Reading the Bible for all the Wrong Reasons:

Acknowledgments

ix Acknowledgments Iam especially grateful to the following members of Contoocook United Methodist Church, Contoocook, New Hampshire, who were “faithful to the end” in a seven-session Bible study based on the first draft of this book: Tom Andrew, Jane Britain, Tim Britain, Lucy Gaskell, Al Gibbs, Betsy Gibbs, Dawn Howe, Jim Howe, Don King, Katie Martel, Bruce Metzger, Dale Roberts, Fred Roberts, and Terri Stafford. I also want to thank occasional attendees Dave Buttrick, Leni Buttrick, Buck Corson, Bob Gerseny, Jim Hersey, and Jack Ward. The lively and honest discussions during these sessions gave me much help as I revised each chapter for publication and renewed my confidence that authentic Christian faith is by no means incompatible with an open and inquiring mind. Those who participated are all important threads in the fabric of a congregation devoted both to the nurture and care of one another and to strong missional outreach to a broken world that hungers for healing, justice, and peace. I am also indebted to two of my former colleagues at Curry College—John Hill and Les Muray, who share a deep concern for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation—for reading x • acknowledgments the entire manuscript and making suggestions. All, however, are hereby absolved of responsibility for any of my views with which they might disagree, as well as for the book’s shortcomings. I have dedicated the book to the entire congregation of the Contoocook church, along with the Rev. Sammie Maxwell, who served the church for eight productive years. I offer my thanks to the gracious and committed lay people for their warm embrace of me as that pastor’s spouse as well as to Sammie herself. Not only was she of invaluable help in teaching the course and evaluating what I had written, but—more importantly—she is a constant source of joy and spiritual strength for me. I should also say that she knows both the importance of new beginnings and the mysterious truth that (as a recording by Peter, Paul, and Mary tells us) some songs simply must be sung as duets! ...