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Whose Gospel?: A Concise Guide to Progressive Protestantism (review)

In this slim volume, Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. faces six controversial subjects—sexuality, gender, race, poverty, war, and the environment—in order to outline the contours of a Progressive Protestantism in the twenty-first century. Written especially for fellow practitioners,Whose Gospel? reads like a gentle yet resolute exhortation. In his forward, Bill Moyers highlights the context in which Forbes writes by reminding readers of the terror induced on September 11, 2001. Moyers situates Forbes against the startling words of conservative Christians such as Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Ann Coulter who noted the wrath of God and condemned Islam; Forbes, in contrast, opened his church to all faiths and exhorted Christians to ecumenical thought and action. Forbes invites his readers “to join a spiritual awakening in our nation” (1) through confrontation with and reflection on the most contentious issues facing American Christianity. Wasting no time, chapter one takes readers on “A Lifelong Course in Sexuality,” emphasizing the fluidity of authoritative sources and the importance of individual experience. While Scripture and Christian fellowship shape the boundaries of what behaviors are permissible, Forbes insists that individual sexuality must be balanced by freedom on one hand and responsibility on the other. Although the first chapter is explicitly about sexual orientation (and Forbes contends that “our sexual orientation is a gift of God’s creativity” [43]), this and subsequent chapters provide an implicit directive about proper authority. Falling in line with the history of progressive Christian theologians in America, Forbes explains that authority is not “fixed” to one tradition, a single institution, or even particular passages in the Bible; instead, religious authorities belong within the individual and his or her attention to “the Spirit” (42). This principle manifests itself in the following chapters as Forbes lends his interpretation to contemporary topics. For instance, chapter two, “Gender Equality: For God’s Sake and Ours,” provides a brief contemporary history of the increasingly accepted use of gender-neutral or inclusive language, yet also notes that “the changes in language and worship have not been taken seriously enough” (53). Chapter three, “Which Gospel Do You Believe About Race,” continues this theme as Forbes critiques the continued persistence of what he calls “race religion.” Centering on his own personal experiences with racial difference, prejudice, and the Gospel, Forbes prompts readers to recall the ways in which Christianity was—and, at times, is—used to claim superior status over others. He contends, “We [still] stand at two gospels about race—the gospel of racial exceptionalism and the gospel of human race equality of being” (93). Like with gendered language, race exceptionalism can be used by the “in” group to describe the attributes of God, passively claiming superior status and assigning inferiority to other people and groups. Forbes encourages the continued revision of gendered and racial language to actualize a more inclusive human experience.