Don’t Let Deconstruction Become Deconversion

“I still believe in Jesus; I just don’t identify as Christian anymore.”

My old friend watched me to see how I would respond. I didn’t spit out my coffee, but I did have to fight the urge to tell him, “You’re not allowed to do that!” Instead, I bumbled my way through a conversation about his frustrations with “the church” and his decision to deconstruct his faith.

As a pastor in a college town, I’m having these conversations more and more. The concept of deconstruction as a faith journey was mostly unimaginable to previous generations—one was either a Christian or not. But in an age characterized by authentic self-expression, an uncharted borderland has opened between faith and apostasy in the imaginations of many who have grown up in the church.

Reflecting on the conversation later, I wished I’d had a book to invite my friend to read with me that would have helped him navigate back to orthodoxy. Set Adrift: Deconstructing What You Believe Without Sinking Your Faith by Sean McDowell and John Marriott is just such a resource.

Fog of Doubt

The book opens with an illustration of being on a paddleboard in the ocean as a dense fog rolls in. Imagine the disorientation that would follow from losing any visual reference point. Should you stay put and risk being swept out to sea? If you paddle forward, how will you know if you’re heading toward safety or danger?

Many in the process of deconstructing feel as if they’re lost offshore in a dense fog of doubt. The fog takes many forms. It could be political: How did so many people in my church vote for that person? It could be theological: Does God predestine people to eternal damnation? It could be ethical: Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world if God is both good and all-powerful? In many cases, the fog is personal: Why is my life this hard? Doesn’t God love me?

No matter where their doubts arise from, drifting people need something to orient them and a guide to help them along the way. This book is an attempt by two men from Biola––McDowell, associate professor of Christian apologetics; and Marriott, director of the Center for Christian Thought––to provide a navigational chart for those lost in the fog.

Redefining Deconstruction

Set Adrift isn’t about the philosophical aspects or cultural phenomena of deconstruction. The authors take only a few pages to consider the technical meaning of deconstruction, giving a brief description of the philosophical and literary movement initiated by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Most young people reevaluating their faith know little of Derrida, and McDowell and Marriott argue few deconstructors begin their journeys because Christianity is oppressive or intolerant. That’s often something they’re told on the way.

No matter where their doubts arise from, drifting people need something to orient them and a guide to help them along the way.

Set Adrift defines deconstruction as “a process of analysis that Christians who want to follow Jesus engage in because they ‘doubt the faith they’ve received is the fully refined good that God intends, and are seeking to sift out the dross and keep what is most precious’” (7). This is a debatable definition. For example, Alisa Childers argues against a positive use of “deconstruction,” noting that the wide range of meanings for the term “carries the potential to suck unsuspecting Christians into a dangerous vortex of influences from which they might not return.” Another option is to refer to the process of refining one’s faith according to Scripture as “disenculturation,” which intentionally avoids the baggage from a term like “deconstruction.”

Set Adrift reflects a choice to fill deconstruction with a positive meaning. Whatever the terminology, the authors hope to help honest questioners find their way through doubt and back to orthodox Christianity.

Deconstructing Well

McDowell and Marriott use a historical and global “mere” Christianity as the boundaries for the deconstruction process. They argue, for example, that Christians can hold differing opinions on issues like the age of the earth or the timing of Christ’s return and his millennial reign. They dedicate a chapter to defending the historic doctrine of biblical authority against a progressive view in which authority is located in our “experience, intuition, culture, or something else” (62). There is room for healthy debate about some doctrines, though those debates must be fenced by Scripture’s authoritative content.

Few deconstructors begin their journeys because Christianity is oppressive or intolerant; that’s often something they’re told on the way.

Yet healthy deconstruction requires moving beyond questions of doctrinal fidelity to evaluate social imaginaries. Sometimes people can cognitively believe something is true but feel it isn’t. The authors note, “All social imaginaries contain an unspoken vision of how the world (in general) and people (in particular) ought to be” (78). This book helps deconstructors become aware of conflicts between their social imaginaries and their doctrine.

In many conversations I’ve had with friends in different stages of deconstruction, the gap between our social imaginaries seems unbridgeable, which often leads to misunderstanding and frustration. This book recognizes that those unaware of their underlying assumptions are most likely to be controlled by them.

Don’t Drift Alone

Set Adrift is a useful book for individuals early on in the deconstruction process. Rather than treating deconstructors as specimens to be evaluated, this book treats them as pilgrims on a journey. Though it’s written primarily for individuals, it’d be best read in a group, especially alongside a mature Christian.

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in Life Together, “The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.” Ministry leaders should have copies of Set Adrift on hand to study with those who come to confess they feel adrift in a fog of doubt.