Week 1: Introduction — The Think Tank

1.Childers describes her upbringing in a Christian home where faith was both believed and lived out — her parents fed the hungry, clothed the homeless, and loved the outcast. Why do you think a robust, active faith background did not protect her from the disorientation she felt in the think tank? What does that suggest about the kind of faith formation most of us receive?

2.The progressive pastor at the think tank called himself a 'hopeful agnostic.' What do you think he meant by that phrase? Does it strike you as honest, evasive, or something else — and why?

3.Childers recalls that the questions raised in the think tank weren't new — many had been asked for centuries — but the way they were framed made them feel destabilizing. What is the difference between asking a hard question in order to find truth and asking a hard question in order to undermine confidence? How can you tell the difference in a conversation?

4.She describes the experience of sitting in the think tank as feeling like 'the floor was falling out from under her.' Have you ever had a moment — in a class, a conversation, a book, or a season of life — where your faith felt similarly unsteady? What triggered it, and how did you respond?

5.Childers distinguishes between 'deconstructing' faith (which she sees as a healthy, honest examination) and the kind of progressive revisionism she encountered (which she argues redefines Christianity's core doctrines). Do you find that distinction helpful? Where do you think the line is between healthy questioning and something more dangerous?

6.From the outset, Childers frames her journey as one she undertook with intellectual honesty — she was willing to follow the evidence even if it meant her faith didn't survive. How does that posture differ from blind faith on one side and predetermined skepticism on the other? What does it look like for you to hold your beliefs with that kind of open-handed seriousness?

7.The book is subtitled 'A Journey Through the Progressive Christian Jungle.' What does the 'jungle' metaphor suggest about Childers's view of progressive Christianity — not necessarily that it is evil, but that it is…? What would you add to or change about that metaphor?

8.As you begin this study, what is your primary motivation for engaging with it? Are you personally wrestling with these questions, trying to understand someone you love, or simply curious? Share as much as you're comfortable with, and consider how your starting point might shape what you get out of the book.