Book review: The Deconstruction of Christianity

Deconstruction remains one of the most controversial and divisive issues facing the contemporary evangelical church, and there appears to be no end in sight. The term has become a slogan that means different things to different people, mourned and celebrated online, accompanied by the labels #deconstruction and #exvangelical.

A whole lot has been written and said about the topic in books, at conferences, and on social media, much of it heavy on anger and light on grace. Blogs, podcasts, TikTok and Instagram accounts with myriads of followers are dedicated to getting others to deconstruct with ironically evangelistic zeal.

The result has been heartbreaking for families and individuals who’ve watched a loved one go through deconstruction. Believers struggling with their faith may not know what to think or where to turn.

A new book by apologists Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett, The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond, offers timely help and hope. The authors shed light on the who, what, why and how of deconstruction with thoughtfulness, compassion and biblical truth. Their book is divided into three sections, under the hashtag titles, #Exvangelical and #Deconstruction, along with a third – #Hope – which is what their book offers to those who are struggling with this troubling phenomenon.

#Exvangelical

Before writing their book, Childers and Barnett spent months researching deconstruction. “We’ve listened to countless deconstruction stories,” they write. “We’ve read books written by people who have deconstructed. We’ve jumped headlong into the deconstruction echo chambers on Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. We’ve met privately with proponents of deconstruction on Zoom. Our main objective in writing this book is to analyze the phenomenon of deconstruction and provide a biblical analysis and critique of its methods, trends, messages, and impact on the church.”

None of this is a simple exercise. As the authors point out, deconstruction isn’t so much a movement as an explosion, with people blasting off in different directions and landing in a variety of destinations, whether agnosticism, progressive Christianity, secular humanism, or some form of private spirituality. Moreover, there’s no single, unequivocal way people use the word deconstruction. The authors explain: “When someone says, ‘I’m deconstructing my faith,’ they could mean anything from asking questions, experiencing doubts, and correcting beliefs to rejecting Scripture, following cultural norms, or leaving Christianity altogether. But if deconstruction means everything, it means nothing.”

Some Christian leaders attempt to distinguish between good and bad deconstruction, but Childers and Barnett find this unhelpful. In the first place, “good deconstruction” (pursuing truth, asking honest questions, engaging doubts, bringing beliefs in line with Scripture) is better labelled “reformation.” At the same time, based on the authors’ research, “bad deconstruction” (rejecting historical biblical faith and redefining truth to align with personal beliefs and cultural norms) is how most people in the deconstruction explosion understand the term. In any case, “deconstruction” carries negative philosophical baggage that makes it best to avoid for a positive refinement of one’s faith.

Boiling it down to its simplest features, Childers and Barnett offer this definition: “Faith deconstruction is a postmodern process of rethinking your faith without regarding Scripture as a standard.”

In social media spaces, #deconstruction and #exvangelical often appear together. “This isn’t a coincidence,” the authors explain. “An explosion blasts out in all different directions from a singular starting place. That point is the church; more specifically, the evangelical church. The one thing virtually all deconstruction stories have in common is what they say they are leaving behind.” The list includes racism, misogyny, white supremacy and Christian nationalism, all of which have at times plagued the church. However, these sins are conflated with core biblical doctrine, such as the deity of Jesus, his sacrifice for sin, the final judgment and the authority of Scripture. The whole faith is then rejected as toxic, abusive and oppressive.

None of this is new, as the authors demonstrate through a survey of biblical history, stretching from the Garden of Eden to the people of Israel to the apostasy of Demas, a trusted member of Paul’s missionary team. In each case, people were led to reject God’s truth in favour of their own desires. They wound up feeling that the world and its ideas was more attractive than God and his Word.

#Deconstruction

Childers and Barnett devote the bulk of their book to a deep dive into the how, what and who questions surrounding deconstruction. They explore the process of deconstruction, the belief being deconstructed, and the person doing the deconstructing. Before all that, they examine the question of why people deconstruct.

“Most people don’t make a conscious choice to enter into deconstruction,” they observe. “It’s often triggered by a crisis that initiates the process. It’s typically not something people choose. In many cases, it happens to them.”

The types of crises that can trigger deconstruction take many forms: suffering a tragic loss; struggling with doubt; divisive political opinions; the harmful overreach of purity culture; difficult teachings of the Bible; moral and theological standards considered “toxic” by contemporary culture; spiritual or sexual abuse within the church. Yet none of these crises make deconstruction inevitable. There are many who’ve experienced them and come out the other side with their faith strengthened. This is not to pass judgment on those who haven’t, but rather to affirm there is hope for them and for those who care about them.

The philosophical engine that drives deconstruction is the postmodern belief that all truth is relative and all claims to absolute truth are merely power grabs by those in charge. In place of objective reality, truth is redefined as subjective experience based on what the individual believes or desires to be true. Hence the expression, “Christianity may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.”

Using clear logic and biblical arguments, Childers and Barnett show that these claims are self-defeating – after all, “there is no objective truth” is itself an objective truth claim. Moreover, they demonstrate that the truth of Christianity is independent of our beliefs or preferences. “The Resurrection is a fact about reality – an objective truth – that isn’t just true for those who believe it,” they explain. “Jesus was either raised from the dead, as a historical event in reality, or he wasn’t. If he wasn’t, then Christianity is false. If he was, then Christianity is true for everyone, whether they believe it or not. Because of that, it has eternal consequences for everyone.”

“Toxic theology” is a common expression in the deconstruction sphere, a catchall for any doctrine one considers harmful or offensive. Whether the doctrine is true or not is irrelevant. The only issue is whether someone feels it to be oppressive or abusive or repugnant. The worst possible motives are then ascribed to those who hold such doctrines – which include core Christian beliefs such as the authority of Scripture, original sin, Jesus dying for our sins, and the final judgment.

While Childers and Barnett acknowledge that biblical theology, like any good thing, can be twisted for evil purposes, they also point out the logical fallacies inherent in these arguments. They quote C.S. Lewis on the subject: “You must show that a man is wrong before you start explaining why he is wrong. The modern method is to assume without discussion that he is wrong and then distract his attention from this (the only real issue) by busily explaining how he became so silly.”

After examining the process and the object of deconstruction (the how and the what) Childers and Barnett turn to the who – the person doing the deconstructing. Every deconstruction story is different, but the authors identify several traits all deconstructors (and all human beings) share. As image bearers of God, they have intrinsic value and are entitled to the respect due to all people. As sinners, they may be motivated by their own sin, but also by being sinned against. As seekers, they have the choice of seeking God and his truth or seeking self. As captives to false ideas, they need the truth of Christ to set them free. As rebels against God, they mistake slavery to sin for freedom and will only find true freedom as servants of Jesus.

#Hope

Throughout their book, Childers and Barnett have clearly and consistently made the distinction between encouraging those who are struggling with their faith and confronting those who misrepresent God and twist his Word. They’ve been careful to follow Scripture’s injunctions to weep with those who weep, but also to engage in spiritual warfare for the truth. Their work reflects the twin principles from the letter of Jude, “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” and to “have mercy on those who doubt” (Jude 1:3,22).

Following their thorough exploration of the how, what, who and why of deconstruction, the authors devote the final section of their book to offering hope for those deconstructing their faith and for those who love them.

The first step in engaging with someone who is considering or undergoing deconstruction is to make room for their questions. Deconstruction stories often cite a church background in which questions were unwelcome, vilified as sin, or dismissed with pat answers. The authors acknowledge this sad reality in some church settings, but also point out that people can reject answers they don’t want to hear, or ask questions in bad faith, not because they seek the truth, but because they want to escape it. Jesus encountered both kinds of questions, responding to them with appropriate discernment and grace, as a model for his followers.

Next, Childers and Barnett offer four practical steps for coming alongside a loved one who is deconstructing. Step one is to pray; God invites us to bring our anxieties to him and promises his peace, which transcends understand. Step two is to stay calm and stay in their life; resist the urge to fix them and be a safe space for them to process their struggles. Step three is to do some triage; consider the nature of your relationship, what the person means by deconstruction, what they’re struggling with and how they may have been hurt. Step four is to set boundaries and respect theirs; think about how best to show them grace and respect without compromising your convictions.

In the final chapter, the authors offer a meditation on what the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday might have been like for Peter and the apostles, as they processed their doubt, fear, shame and discouragement. “Perhaps you have loved ones who have experienced a crisis of faith and are living in a ‘Saturday’,” they write. “Like Peter, they may have unanswered questions, they may be suffering, they may be feeling abandoned and alone, they may be uncertain about what they’ve been taught. But here’s what we know about Peter: Although all hope seemed lost on Saturday, Sunday was around the corner. And Sunday brought hope and led him to a stronger, lasting faith. If it can happen for Peter, then it can happen for you or your loved one too.”

Sources and further reading

Alisa Childers and Tim Barnett, The Deconstruction of Christianity: What It Is, Why It’s Destructive, and How to Respond, Tyndale, 2024. (available through our online store)