View source for Podcasts/Sacred Tension-Why I Still Call Myself a Christian

Why_I_Still_Call_Myself_a_Christian
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
myth, christianity, christian, podcast, steven, religion, creed, christ, support, minimalistic, wander, accept, star review, doubt, non theism, unfalsifiable, episode, stories, bradford, traditional
SPEAKERS
Stephen Bradford Long

Stephen Bradford Long  00:17
This is sacred tension, the podcast about the spiritual discipline of asking questions. My name is Steven long. You can find the full transcript of this mini episode at Steven Bradford long.com. I've spent a great deal of time on this podcast exploring the ways in which my faith has transformed from the reassuring, cozy, traditional Christianity of my childhood. I've wandered far from home into non theism, flirted with blasphemy and questioned the existence of the supernatural altogether. Many would say, I'm not a Christian at all, and they might be right. If one defines Christianity as taking the Nicene and apostles creed as literal truth, then I certainly don't qualify. I think I stopped believing the Creed's long before I ever accepted my crisis of faith, perhaps post Christian would be a more accurate descriptor. I've entered a terrain which is beyond traditional Christianity, but only accessible by way of Christianity. And yet, I still hold on to the label Christian. And the reason is simple. I can't give up my love affair with the myth of Christ. I can't let go of the story about the God man who came to Earth told stories taught love and radical peace and then modeled ego, death and resurrection, the path we are all meant to follow day after day, in the most simple, minimalistic way possible. I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, someone who makes Christ the most central image of my inner guiding myth. I'm not sure I can help myself. Religion is mapped onto my being like a language. From the earliest days of my life, no matter how much I may doubt, wander and reject the unfalsifiable claims of religion. I can't rid myself of religion and I don't think I need to. If this minimalistic Christianity strikes other Christians as heretical to little cloying and pandering to worldly doubt, that's fine. I accept that. But I welcome others into my minimalistic religion with me, those who doubt struggle and yet still yearn for religious life. We don't have to believe in God or the supernatural. We don't even have to accept the stories about Christ as true. I think many of them are probably legend, we can embrace the myth of Christ, the transcendent, self sacrificing path that myth sets before us. And that I think, makes us Christians love my work and want to support it, go to patreon.com forward slash Steven Bradford long and for $1 A month or $5 a month you will get a separate patrons only podcast called the House of heretics. You can also support this show by commenting on this episode by going to Steven Bradford long.com. You can also support it by leaving a five star review on iTunes and sharing it with your friends and on social media. And as usual, thanks for listening