The Benefits of Deconstruction

The Roys Report

Julie Roys

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Christianity

4.6 • 714 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Guest Bios Show Transcript What happens when people start questioning what they were taught about Jesus—and discover the church might be the problem, not their faith? In his talk from the Restore Conference, author and New Testament scholar Scot McKnight reframes the controversial topic of “deconstruction” as a faithful pursuit of Christ rather than a departure from belief. McKnight challenges common misconceptions about deconstruction, often mislabeled as rebellion or “exvangelical angst.” Drawing on his recent book Invisible Jesus, co-authored with musician and pastor Tommy Preson Phillips, McKnight shares insights from those rethinking their faith—not to abandon Jesus, but to more firmly grasp authentic faith in Him.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Trauma is a very, very serious issue in the church.
0:05.0	And we know this in this group, and this is a reason why many people are walking away from the church that they exist in.
0:15.0	But that doesn't mean they're walking away from Jesus Christ.
0:19.0	But we think that this is, this movement is a prophetic voice to evangelicalism in the United States.
0:25.6	And it applies broader than the United States.
0:28.6	It is people who find the church creating a Jesus who doesn't exist.
0:35.6	In other words, they go to church and they don't find Jesus.
0:39.3	They're leaving the church to find a group of people
0:43.3	who want to follow Jesus more faithfully
0:46.3	and want to center their faith upon Jesus. I've been asked to talk about the benefits of deconstruction.
1:15.5	And I want to make this a positive idea, something that is healthy for the church, but we have to go a little bit back and forth on how many people are using this term.
1:29.1	For many people, it is about deception.
1:34.1	It is pseudo-intellectual.
1:38.5	It is a fad.
1:40.5	It's a trend.
1:42.0	Matt Chandler smarted off one day and said it was sexy.
1:46.0	Had to take it back the next day.
1:49.0	Some people equate it with deconversion, that it's dangerous, and that leaders need to spend their time restoring people from their deconstruction.
2:02.1	So the solutions have been things like youth group ministry needs to be more theological.
2:10.0	We need to create more belonging before believing.
2:14.7	We need to ramp up our apologetics and defense of Christian orthodoxy.
2:21.3	And other people think we need to study the Bible more, we need to do theology more, we need to do church more.
	...

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