Zero Theology: Escaping Belief through Catch-22s Paperback – July 2, 2019

John Tucker aims to set us free from the belief paradigm. But the liberated religious that emerge, are not simply 'irreligious,' Instead we are set free toward something beyond belief, where faith and doubt are held in paradox.Taking the idea of Catch-22s from Joseph Heller's novel, Tucker describes paradoxes which eschew both 'faith' and 'doubt,' literal and metaphorical readings. What Tucker hopes to do through the book is to take away our defenses and religious comforts away so that our absolute grief (how 'we respond to change, loss and deprivation,' 9) comes face to face with our absolute need -- 'our existential, spiritual need to make peace with morality, vulnerability and powerlessness' So with paradoxes in mind and a good dose of Wittgenstein, Tucker examines 10 catches in the religious life:* The first step in the religious journey is to not take the first step* The religious need is only met when you no longer need it.* The only acceptable evidence for religious belief is evidence that is unacceptable* The only God that satisfies is that God that does not satisfy* You can only feel safe when you're in danger* Mystery is only possible when explanation makes it unnecessary* You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't.* Repentance is most needed when it is least necessary* Forgiveness is only possible when it is impermissible.This a deceptively hard read for such a short book (less than 130 pages). I found myself re-reading chapters to try and wrap my mind around all that John Tucker was saying, or not saying, affirming or problematizing. In the end, I am not certain that I agree with everything. Perhaps I still cling to tenaciously to pieces of the belief paradigm? But I did feel like Tucker named some of the tensions between 'faith,' as such, and the evidence based scientific worldview and the ways those get merged for modern readers of theology and the Bible. Our need for certainty and our psycho-spiritual crutches (or in Tucker's metaphor, mattresses) give way and there is life after certainty in the "As if." And I appreciate wrestling with these issues.

In the middle of the last century, Paul Tillich mourned the loss of the "dimension of depth" in modern life. He also felt that the theologies that purport to explicate religious mysteries failed to provide any practical help. The discussion of religious questions today has not changed much since Tillich's day. The T.V. Preachers and even politicians peddle an idolatrous and intellectually disgraceful "theology" that would embarrass an intelligent middle-schooler. Not to be outdone, today's "village atheists," often distinguished scientists, use scientific arguments to refute any claims of supernaturalism. Arguments used 100 years ago in the Scopes Monkey Trial are rehashed for college audiences in the 21st Century. This is all well and good, except that the nuance, the subtlety, and the excitement of genuine religious exploration is lost. Some have been interested in the deeper strata since the beginnings of Christendom. But those who plumb these depths are usually professionals and the occasional layperson with time on their hands like me. The more intellectual probings are normally confined to the better schools of theology, journals, and perhaps an unorthodox pulpit here and there. These thoughts rarely reach the larger public. And it's too bad they don't, because going deeper into the matter is rewarding. That's why I hope John Tucker's "Zero Theology" will find a wide readership. It is a fine introduction to adult thinking about the profound questions that trouble us, regardless of how we label ourselves. It is a thin book, but it is thick in ideas, and every page is packed with challenging material. I do appreciate work that challenges the reader. Tucker respects his readers enough to expect their full attention and to use their best critical faculties. I plan to gnaw on it a good long while. I hope many laypersons will seek it out. In the 1950's of Paul Tillich, World Wars, Genocide, and nuclear annihilation threatened humanity. Today the threats are just as great, maybe more, as we face ethic conflicts, tyranny, and environmental catastrophe. If those who call themselves religious are to be of any help, they must ask honest questions and seek honest solutions.

This book is a unique product of thought from a unique point of view. It generates thought on the unending questions of life and meaning from a person who, because of his experiences and his position, is especially able to think and write about such things. He is simultaneously many things; an antagonist, defender, adherent, heretic, employee, disrupter, etc. of the Christian / religious point of view. It is, therefore, great fun to read as Tucker weaves in and out of contradictory, Catch-22, positions on topics that we way too often just settle in with, or choose to avoid.I encourage others to read and think along, but it will require a fair amount of sitting back and reflecting on things as you read, wondering if you really got the point.Next I'd like to read more by Tucker on what he sees as the shortcomings of atheism as a simple, reliable starting point. Why is atheism not a good point Zero? He defines the religious life as "one that confronts absolute grief by continually deconstructing denial while choosing the transcendent responses of absolute courage, wonder, gratitude and love." Are we necessarily being religious if we choose courage, wonder, gratitude and love? Again, as a former atheist, and now clergy, Tucker is in the position of being someone we should hear from on this, so he should keep thinking and writing so we can read along.

Even a theology student would have difficulty understanding "Zero Theology" and I am not a theology student. Difficult to read and understand.

I felt like each chapter could have been a couple pages long and I would have gotten what the author was trying to say. I liked all the ideas, it just felt like he repeated himself over and over unnecessarily. I got it early on, I do t need it reiterated five more times.This whole book could have been 30 pages long and I probably would have liked it more.It was a very cool way to approach these ideas. Original and refreshing.

A BRILLIANT EXPOSITION ON RELIGIOUS THOUGHT USING INSIGHTS FROM WITTGENSTEIN. A MUST READ BOOK.