Understanding the Faith, by Jeff Myers

Understanding the Faith is the second in a series of three books from Summit Ministries. Understanding the Times was their first book written by David Noebel and has been the flagship publication for Summit. Eventually  there will be a third book in the series, titled, Understanding the Culture. I look forward to reading that book when it comes out.

I first read Understanding the Times about 10 years ago when I was a High School Youth Pastor and was trying to find material for my students that would challenge them and prepare them for the future. Not only did that book do what I wanted but it introduced me to Summit Ministries and their course work that they do each summer in Manitou Springs. It is a great program for High School Junior's and Seniors or College Freshman to help them prepare for their time in college and the World Views that they will face.

This book, Understanding the Faith comes as a breath of fresh air for the Pastor who is looking for material for his church family to help them grapple with their faith and come to understand it in good foundational truths. I'm not sure how Summit plans to use these three books in the future but I would think that Understanding the Faith should be their first textbook to take students through.

The topics range from what the Bible is to whether it has any authority for us today and whether we as Christians should be Anti-Science or maybe Biblical Scientists. It grapples with the questions, 1) Is there Good and Evil?  2) Did God create Evil? If so, why? 3) What's the truth about Hell? 4) If Christianity is true why do people walk away from the faith?  These are all excellent questions and Jeff Myers does a fantastic job of answering them.

The book is long, that's OK because it is a text book.  I worked my way through it by reading a chapter a day and found that it took me three weeks to get through (missing a day here or there for reading).

I was so impressed and excited about how Myers handled the text that I want to push him to get the three volumne done so that I can continue on with learning, this time about culture.

BUT, since that isn't out yet I decided to go back and re-read Understanding the Times, yes you read that correctly, I'm going to re-read a textbook and one that is not short. BUT, the material is important and it is good for us as Christians to understand our faith, understand the world views that permeate our world and then understand our culture so that we know how to engage people in intelligent, meaningful conversations to help them learn about the Glory of God.

Enjoy!