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Maria Francesca French

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It’s Time to Reconfigure

It’s Time to Reconfigure

Last updated on: June 27, 2023 at 2:39 am by Maria Francesca French

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It’s Time to Reconfigure 2023-06-27T02:39:02-08:00 Maria Francesca French

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.

All too often we are left with theological ideas with no practical ways of how they play out in sight. Which is why I think it’s time to reconfigure some things. We are lit aflame with the passion of inspiration of the most beautiful and elegant and sometimes chaotic theological thought. But how do we move from our heads, and even from our hearts, into our lives and communities where this stuff actually matters?

I am a post-Christian thinker and writer, and I know all too well how easy it is to spout off about philosophical concepts with very little understanding as to what this all looks like in real life.

When the rubber meets the road how do we approach death, love, happiness, meaning-making, and a host of other integrally human experiences from a post-Christian perspective?

When we find ourselves past traditional notions of god, faith, church, and belief, what might it mean to engage scripture, Jesus’ story, God’s beginning, liturgical holidays that all of the West has celebrated and revered for 2,000 years, church, doctrines like hell, trinity, rapture, and more?

In my debut book, Safer than the Known Way: A Post-Christian Journey, I did my best to offer a way forward toward a post-Christian faith engaging new theological outlooks, asking us to rethink and reimagine. What does a theological imagination for the future look like? Why is the age old, tired debate between theism and atheism totally impotent and irrelevant? Why is the end the beginning and what does this have to do with cathedral ruins? What is Radical Theology and what is the offer that true deconstruction makes us? What is all this talk of ghosts, and haunting and taunting? What does it mean to be post-anything, let alone post-God and post-Christian? What does all of this have to do with the Death of God movement? Is it possible to engage faith after we have moved on from the big God in the sky? If so, what does that even mean.

We went on a theological journey together. We were caught up in the most magical of spins as we found ourselves seated at the table of conversation that sounded like the Mad Hatter’s tea party, but in the best and most liberating way!

It sparked our imaginations for more, and alerted and awakened us to all that might be next for us, god and its possible future, but only via the Impossible, of course!

We may have been transfigured in some way, never to be the same again. But now it’s time to reconfigure.

In my new book, Reconfiguring: A Collection of Post-Christian Thoughts and Theologies, I am inviting us further into what it looks like to think through various aspects of life, faith, and god from a post-Christian perspective. In this collection of writings, I am exploring cultural and theological topics, offering fresh takes on issues of faith, Christianity, church, post-Evangelicalism, post-theism, post-Christianity, Radical Theology, digitality, the future, and a host of other topics filled with complexity and nuance.

As always, with the aim of being intersectional and integrative, I have done my best to deliver a compilation of letters to my readers that range from theological topics such as trinity, hell, and rapture to philosophical wanderings through meaning of life, death, happiness, and love. Interacting with various biblical passages, delving further into what scripture might still hold for us, unpacking high holy holidays, and, of course, bringing to the table the challenges of deconstruction, reconstruction, dismantling, and disentwining from toxic forms of faith and theology.

I am asking and challenging us to reconfigure, rather than relinquish. With a spirit of subversion and deconversion, this collection of post-Christian thoughts and theologies exists to inspire, rejuvenate, reinvigorate, and give fresh directions and perspectives on matters of faith and an uncertain future. Consider this an invitation to start thinking some new thoughts in hopes of reconfiguring how we move through life as we find ourselves post the Christianity we once knew.

I have written to you. To all of you. 41 missives that invite us all into this journey together.

To spend some time with the conundrums and questions.

The doubts and the fears.

The elephants in the room.

And I want you to join me.

This book is for all of us who ever wondered about life in its full spectrum of reality, which deeply and irrevocably include long held beliefs and assumptions about god and meaning.

Is there other? Is there all of this faith stuff, but with a difference?

Click here to find out for yourself.

Make sure you check out the introduction to prep for the journey and then off you go!

See you there!

About Maria Francesca French

A post-Christian thinker and writer, the tenure of her career has been in theological education, as both professor and administrator. She has recently released her first book, "Safer than the Known Way: A Post-Christian Journey." Maria has also worked in innovative church contexts, church planting and denominational leadership. She is focused on the intersections of faith and culture, offering new forums for faith engagement and theological imaginations that are viable and sustainable for an uncertain future. Find her teaching, coaching, and writing on her Patreon and check out her website for more. You can read more about the author here.

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