Preface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: Farewell, Pangaea Part One: Understanding Perhaps 1. What Abraham Discovered: Faith Seeking Imagination 2. "Perhapsing" Church Tradition: Origen, Julian, and Jonathan Edwards 3. Guardrails on Moriah: How (Not) to Say Perhaps Part Two: Against Dogmatism 4. Survival of the Shrillest: What Dogmatism Sounds Like 5. The Trouble with Certainty: A Guide to "Knowing Darkly" 6. We Three Kings: Scripture Contra Dogmatism Part Three: Against Doubt 7. Descending Santa Scala: How Scripture Counters Doubt and the Divided Heart 8. Cogito ergo None? A Snapshot of Conversion 9. Split Brains or Divided Hearts? A Snapshot Continued Part Four: Practicing Perhaps 10. Dead Animals: Creation, Science, and Prehuman Sacrifice 11. What If God? Rethinking Vessels of Wrath 12. After the End: The Marriage Supper and the Great Divorce Conclusion Name Index Subject Index Scripture Index
The Christian life requires faith. That means that believers are sometimes faced with uncertainty. But is all uncertainty bad? Theologian Joshua McNall encourages readers to reclaim the little word "perhaps" as a sacred space between the warring extremes of unchecked doubt and zealous dogmatism. To say "perhaps" on certain contested topics means exercising a hopeful imagination, asking hard questions, returning once again to Scripture, and reclaiming the place of holy speculation as we cling to a faith that stands distinct from both pervasive skepticism and abrasive certainty. In this day especially, it's time Christians learned to say "perhaps."
Joshua M. McNall (PhD, University of Manchester) is associate professor of pastoral theology, ambassador of church relations, and director of the honors program at Oklahoma Wesleyan University. He is the author of The Mosaic of Atonement: An Integrated Approach to Christ's Work, Long Story Short: The Bible in Six Simple Movements, and A Free Corrector: Colin Gunton and the Legacy of Augustine.
