2024
Approximate Knowing
The End of our Dogmatic View of Religion
by Gene Wesley Marshall
iUniverse Publishers
Gene Wesley Marshall invites readers on a transformative journey in his 2024 book, “Approximate Knowing: The End of our Dogmatic View of Religion” This thought-provoking work explores the intersection of religion and intelligence, offering insights into understanding and practicing faith in the 21st century.
What is religion? What is intelligence? How do we view Christianity in that context? In Part One, readers embark on a voyage through the enigmatic “Land of Mystery,” where humans learn to thrive amid uncertainty, nourishing curiosity with approximate yet meaningful insights. Here, Marshall delves into philosophizing about truth and human approaches to understanding it. Part Two discusses the philosophy of religion as a social practice. Here, the author explores how humankind’s long-standing religious practices have and can continue to assist them to discover and take in Profound Reality experiences. Finally, Part Three offers an in-depth look at Christian faith in the modern era. It examines how ancient scriptures resonate with newfound relevance, presenting a 21st-century theologizing of Christian thoughtfulness based on the Christ Jesus revelation. The stories of the Christian Bible are explored as religious practices that evoke enlightenment through human-made proclamations paradoxically known as “The Word of God.”
“Everything we know is approximate knowing,” Marshall explains. “To know that what we know is approximate leaves us curious to know more about everything we do know. It is the author’s hope for this book to inspire readers to think more deeply about religious and spiritual matters, and find balance in a world filled with uncertainty.
For further information on Approximate Knowing, click here.
2020
The Thinking Christian
Twenty-three Pathways of Awareness Humanness and Religion
by Gene W. Marshall
Wipf and Stock Publishers
This book, three years in the making, is a pull together of key edges worked on for the last 36 years. Part One on Profound Consciousness is a five-chapter philosophy of religion that probes why religion appears in human societies, and how good religion can be distinguished from its perversions.
Part Two on Christian Theologizing is a fresh statement of a radical thoughtfulness beyond the death of the heavenly realm metaphor toward a relevant expression of Christian faith in this interreligious era, including the meaning of revelation and a recovery of Scripture.
Part Three on Christian Practices includes ethical guidelines for our love of justice in the wide world, the Christian mission of witness and justice, and communal practices for our life together.. These chapters assume that we are facing a radical shift in the practice of the Christian religion.
For further information on The Thinking Christian, click here.
2018
Radical Gifts
Living the Full Christian Life in Troubled Times
by Gene W. Marshall
Wood Lake Publishers
We are living in the midst of a turning point in the history of Christianity that is more radical than the Reformation period, perhaps as radical as the birth of Christianity itself. This emerging form of Christianity is so new that it does not seem to be Christianity at all to many people.
Such a topic deserves an elaborate book, but this is a simple book written for you no matter who you are or what relationship you now have to a Christian practice.
The initial version of this book was self-published in 1984 under the title A Primer on Radical Christianity. In this 2018 publication, the author continues the effort to envision for the general reader the radical gifts of the Christian revelation for the tasks of realistic living in our contemporary settings. This current book contains some updating, yet the same core challenges for Christianity have endured.
For further information on Radical Gifts, click here.
2015
The Enigma of Consciousness
A Philosophy of Profound Humanness and Religion
by Gene W. Marshall
Available in both paperback and e-book is a fully revised edition.
Amazon.com and other outlets will soon have this book, and it is now available from iUniverse in both paperback and e-book. Bargain copies and sets can also secured directly from the author. This is the author’s eighth book-length project, and the most innovative of the eight. It is about a fundamental redefinition of religion, not just the Christian religion, but why any sort of religion appears among the social processes of human societies.
It is also an inquiry into the foundations of consciousness with special attention to wonder or awe and how to understand and share wonder experiences. It is written for the general reader of religious content, but it probes the edge of paradigm shifts in the most academic circles. It is a controversial book, but also a practical outline of directions for both solitary and small group practice of a vital religion.
For a reduced-price, postage-free copy send a $25 check to: Gene Marshall; 3578 N. State Highway 78; Bonham, Texas 75418
For further information on The Enigma of Consciousness, click here.
2014
The Love of History and
the Future of Christianity:
Toward a Manifesto for
a Next Christianity
by Gene W. Marshall
The writings of Søren Kierkegaard transport us to a fresh kind of certainty, to the authority of authenticity. This awakening means a new era in the history of Christianity. Luther conducted a reform of Christendom. Kierkegaard has led us beyond Christendom, beyond all authority, beyond both Bible and Church, to an Awe-sustained authenticity that illuminates Bible, Church, and all else. This book emphasizes how Old and New Testaments and Christian theology through the centuries has included a love of history and how Final Reality is encountered in historical events. Part Three of this book focuses on the challenge of a future for Christianity – how we envision it, talk about it, and give it structural form. Spirit cries out, “Give me form,” but Spirit can never be contained in any temporal form. Nevertheless, temporal forms of religion are essential to the accessing and maturation of Spirit living. Such a Christianity is the quest of this book.
You can order a copy from Gene Marshall;
3578 N. State Hwy 78; Bonham, TX 75418.
Enclose a check for $20.
For further information on The Love of History and
the Future of Christianity, click here.
2011
The Road from Empire
to Eco-Democracy
a joint project of Gene Marshall, Ben Ball, Marsha Buck, Ken Kreutziger, and Alan Richard
We provide a comprehensive overview of the deathtrap into which humanity has cornered itself, as well as how to construct a social vehicle within which humanity can survive and thrive.
Wise, insightful, forthright, systemic, and clearly written, with moments of special brilliance. The framing of “The Forces of Transformation” and “The Role and Limitations of Electoral Politics” are particularly distinctive and useful contributions. —David Korten, author of Agenda for a New Economy, The Great Turning From Empire to Earth Community, and When Corporations Rule the World
Order through booksellers or iUniverse paperback $21.95 e-book $3.99 or send $21 to Gene Marshall; 3578 N. State Highway 78; Bonham, Texas 75418 for a postage free copy.
For further information on The Road from Empire to Eco-Democracy, click here.
2009
Jacob’s Dream
A Christian Inquiry into
Spirit Realization
by Gene W. Marshall
This book is about coming home to Reality as movement from identification with our personality habits to identification with our essential Spirit nature of Trust, Love, and Freedom. The enneagram analysis of personalities is used to assist us in our Spirit journey. Also described is the role that community plays in the Christian nurture of our solitary journey. We recommend Jacob’s Dream as both a devotional book for solitary time and a study book for small group life.
Order through booksellers or iUniverse paperback $21.95 e-book $3.99 or send $21 to Gene Marshall; 3578 N. State Highway 78; Bonham, Texas 75418 for a postage free copy.
For further information on Jacob’s Dream, click here.
2005
Great Paragraphs
of Protestant Theology
A Commentary on the 20th Century Theological Revolution
and its Implications for
21st Century Theology
by Gene W. Marshall
Four theologians have been primary for the work of Realistic Living: Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Richard Niebuhr. Key paragraphs of these theologians have been key in the course work we have continued teaching since 1983. Great Paragraphs is a commentary on those great paragraphs. The aim of this book has been to assist the reader to further translate the vocabulary of these authors into our 21st Century mode of thinking and to ground these paragraphs in our daily living. Part one of this book develops a context for understanding this process of theologizing. Part Two is the commentary itself. And Part Three is a reflection on the needs for further 21st Century Christian theological thinking.
For a copy of this excellent study booklet, send $10 to Gene Marshall at 3578 N. State Highway, Bonham TX 75418.
For further information on Great Paragraphs, click here.
2003
The Call of the Awe
Rediscovering Christian Profundity in an Interreligious Era
by Gene W. Marshall
The experience of Awe is explored as the key to both understanding Christian heritage and conducting fruitful interreligious dialogue. Even if we are not fully aware of it, each of us lives in a land of mystery with rushing rivers of freedom, imposing mountains of care, and wild seas of tranquility. This land of mystery penetrates the land of ordinary living at every point. Awe is our experience of this ever-present Eternity. This book is for all inquirers into the depths of being human.
Order through booksellers or iUniverse paperback $21.95 e-book $3.99 or send $21 to Gene Marshall; 3578 N. State Highway 78; Bonham, Texas 75418 for a postage free copy.
For further information and reviews of The Call of the Awe, click here.