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Kissing Fish (2011)

by Roger Wolsey(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

145683942X (ISBN13: 9781456839420)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Author Solutions

review 1: For the first time ever, I have to give a book a middling review not because of its content, but because of its editing, or lack thereof.Kissing Fish could be called a Christian Apologia as well as a defense of Progressive Christianity. Wolsey is a United Methodist minister in Boulder, Colorado and a self-professed Progressive Christian. Wolsey's stated audience for the book is those people who are fundamentally turned off of Christianity because of the mistaken belief that "Conservative" Christianity is the totality of Christianity. Consequently, he spends the bulk of the book comparing and contrastng Conservative and Progressive Christianity as a means to describe what Progressive Christianity is. A typical chapter will follow this formula: Conservative Christians beleiv... moree X and have Y and Z emphasis. Conversly Progressive Christians beleive A and have B and C emphasis. The rest of the chapter is a further exposition of the stated points.The following quote is too simplistic but it captures the thrust of the book very well. "Conservative Christianity is a religion about Jesus. Progressive Christianity is the religion of Jesus."I found the book itself enlightening. There were apsects that I disagreed with but much that I found I with which I could agree. Based on the content alone I would rate this book four stars.However, the book itself was horribly edited. There was hardly a page that did not have a grammatical or formatting error (I was in reading it in its electronic version, so some of these errors may be due to its electronic formatting). As the book progressed, the number of errors grew. The last two chapters are almost a completely disconnected series of paragraphs with nothing to hold them together; almost as if Wolsey had a bunch of thoughts he wanted to get into the book but ran out of time. There is also far too much summarization and quotations from other books to make a point for my taste. There are runs of five pages or more were Wolsey paraphrases chapters from one book or another rather than organize and present the thought in his own way or present the paraphrases as a point of discussion.Ignoring the basic editing mistakes in the book, there is a larger issue with the book that is more damaging. Wolsey makes very clear that Progressive Christianity is very accepting of everyone but it isn't until the last chapter that he comes right out and states that it even accepts Conservative Christianity as a valid viewpoint. Consequently most of the book reads like "we accept everyone except Conservative Christians" which is clearly not the case (though having seen and read enough from Conservative media the same can not be said for Conservative Christians being accepting of Progressive Christianity's point of view, even to the point of a Tea Party Nation blog posting calling for the abolishment of the United Methodist Church).I can recommend this book to anyone who might be turned off by Conservative Christianity but still consider themselves Christian and those curious about what Progressive Christianity is from someone who is one. However, I can not recommend this book to anyone who will be overly distracted by the many errors contained in the book.
review 2: 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! less

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