Blessed are the Undone: Testimonies of the Quiet Deconstruction of Faith in Canada

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2024

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Canadian Christians frustrated with the Church have come ‘Undone’ and are leaving politely, almost apologetically, in what this book dubs a Quiet Deconstruction. Blessed are the Undone asks: what aspects of faith are being questioned, and why?

Weaving in church history, cultural analysis and their personal stories, Bick and Schuurman use canoe camping to illustrate the twists and turns of the spiritual journey. They interview 28 Canadians who have said their recent spiritual journey can be described as "deconstructing faith" and note 7 key "triggers" to deconstruction--most of which have some connection to American right-wing religion:

purity culture
young earth creationism
Biblical inerrancy and violence in the text
Church scandals
LGBTQ+ prejudice
Residential schools and the lingering legacy of colonialism
Trumpism and (white) Christian nationalism

How do non-deconstructing Christians respond to this? Schuurman and Bick offer a few suggestions, some of which came from the mouths of the Undone themselves.

Whether you feel like you’re up the creek without a paddle when it comes to faith, or if people you love have lost their bearings, this book is worth exploring as a window into Canadian religion today.

About the Author

Peter Schuurman

Peter Schuurman has a PhD in world religions and investigates faith matters as an ethnographer—being guested and interviewing people about their spiritual lives. With Dutch-Canadian Christian roots and a role as executive director in a small global charity, he has written about megachurches, charismatic leaders, world Christianity and most recently, the deconstruction of faith in Canada.

He was a campus chaplain at Brock University for eight years and learned to dialogue and debate with Jews, Muslims, Bahai, atheists and others. Within his own Christian camp, he has spent time with the Baptists, Roman Catholics, Brethren, Mennonites, and of course, his own Dutch Reformed roots.

He has been especially interested in the role of humour and play, and how it relates to religion. Like religion, play involves imagination, rituals, and getting caught up in a world that is more than just the world. Some even claim that laughter was the pivotal event in the origins of the Abrahamic faiths. Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once said that “Humour is, in fact, a prelude to faith; and laughter is the beginning of prayer.”

Peter lives in Guelph with his wife and three children, and their golden doodle, Blaze. They enjoy canoe camping in the summer in the lakes and rivers of the beautiful Canadian Shield. Peter would play picketball if he could find a court open in Guelph.