Book Description
Sometimes the best way to explore your thoughts and learn about topics is by gathering at a table with a trusted friend in Christ. Pub Theology & Beyond: New Options for Religious Discourse provides a background and framework to do just that through regular meetings of open-minded and open-hearted people of faith in the safe, informal environment of a pub, bar, or restaurant. Using their own long-running group as a template, the editors reveal the logistics and procedures involved in forming and running such a group, even providing a year’s worth of conversation topics on life, religion, spiritual, and contemporary issues, each thoughtfully explored by the diverse perspectives of current and past pub theology group members. In this way, Pub Theology provides all you’ll need to start your own group and to foster the same environment of growth and blessing that pub theology members have found so enriching for their personal walks and communities of faith.
Book Reviews
The vibrant chorus of voices that fill Pub Theology: New Options for Religious Discourse injected my spirit with fierce, renewed energy. This collection challenges, educates, and offers abundant inspiration for all who seek deeper meaning and wholeness in a weary world that can so often feel meaningless and broken. I finished every entry giddily desperate to discuss its contents with anyone I could find, which seems not only the point but a sure sign of this book’s possibility-packed potential.
—Micah Bucey
Author of The Book of Tiny Prayer:
Daily Meditations from the Plague Year
Church is people, not a building. We meet people where they are, just like Jesus did, with the good news that God loves them. Pub Theology gives excellent conversations about how to meet people where they are with conversations that can be healing and powerful. We need fresh expressions like these to be the Body of Christ in our culture.
—Ken Kessler
BGAV, Empower Coaching Director
If you’ve ever enjoyed a pint or two with good friends at the pub, you know how good it is that the rule barring religion and politics is thrown right out. The pub is the place where real life is talked about, and real theology is done. Deep, broad, and provocative, this book is just what I was looking for to add to the conversation. I welcome its wise and gritty authors to have a seat and give us something of substance to talk about.
—Rev. Ryon Price
Senior Pastor, Broadway Baptist Church
Fort Worth, Texas
One of the most difficult aspects of being a Baptist shaman is we too often practice our craft in isolation. This lovely collection is just the restorative we need post covid to combat our deadening isolation. Like sharing a cold adult beverage poolside with some of our brightest friends and colleagues, these thoughtful considerations can invigorate our theological discussions. The fresh wind of the divine spirit gusts through these pages, occasionally blowing us away.
—The Rev. Dr. Michael S. Usey
Lead pastor, College Park: An American Baptist Church
Greensboro, North Carolina