Learn why your Pastor does not preach all he/she has been taught!

 
Much, if not most, of what is preached on Sunday mornings is different than what is taught in reputable Christian colleges and seminaries. This disconnect is fast becoming the leading factor in the continued decline of Christianity in the United States.

This is a reader-friendly book that turns the Sunday school Christianity of most churchgoers on its ear as it systematically combines ancient wisdom with 21st-century Biblical scholarship.

A must-read for anyone concerned with the future of the church.

INSIDE: Using a non-fiction-narrative style of writing, author Barry E Blood Sr. introduces the reader to a group of inquiring college students who are interested in learning (more) about the Christian religion. They are introduced to Professor Andrew Tracy who agrees to instruct  them but with the understanding that he will only teach at the Academic level, not the “pabulum that you are used to getting in Sunday School.” The students agree, though not quite knowing what Prof. Tracy meant by that statement. What ensues is an infusion of current Biblical and Christian scholarship into the traditional doctrine of the Church.

The reader will be:

• Enlightened
• Shocked (perhaps)
• Challenged
• Informed (for certain)

Love it or hate it, the reader will have a better understanding of the problems the Church is facing in these times of declining membership and decreased financial support.
 

 
Reviews

This challenging book puts the academic study of Christianity in an easily accessible form for the lay reader.  Love it or hate it, you will have a better understanding of why the 21st Century Church is struggling with membership and finances in today’s society. —  Rev. Donna Oberkreser, Central Christian Church (DOC), Clearwater, FL

The church can be remarkably unhelpful to people in search of a true understanding of our faith, partly because of some clergy’s fear of reprisal from within the congregation and partly from a lack of intellectual integrity. The reader will be inspired by this engaging story that echoes the personal experience of many Christians. — Rev. Dr. Anton DeWet, Old Steeple UCC, Aquebogue, NY

In this valuable modern book, Barry Blood’s characters discuss the difference between “old” thinking and “modern” beliefs, or as Blood says in his Preface, “This book is intended to help close the knowledge gap that exists between “popular” Christianity, and “academic” Christianity, meaning the doctrine as it is taught in reputable colleges and seminaries.”  Membership is declining in many churches. Young people with modern thinking, refuse to follow obsolete beliefs. Writing in a non-threatening way, Blood challenges both young and not so young to understand the church’s mission in today’s modern world. —Rev. Clifford Lawrence,(Retired)

This book addresses a clergy/congregation divide that desperately needs to be negotiated and reconciled if the “Church” hopes to regain its relevancy in the 21st century. Barry Blood offers a way forward through an engaging Socratic style conversation between a pastor and congregation. — Rev. Andrew Walton, Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Clearwater FL.

In many churches today, the expectation for the people attending services is that they ‘check their brains’ at the door and accept being spoon-fed theological and assertions from millennia ago. In Secrets of Our Faith, Barry Blood charts a new future for the ‘Church’ through combining creative storytelling with current theological and biblical scholarship.  This combination has all of the ingredients to begin to break down the walls between what is being learned in academic institutions and seminaries, and what is being taught weekly in churches around the world.  Secrets of Our Faith, has the power to help shape that new paradigm in profound ways. — Rev. Michael MacMillan, Faith UCC, Dunedin, FL