Unlearning God: How Unbelieving Helped Me Believe [Hardcover]

America's favorite Quaker storyteller explores the terrain of faith and doubt as shaped by family, church, and young love, finding his way to a less convenient but fully formed adult spirituality.

Most of us grow up taking in whole belief systems with our mother's milk, only to discover later that what we received as being certain is actually nothing like it. And then we're faced with a choice--retreat to spiritual security and the community that comes with it, or strike out into the unknown.
    With his trademark humor and down-home wisdom, Philip Gulley serves as just the spiritual director a wayward pilgrim could warm to, inviting readers into his own sometimes rollicking, sometimes daunting journey of spiritual discovery. He writes about being raised by a Catholic mother and a Baptist father across the street from a family of Jehovah's Witnesses--all three camps convinced the others are doomed. To nearly everyone's consternation, Philip grows up to be a Quaker and a pastor. InUnlearning God, Gulley showcases his well-loved gift as a storyteller and his acute sensibilities as a public theologian in conversations that will charm, provoke, encourage, and inspire.PHILIP GULLEY is a Quaker pastor and beloved writer with more than 1.2 million combined book sales. His bestselling titles include the Harmony fiction series, the Porch Talk series of inspirational essays, andIf Grace Is True(with James Mulholland). Gulley holds a master's degree of divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. He is the co-pastor of Fairfield Friends Meeting in Camby, Indiana. He and his wife, Joan, live in Danville.

Chapter 1

And So Began My Life of Doubt

My Baptist father married my Catholic mother in 1955. Ecumenism hadn’t been invented yet, so both families were horrified, each certain the other family would roast in hell. Over his parents’ objections, my father signed a document promisinglS