Barry Napier

Patchwork Quilt Theology Barry Napier

Dr Napier believes that many Christians take their beliefs not from scripture, but from popular books, preconceived ideas, prejudiced views, and spiritualised sermons, taking the bits they prefer and sewing them all together like a patchwork quilt. Sadly, no attempt is made to see if all the patches fit together properly, or if they are of the same quality...so ''beliefs'' are a random collection of hotch-potch ''bits'', hot an homogeneous whole. Written in a no-nonsense manner, the book is not meant to suggest superiority, but a humble suggestion that maybe fellow believers have ''got it wrong''. Dr Napier begins by looking at the case of the Anabaptists and the Augsberg Confession, followed by a suggested model for interpretation. A major subject, ''Prayer Meetings'', opens the first list of subjects. It is well-researched and asks some very serious questions about this so-called ''hub'' of church life. An increasing number of Christians who read the original article have agreed with Dr Napier''s conclusions. Worship comes under a spotlight, with the simple question: "What is worship?" This is an important question in the midst of so many heretical teachings on the topic. He then asks why preachers should adopt the title ''reverend'', when it is only used once in scripture to refer to God Himself, and follows this up with chapters on membership, denominations and ''Christian counselling'' - all are subjected to close scrutiny. The final chapter on Calvinistic-Arminians points to a growing trend amongst preachers to use heretical means of preaching. With crystal clarity, the first Appendix deals with a critique of Dr Peter Masters'' work on prayer meetings, whilst the second Appendix looks at a prevalent view - that we have free-will - declaring it to be unbiblical. The whole book is challenging and thought-provoking.