A Restless Faith: leaving fundamentalism in a quest for God tells the story of Keith’s restless journey of faith from his early days at Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta Canada, through positive encounters with Anglican evangelicalism in Australia, and into a more restful and sustainable faith. The book charts a way forward for people who feel they must choose between fundamentalism and jettisoning their faith altogether.
Self-published 2012 Xlibris; re-published by Wipf and Stock in 2016.
NOTE: Up until 30 November 2025, all three books are discounted by 50% with free shipping if bought from Wipf and Stock. Simply go to: https://wipfandstock.com/9798385235377/an-honest-faith/ And use code CONFSHIP at checkout. If you select Media Mail, shipping is free.
Faith without Fear: risky choices facing contemporary Christians asks whether Christianity has the wherewithal to meet the increasingly acute intellectual and moral challenges currently facing it, and whether it can shed the reactive fear which now grips its more conservative forms. Major topics of the book include same-sex marriage, patriarchal push-back and the sociology of conservatism. The book seeks to demonstrate the inadequacy and damaging impact of older ways of reading the Bible, and to plot what some will consider a risky way forward for 21st century Christians.
An Honest Faith: the possible friendship of Athens and Jerusalem tackles the thorny question of whether Christian faith is compatible with the questing and questioning spirit of philosophy. Keith argues that a mutually productive friendship between Athens (philosophy/science)
and Jerusalem (theology/faith) is possible, and, in fact, necessary, given that various forms of the faith resist questioning and therefore end up holding onto outdated, unsupported and damaging beliefs, for example, on matters of gender and sexuality.
The author draws upon his experiences in the conservative Anglican Diocese of Sydney, and his teaching career in philosophy, to issue a challenge to Christians to have an honest faith, and to not hold back from the quest for answers, which lies at the heart of religion, philosophy and science.
The book’s first half, which can be characterized as an exercise in faith deconstruction, lays out a number of the more serious challenges to historic or traditional Christian faith, while noting its rapid demise in Australia, the US, Canada, the UK, and throughout the Western world. The book’s second half recommends a careful reconstruction or reformation of the faith.
Commendations thus far:
“The massive post-evangelical community around the world includes many millions who remain open to a path of following Jesus that is morally credible and intellectually honest. Keith Mascord offers a path forward that is both. One does not have to agree with all of his proposals—I do not—to deeply appreciate the contribution he makes here towards a post-evangelical Christian future.”
DAVID P. GUSHEE – Vice president, American Academy of Religion
“We understand life through images—art, music, poetry, mythology, film, architecture, photography, the touch of another’s presence. Each offers a pathway into the transcendent. Keith’s challenging book explores biblical stories and the biblical storyline through such imagery. Nothing there is static, past tense, finished or formal. Bible stories are less history, more images of our human endurance and possibility. An Honest Faith presses the reader to discover this beyond the limitations imposed by dogma and definition.”
BILL LAWTON – Historian, researcher, and former colleague
“This book is a highly readable attempt to reconcile two basically different ways to resolve moral dilemmas in our lives. The first, like the philosophers of ancient Athens, invokes human rationality, knowledge, and experience. The second, like all the religions derived from Jerusalem, relies on religious instruction expressed in the ‘revealed’ Word of God. For decades, the author, an Anglican priest, has struggled with this dilemma, searching for ways to reconcile the two systems. Billions of human beings find pure human reasoning unsatisfying. They search for the peace and love that spirituality, which passes all understanding, can bring. On the other hand, close encounters with God and His worldly ministers can sometimes appear so unscientific and irrational that we keep searching for different ways of reasoning. The author instances religious cruelty and irrationality on subjects like race, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, and politics which cast doubt on religion’s legitimacy. Census returns in many Western societies show a large and growing drift away from organized religion. The resulting controversy is tackled with honesty, humility, persistence, and courage. Many readers will recognize their own feelings in the author’s ultimately stated conclusions.”
Hon. MICHAEL KIRBY, AC CMG Australia
“Finding honest faith means deconstructing Church, illuminating the cowardice of those who have sufficient scholarship to know what is true, yet teach publicly based on perceived institutional interests. Keith Mascord’s forthright recovery of Christianity from the midst of his own church authorities’ evacuation of its meaning includes an ally’s welcome glimpse at how LGBTQ+ witness to faith is a key element challenging self-righteous omertà. Honest faith, unafraid of learning, is a rich journey of discovery.”
JAMES ALISON – Catholic priest, theologian, and author
“Thoughtful faith is often hard to hear in the din of culture wars today. This book makes a vital contribution to another way forward, sharing light rather than adding heat. Grounded in considered reflection, and bearing the fruits of walking with others whose faith, gifts, and insights are often ignored, it encourages us all to a more generous hospitality and a renewing pursuit of truth.”
JOSEPHINE INKPIN -Theologian and minister
“An Honest Faith takes the reader on a personal journey into some of the most important, challenging, and controversial issues for contemporary believers. Mascord offers a clear, cogent and inviting reflection on the plausibility of Christian faith in today’s world. Whether it is faith and reason, scripture and ethics, uncertainty and doubt, or contested moral issues; all are tackled with humility, honesty and joy. A must read for the inquiring pilgrim unafraid to ask the hard questions.”
STEPHEN PICKARD – Adjunct professor, Charles Sturt University, Australia
An Honest Faith presented for me a public struggle and a painful, yet rewarding reckoning of the faith which I and many others around the world inherited. That reckoning amounted to a journey in as much as each conclusion meant inner change and reorientation, a reshaping of the faith tradition, and an ipso facto evolving reconciliation with science and reason, and even with humanism to some extent. For me, I do not share the ‘intuition’ mentioned in Keith’s quotation [of Steph Lentz], ‘I find myself both motivated and calmed by the idea that all of life is a wrestling with the nature of relations between our human existence and what many intuit to be a divine source behind all of this,’ and that because of the horrendous evil and suffering we continue to see all around us. Nevertheless, I found An Honest Faith to be both moving and thought provoking, while also encouraging of readers to better align their faith with fidelity to reason, self-honesty and their humanity (with Athens if you like).
RICHARD C. MILLER – author of Resurrection and Reception in Early Christianity, 2015.