Honest to Goodness: An Ethical and Spiritual Odyssey

• Published in: Journal for the Study of Religion Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 1 - 5
• Main Author: Mason, Garth J.
• Format: Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: KwaZulu-Natal Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA) 01.01.2019; Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa
• Subjects: Anselm of Canterbury, Saint (1033-1109); Autobiographies; Buber, Martin (1878-1965); Christianity; Ethics; Good & evil; Religion; Religious studies; Spirituality; Teaching; Theology; South Africa; Rhodesia-pre-1979
• ISSN: 1011-7601; 2413-3027
• DOI: 10.17159/2413-3027/2019/v32n2ar1

Ultimately though, Honest to goodness is a personal exploration into the heart of the Christian teaching that places goodness at the center of the Christian message. [...]Prozesky wants to illustrate, through personal accounts and the logic of the Christian message, that goodness is an emergent quality throughout the universe. Besides her oft return to Schleiermacher's experiential theology, in striking similarity to Prozesky's argument in Honest to goodness, Murdoch concludes her book with very similar ideas to Prozesky. Progressive Christianity is by no means close to supplanting conventional Christianity, but has the potential for Jesus' teachings to be a force of profound good in the world, he avers, embracing * religious pluralism; * the sacredness and oneness of life; * the affirming of Jesus' teaching as offering but one path to sacredness; * the community and inclusiveness of all spiritual paths of goodness; * understanding that loving behavior is the greatest expression of belief in Jesus' teachings; * the questioning of absolutes and putting more value on the questioning of received views of doctrinal biblical texts; and * lifelong learning, compassion, and ecological awareness (Prozesky 2019:140).