For many years, Danielle Shroyer was a pastor to people recovering from a toxic theology of original sin, a theology that said that God couldn’t even bear to look at them without a very bloody intervention by Jesus. With a fierce empathy for her parishioners and an intellectual hunger for good theology, Shroyer went digging through the early writings of the church and discovered there an understanding of salvation that was not based on an assumption of essential human depravity. For Shroyer, the blessing of humanity by God “is not if-then but as-is.” We may “choose not to echo the blessing of God, but God’s blessing will never stop echoing over us.”
Danielle Shroyer joined us for a dynamic and refreshing conversation on The Ferment. We are grateful for her curiosity and her courage.
FB: Danielle Shroyer author page
Twitter: @dgshroyer
Insta: be.a.soul.ninja
What a rich conversation! Thanks so much. It reminded me of a children’s picture book I came across in the early 2000s. It was an “original blessing” take on the biblical creation story. I was Director of Christian Nurture for my denomination at the time and I did use it, but with great discretion. It’s still in my bookshelf and now I’d like to go check it out again.
Thanks Mom.
I don’t know if I’ve told you this story, but one of my memories from my book tour was of a young woman telling me that she had burst into tears when reading in my first chapter that you had never been able to bring yourself to give the standard answers about Jesus dying for my sins when I asked as a young child why Jesus had to die. It was a glimpse for me of how wounding the theology of human depravity and substitutionary atonement has been for so many believers, and of the debt I owe you for shielding me from that spiritual trauma. I think Danielle’s project proceeds from a very similar instinct: a profound, I would say, maternal, sense of God’s love for God’s children, with an absolute conviction that anything that stands in the way of our experience of that love is garbage, pure and simple. Out with it. – Marcus
An excellent episode! This was already an idea I have been delving into for some time, but Shroyer’s way of explaining it made it feel like a whole new thing. Very pleased to be introduced to her. Now I need to go get her book on this.
Hey Andrew, nice to hear from you. Yes, there’s something fresh and something very ancient in what Danielle is sharing. Funny how that happens with good spiritual teachers. – Marcus