Andy Byers’ FAITH WITHOUT ILLUSIONS

I would like to give a plug to a new book by friend and future scholar Andrew Byers Faith Without Illusions: Following Jesus as a Cynic-Saint (IVP 2011). This is a book for the church – especially for what Byers calls “Christian cynics” – those Christians who have been jaded by some of their experiences in the church. The title is apt (Faith Without Illusions)- when all the illusions of Christian idealism have shattered and faded, what is left? IVP asked me to endorse this book for Andy. Here is what I said:

“Andrew Byers takes a hard look at the broken, bitter and jaded in the church who are at a fork in the road. He offers a path of faith paved with hope and healing in the footsteps of the best models of Scripture. Byers is a humorous, unassuming and sympathetic guide, one worth following down the better road.”

If you know a teen or college student (or you are a teen or college student), you would do well to read this book. Byers has the ministry experience, Biblical expertise, and wit to write wisely and transparently. His humility and honesty work well with the subject matter. Here is the official book description:

Call it burnout. Call it enlightenment. Call it whatever you like–it’s plaguing the contemporary church. Andrew Byers calls it cynicism–the state we all too easily arrive at after passing through disillusionment. Too many saints in the making are having their wings clipped in this painful process.

But wait–there’s hope. Disillusionment is, at its heart, the dispersal of illusions, pointing us toward what’s really real–a great cloud of hopeful realists who have gone before us and welcome us into their number. There is a way beyond cynicism, and if we follow Jesus through it, we’ll find faith and life at their fullest.

Check the book out here.