What Remains: Journeying Beyond Evangelicalism - Hardcover

by Benjamin Garrett (Author)

What Remains describes the damaging psychological and sociological effects of white American Evangelical discipleship. This book lays out the kind of behaviors the Evangelical discipleship process hopes to foster and the desires that motivate and are instilled by this process. This book offers a different perspective from existing "exiting Evangelicalism"-type narratives. Most of these books focus heavily on theological, philosophical, or historical arguments about why Evangelical Christianity is wrong and offer alternative beliefs. What Remains intentionally and explicitly avoids conversations about beliefs. Instead, because desire directs belief, the focus is on how different kinds of spiritual formation direct a person's desire towards what is life-destroying or life-affirming. This leads to a description of what an alternative spiritual formation process could look like for people who feel betrayed by Evangelicalism. This counter-formation is drawn from the author's faith-based community development work in Chicago and Atlanta, as well as with social enterprises across the world. These experiences offer a vision for respecting the difference of our neighbors, resilience, and justice, and are offered to the reader to explore for their own faith development in the wake of their experience of Evangelicalism's failure.

Author Biography

Benjamin Garrett is a designer, facilitator, coach, consultant, and writer. He has spent most of his career working in or supporting startup nonprofits and social enterprises. He received a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Currently he is the Innovation Programming and Operations Manager for Emory University's Center for Innovation, The Hatchery. Benjamin lives in Marietta, Georgia, with his wife, Candra Michelle.