Kissing Fish: Christianity For People Who Don’t Like Christianity    

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Kissing Fish is a unique blend of personal confession of faith and systematic theology. Roger Wolsey offers a manifesto for “progressive Christianity” that aims to break the seeming stranglehold that “conservative Christianity” has on the minds of many, both in and outside the official churches. He writes in a friendly, accessible manner that is deeply grounded in the best of Christian tradition, both old and new. For those young adults who know there is “something more” to life than the deadening drumbeat of empire but have doubts that “Christianity” is where to find it, this book offers a much needed invitation to discover the joy, love, and compassionate justice that lie at the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

~Wes Howard-Brook, author of Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now, Becoming Children of God, The Church Before Christianity, and Come Out My People!”: God’s Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond

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Kissing Fish is a scholarly yet thoroughly accessible introduction to progressive Christianity. While the intended target audience for this work would seem to be those who have either left the Christian faith or never adopted it at all; the work is filled with pearls of wisdom for all of us, whether associated with Christianity or not. Kissing Fish is a truly remarkable work, serving both as a reminder of the beauty and grace that form the central tenets of the faith, while offering a graceful yet prophetic rebuttal to its more exclusionary tendencies.

~ Roger McClellan, Progressive Christian Alliance

 

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I cannot recommend this book enough...it is so very good!  The author is well-versed with biblical scripture and explains how Jesus' message of love in the gospels can be applied to the present day. If you have ever felt marginalized, judged, or criticized, this book will go a long way towards making you feel accepted and loved for who you are. It also offers advice about how to live more purposefully in terms of spiritual practices and helping others in this world. It's very therapeutic. People who will especially be attracted to this book: 1) Those who were raised in a church that made them feel rejected or judged; 2) People who want to read about a broader perspective on Christianity compared to what the media talks about; 3) Non-Christians who would like to learn about how they can work together with open-minded Christians to better the world around them; 4) Young people who struggle to connect with a church but want to grow in their faith. The writing style is very accessible, personal, thoughtful, and entertaining. You will enjoy this book!

~ Dr. Cynthia Beard

 

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An entertaining, insightful and educational read that I highly recommend.

Being of wavering faith, and often at times agnostic, I sometimes come into any religious book looking for reasons to disagree or dislike it. There were a few times in this book when I felt briefly as if the author was repackaging the same old Christianity. He uses parts of the Bible that I do not consider credible but he uses them to support love, acceptance, social justice and peace among other noble ideas. Most often he uses personal stories and excerpts from the gospels to achieve this. After reading the book I cannot say I have been converted to the faith but I do feel better about the state of Christianity and have hope that many people believe it in this way deep down. You can be a Christian and a decent human being. You can accept Christ and accept LGBTQA individuals. This approach is not about being progressive in spite of faith in scripture, but rather because of it. An entertaining, insightful and educational read that I highly recommend.

~ Sacul Adams

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Excerpt from the book: 

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“You can meditate and pray, go to church, get baptized and take communion, light candles and burn incense, read sacred texts, chant, fast and do yoga, and even help out at soup kitchens, but if you aren’t doing them with love, it’s all a bunch of vapid, empty horse apples. I know what I’m talking about. I’ve got a shed full of them.” 

 

“Agape happens when someone decides to forgive someone who wronged them instead of retaliating—and even to go out of their way to help him or her. It happens whenever people willingly decide to put the needs of others ahead of themselves; speak truth to power; feed the hungry; clothe the naked; visit the imprisoned; release the captive; love the unlovable; forgive the unforgivable; associate with the disreputable; and to eat and drink with the unsavory. As theologian Søren Kierkegaard observed, this is a rigorous kind of love.”

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