MERE CHRISTIAN is a personal journal written from a layman's perspective. Arthur Bryne documents his efforts to reconcile modern ideas about Jesus with Christian scripture, modern politics, and Old Testament precedent.
For believers struggling to ignore tough
questions about Christianity; for anyone tired of shallow apologetics designed to silence challenges to tradition; for anyone seeking earnest, raw discussion about clear problems in scripture - YOU AREN'T ALONE.
Bryne voices questions about scripture we all have, but hesitate to dwell on:
- Why is the Old Testament so brutal?
- Did Jesus change God?Do Paul and Jesus actually agree?Does the Bible have errors?Does the Bible contradict itself?What is deconstruction?Does the Bible support (believe in) flat earth?Why is the Old Testament God so brutal (mean, vicious)?Are Christian apologists (apologetics) right?
About the Author:
"I'd never really read the Bible. Sure, I'd attended church and "turned to Psalms datta-dah," but like most Christians, I'd never intentionally read the entire text of my faith from cover to cover. Without knowing, my faith had become an amorphous blob of others' interpretation of Jesus, God, Paul, and dozens of other cornerstones of Christianity. Each time I tried to pour through the scriptures I tried to base my life on, I'd lose focus and interest. Numbers, Leviticus, Malachi, Ezekiel ... there were so many books I either didn't understand or couldn't find interesting enough to study.
In 2020, my life became quite a bit more complicated. My kids wrestled with personal crisis and identity, relationships in my family were struggling, and the world at large was in crisis. The lens of the world challenged my faith, and the silence of a God I begged to help me sent me spiraling. This book is what happened when I went to the root of my faith - the Bible - and asked all the questions I'd always avoided."
ARTHUR BRYNE has worked as a designer, illustrator, and designer since 1995. This is his first nonfiction book, and began as thirty or so pages of scribbles in a ragged Bible study notebook.