February 06, 2022

Joshua Harris: Why I Left Evangelicalism, Church, and Purity Culture

1 hour 18 minutes

Joshua Harris became famous at 22 in evangelical circles after writing a book called, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" that popularized the concept of "courting" as a "Christian" alternative to the secular dating scene. Harris was a product of the conservative Christian homeschool movement. He later became a senior pastor of a Sovereign Grace Ministries mega church (formerly People of Destiny) outside Washington, DC. After embracing what appeared to him as an exciting church movement on the cutting edge of living and spreading "the gospel" of Jesus, he discovered its dark side. Seeing spiritual abuse, manipulation, controlling leaders, and sexual abuse lawsuits that hit his denomination, he ultimately became disillusioned, left the church, attended a progressive seminary, admitted his ministry mistakes, and then announced he no longer considered himself a Christian.

Join Michael and Josh in a fascinating conversation on Josh's evolution, how and why he changed his mind, and what brought him to where he is today--having deconstructed evangelicalism and wondering if what faith should boil down to is simply loving your neighbor--i.e., the love ethic of Christ. Michael and Josh have a lot in common in their past and reminisce about the recent history of the evangelical movement, where they think it lost its way, and how to approach religious deconstruction and reconstruction. Learn about Josh's journey at joshharris.com and Michael's at spiritualbrewpub.com.

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