Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Questions Are the Answer: An Interview with David Hayward

Questions Are the Answer: An Interview with David Hayward

Last updated on: May 26, 2018 at 8:42 am by Frank Viola

Questions Are the Answer: An Interview with David Hayward 2018-05-26T08:42:31-04:00 Frank Viola

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

David Hayward is a friend of mine. Best known as “the nakedpastor,” David is an artist. And a good one at that.

As with most of my friends, we don’t agree on everything. Including our beliefs about Scripture, God, politics, church, etc. But unlike some religious people, that doesn’t prevent me from befriending them. (This is one of the things that irritates me about some religious people. They believe that you must agree with someone down the line in order to be friends with them.)

While I hold to the orthodox creeds of the Christian faith, I have many friends who do not or who aren’t sure. And that doesn’t prevent me from being their friend.

Anyways, David has written a new book called Questions Are the Answer. I believe that the freedom to ask questions about our faith is important. Critical even. It’s that very questioning that led me to write my controversial books. It also led me to embrace the historic creeds of the faith, being personally convinced of their truth. (Your mileage may vary, of course.)

Instead of offering a review, I caught up with David to have him share about the book himself. (He now owes me $5,000!). 😉

Enjoy!

Instead of asking, “what is your book about,” I’m going to ask the question that’s behind that question. And that unspoken question is, “how are readers going to benefit from reading your book?”

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: I think everyone has questions. Unfortunately, in many contexts, including the church, questions aren’t welcomed. So, hopefully my book, Questions Are the Answer, validates questions and those who are questioning.

The book is a kind of overview of my life, illustrated with many of my cartoons, and how my persistence in asking questions not only got me in trouble and caused me much grief, but also paved the way for me to come to a place of peace of mind I now enjoy.

Questions shouldn’t serve the dogmatic or fundamentalist agenda of establishing a system of definitive answers, but, rather, questions are a way of achieving a kind of clarity, a kind of peace, in the face of the questions.

I hope my book demonstrates that.

What provoked you to write the book? Were there any specific experiences in your own life that were involved?

David Hayward, aka ‘nakedpastor’: I like the word “provoked” because in many ways this book is provocative. Like I said above, it’s a thumbnail sketch of my life interspersed with cartoons examining the topic of questioning.

Several years ago drawing a cartoon of exclamation marks beating up a question mark, and it got this huge response. I think it got such a huge response because we are seeing and experiencing this more and more … that when we ask a question, especially a provocative one, we get beaten up, mostly metaphorically speaking, by those who are certain and, shall we say, dogmatic or fundamentalist. Almost every time I got in trouble with the church and her authorities, it was never because of a moral issue. It was usually because I asked questions.

I’ve come to discover I’m not the only one who asks questions and has suffered for it. There are many of us. So I wanted to write a book that validated the noble endeavor of asking questions.

As an author myself, I’m keenly aware that no book is for everyone. So who is your target audience? Who, specifically, did you write your book for?

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: I wrote the book for people like me … mainly, people who have left organized religion or are struggling to stay. Well, maybe I can be more clear. I wrote it for people who are asking questions and are suffering for it or want to ask questions but are afraid to.

I want them to know that it is not just a frivolous exercise, but a very important and fruitful one. I thought I was going to go crazy. There were many times I nearly gave up on the whole theological enterprise altogether. But the peace of mind that was so elusive to me finally came. The interesting thing is the peace isn’t knowing the answer to the question, but being at peace with the depths of mystery in the face of the question.

In my experience and observation, when a person questions their beliefs, it lands them in one of two places. Either they become more committed to Jesus and convinced of the claims of orthodox Christian teaching regarding His Person, His work (a la, the Nicene Creed, the Apostles Creed, etc.) while maybe having a different view of peripheral doctrinal matters or they end up denying orthodox Christian teaching altogether and become agnostic or atheistic. What is your view of Jesus of Nazareth. Who was He? What was He? (Is He divine and human and still alive as Christian orthodoxy states?) Can He be known today? etc.

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: Wouldn’t it be lovely if there was such a neat and tidy division between the orthodox and the heretics! I joke.

Okay, so this is where my pastoral tendencies and my mystical leanings combine to answer in a way that some might find frustrating. I might be accused of artfully dodging the question, when in fact I’m going to go after what I believe is the root of it.

I run an online community called The Lasting Supper where people can have a safe place to explore, discover, and exercise their own spiritual independence. By spiritual independence I mean being spiritually healthy as an individual so that we can enter into community in a healthy interdependent way rather than a toxic, codependent way.

One of the key factors that allows this to happen is that it is more important for people to feel free to walk their own path without my theological prejudices overshadowing their explorations like some authority figure.

The Bible does say that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. So if one believes this to be true, then it should be understood that we are all one, that we are all connected at a deep and fundamental level. Other disciplines, such as quantum physics, would suggest this too.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the only thing that seems to divide us is our thoughts. We all experience the same reality. But each one of us experiences it through our individual filters and paradigms, understands it through our individual ideologies, and articulates this through our individual languages. But they are only our thoughts with words.

Is there something beyond our words? If so, then the only way we’re going to see it or know it is by urgent effort. What is beyond our theology and our words? Can this be known? And if this can be known, can this be known with normal knowledge? Or is it another kind of knowledge?

This is why I think the Christian understanding of revelation is key. I don’t think we can achieve it by our knowledge. It will only take us so far. Knowledge fails. Words fail. We see through a glass darkly at the best of times. What is beyond these must be revealed to us, present itself, surrender and offer itself. I’ve read philosophers and scientists who believe this same dynamic is at work in their discoveries.

The word is not the thing. The word “God” is not God. Can this that is beyond our words and thoughts be known? Or can our thoughts and words be reliable signs pointing us in the direction they intend for us to see and go?

The study of the historical Christ, how we understand the bible, explorations into the nature of God, the work of the Spirit… all these things… are important, necessary, and fascinating to me. But, in my opinion, they fall under this category of signs, our signs, signs of human beings, attempting to point to something beyond themselves.

Whatever we discover about the historicity or existence of all these things and their natures is important to me. But they are never threatening because I believe there is something beyond the history and the existence, beyond our thoughts and words, that desires to be known.

So my prerogative is to trust people to find this for themselves. I may be able to guide them on how to do this, but I cannot take them there. Like me, they have to explore… yes, and ask the questions themselves … so that they can discover that which is beyond for themselves.

I hope this response questions the deeper but typical assumption this question is built upon, and that is that there are only two choices, and we must achieve uniformity of belief. I think there is something beyond belief. My observation is that belief has led to unbelievable suffering. Therefore, belief as we know it is the problem. This is what has threatened personal spiritual responsibility, prevented firsthand investigation into what is true, and blocked the immediacy of personal spiritual experience.

In the book of Hebrews, the author says that people become hardened through unbelief. This was a major theme in Jesus’ teaching as well. What’s the difference between the kind of unbelief that Scripture warns against and the kind of healthy questioning that people should engage in?

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: One of the most memorable warning in Hebrews is that we should not shrink back. I see this, have done it, and have been tempted to do so, a lot. Here’s why. Questions are scary. They threaten the status quo. They disturb the peace. They destabilize security. Once you start asking questions, it is like the thin end of the wedge and the start of a slippery slope.

So this is what often happens. We ask questions and our childlike beliefs get challenged. Maybe they even start to shake, erode, and crumble. Maybe even crash. This is frequently a very frightening experience. It takes a lot of courage and inner fortitude to keep going, to press through, to persevere with the question.

What many do though is they become afraid of the fear and the potential consequences of continuing in the direction they’re going in, and they shrink back. Often they shrink back to an even earlier and more infantile theology… one that won’t even come close to the threatening edge of doubt ever again.

I think it’s very important to investigate what we believe, to examine our thoughts, so that we can believe what we believe with integrity and a clear conscience. Questions help us to do that.

Your book is unique in that it contains many of your own illustrations/drawings. Talk about the role of these images and why they’re important for the reader.

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: You know, this is one of the things that baffles me. I do paintings, drawings, and I write. But every day I get correspondence from people who remark on my cartoons and say things like “Your cartoons are so powerful!”

Or “A picture is worth 1,000 words!” and so on. Basically, nakedpastor is known as a cartoonist. In one glance, a one or two second glance, they get hit with the message of the cartoon. They didn’t have to sit and read a long post or article and get their heads around an argument. The picture has a way of bypassing our normal defenses and piercing right through to the center of our being.

My cartoons get all kinds of reactions, from anger to happiness to frustration to confusion and everything else. But what they all seem to be able to do is get people to think and feel in a very short amount of time. The reaction’s almost instant. And I like that.

Some say my cartoons are polarizing. Maybe they are. But they are also, I find, a way of bringing people together who have the same non-conformist mindset as I and want to see significant and meaningful change in our theology and praxis, as well as in the way we do church.

I guess in a nutshell art is my preferred language.

What do you hope readers will walk away with after they finish your book? What’s the big goal you have in mind?

David Hayward aka ‘nakedpastor’: I hope people walk away from my book being able to say, “I can do this!” In other words, I want them to feel validated, not in a sentimental kind of way, but in a deep and meaningful “It’s important and beneficial for me to ask questions” kind of way. I want people to have hope that their questioning, no matter how intense, can eventually lead to the kind of peace of mind we were promised and that we need and crave.

Thanks for this interview.

Order Questions Are the Answer on discount

Uncategorized

Previous Post

January 26, 2016

Galatians for You: Tim Keller

Next Post

February 2, 2016 6 Steps to Making New Friends

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "What must I do to be saved?"

Select your answer to see how you score.

Zacchaeus Nicodemus Peter The Philippian jailer