you’ve jumped out of the attic window, give it a read and see how it feels. If you’ve never been in the house at all, you ought to examine this work and see if it speaks your secret doubts. I highly recommend the work.