Why I Left, Why I Stayed: Conversations on Christianity Between an Evangelical Father and His Humanist Son

by Tony Campolo, Bart Campolo

Overview

Bestselling Christian author, activist, and scholar Tony Campolo and his son Bart, an avowed Humanist, debate their spiritual differences and explore similarities involving faith, belief, and hope that they share.

Over a Thanksgiving dinner, fifty-year-old Bart Campolo announced to his Evangelical pastor father, Tony Campolo, that after a lifetime immersed in the Christian faith, he no longer believed in God. The revelation shook the Campolo family dynamic and forced father and son to each reconsider his own personal journey of faith—dual spiritual investigations into theology, faith, and Humanism that eventually led Bart and Tony back to one another.

In Why I Left, Why I Stayed, the Campolos reflect on their individual spiritual odysseys and how they evolved when their paths diverged. Tony, a renowned Christian teacher and pastor, recounts his experience, from the initial heartbreak of discovering Bart’s change in faith, to the subsequent healing he found in his own self-examination, to his embracing of his son’s point of view. Bart, an author and Humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California, considers his faith journey from Progressive Christianity to Humanism, revealing how it affected his outlook and transformed his relationship with his father.

As Why I Left, Why I Stayed makes clear, a painful schism between father and son that could have divided them irreparably became instead an opening that offered each an invaluable look not only at what separated them, but more importantly, what they shared.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062415387
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/20/2018
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	701,733
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Tony Campolo (left) is a bestselling author, speaker, and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern University. He has written more than thirty books, including The Kingdom of God Is a Party, It’s Friday But Sunday’s Comin’, and Red Letter Christians. He is also the cofounder of RedLetterChristians.org. He and his wife Peggy live in Philadelphia.

Bart Campolo (right) is a community builder, counselor, and humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California. He is also the founder of Mission Year and host of the popular Humanize Me podcast. He and his wife Marty live in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Preface Tony Bart Campolo ix

Foreword Peggy Campolo xi

An Unusual Thanksgiving Tony Campolo 1

How I Left: A Son's Journey Through Christianity Bart Campolo 6

How I Stay: A Father's Story of Keeping the Faith Tony Campolo 29

Can't, Not Won't: Losing Faith Is Not a Choice Bart Campolo 42

You Reap What You Sow: How I See Bart's Deconversion Tony Campolo 51

Life on the Other Side: The Happy Reality of Secular Humanism Bart Campolo 62

The Heart of the Matter: Why Humanism Doesn't Work Without Jesus Tony Campolo 75

The Dark Side of Grace: Why Jesus Doesn't Work for Me Bart Campolo 89

Not So Fast: Why Secularists Should Take Another Look at the Cross Tony Campolo 96

Godless Goodness: The Foundations of a Secular Morality Bart Campolo 104

And Then What? Why Secularists Can't Face Death Tony Campolo 114

Part of the Bargain: Facing Death the Secular Humanist Way Bart Campolo 123

Not from Nowhere: Why Transcendent Experiences Point to God Tony Campolo 134

It's All in Your Head: How I Became a Religious Naturalist Bart Campolo 140

A Joint Conclusion Bart Tony Campolo 148

Acknowledgments 159

Editorial Reviews

A love story for our time. One of the most honest books of this generation.

Kenda Creasy Dean

The Campolos have done us all a huge favor by discussing their differences right here in the open. A remarkable book.

Hemant Mehta

An indispensable treatise of hope and transformation. In an age when the fastest growing religious demographic in the United States are those who are not formally affiliated with religion, Tony and Bart provide us all with a model for how we engage, interrogate, and reconcile our similarities and differences.

Varun Soni

Bold. Gripping. Brutally honest.

Ronald J. Sider

Rarely are questions of faith genuinely debated with the kind of sincerity, insight, and compassion presented in Tony and Bart Campolo’s thoughtful new book. We can all be grateful this isn’t just a family discussion.

Bryan Stevenson

This book offers a model that could bring healing to many torn relationships—a thoughtful dialogue into which people from across the spiritual spectrum can enter.

Lynne Hybels

An intellectual feast, an example, and a window into robust expressions of both evangelicalism and humanism. This is an important book for our times. Please read it.

Rev. Dr. David P. Gushee

The Campolos’ dialogue is a template for families and friends who want to move past debate and into fellowship.

Booklist

Coming at a time of growing religious disaffiliation, the Campolos’ book casts new light on why belief dies (or is never born) and, perhaps more important, what happens after.

Tom Krattenmaker

The Campolos’ dialogue is a template for families and friends who want to move past debate and into fellowship.

Booklist

Bart’s journey—and especially the amazing relationship he’s forged with his superstar preacher dad—will delight anyone looking for an example of how to live a beautiful and good life without God. Tony’s response—to honestly engage without attacking—is equally inspiring.

Greg M. Epstein

[Bart Campolo] is a rising star of atheism.

New York Times

Rarely are questions of faith genuinely debated with the kind of sincerity, insight, and compassion presented in Tony and Bart Campolo’s thoughtful new book. We can all be grateful this isn’t just a family discussion.” — Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy

“A love story for our time. One of the most honest books of this generation.” — Kenda Creasy Dean, dean of Princeton Theological Seminary and author of Almost Christian

“An indispensable treatise of hope and transformation. In an age when the fastest growing religious demographic in the United States are those who are not formally affiliated with religion, Tony and Bart provide us all with a model for how we engage, interrogate, and reconcile our similarities and differences.” — Varun Soni, Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California

“Bart’s journey—and especially the amazing relationship he’s forged with his superstar preacher dad—will delight anyone looking for an example of how to live a beautiful and good life without God. Tony’s response—to honestly engage without attacking—is equally inspiring.” — Greg M. Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University

“An intellectual feast, an example, and a window into robust expressions of both evangelicalism and humanism. This is an important book for our times. Please read it.” — Rev. Dr. David P. Gushee, author of Changing Our Mind

“The Campolos have done us all a huge favor by discussing their differences right here in the open. A remarkable book.” — Hemant Mehta, editor of FriendlyAtheist.com

“Bold. Gripping. Brutally honest.” — Ronald J. Sider, Palmer Seminary at Eastern University

“This book offers a model that could bring healing to many torn relationships—a thoughtful dialogue into which people from across the spiritual spectrum can enter.” — Lynne Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church

“[Tony Campolo is] one of the most important evangelical Christian preachers of the last 50 years, a prolific author and an erstwhile spiritual adviser to Bill Clinton.” — New York Times

“[Bart Campolo] is a rising star of atheism.” — New York Times

“It is all too easy for believers and secularists to caricature each other [but] both Campolos invite readers into something deeper than a simple clash of worldviews.” — Library Journal

“The Campolos’ dialogue is a template for families and friends who want to move past debate and into fellowship.” — Booklist

“Coming at a time of growing religious disaffiliation, the Campolos’ book casts new light on why belief dies (or is never born) and, perhaps more important, what happens after.” — Tom Krattenmaker, Religion News Service

From the Publisher

04/01/2017
It is all too easy for believers and secularists to caricature each other. Such an easy out was not available for the Christian apologist Tony Campolo (emeritus, sociology, Eastern Univ.; The Kingdom of God is a Party) and his son Bart (Humanist Chaplain, Univ. of Southern California; Kingdom Works), who have been grappling with issues of faith and reason for decades. While each aims at persuasion, they also take on the daunting task of affirming the other's intellectual integrity, honesty, and human decency. With father and son alternating chapters, one gets the feeling of a conversation developing new points of view. Each account is personal, charged, and sometimes pointed, but leaves readers wishing that the dialog would continue. It is clear that each intends to listen to and learn from the other and to hope (and work for) the best. VERDICT With the son articulating to his father his place in the world, and the father seeing the world he bequeathed to his son being realigned, both Campolos invite readers into something deeper than a simple clash of worldviews.—JW

Library Journal