Book Review: What’s Wrong With Religion, by Skye Jethani

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One of the tensions I feel in youth ministry is between theory and practice - between teaching students theology and equipping them with the tools to practically live out their faith. While the two ought to be well integrated, we often lean in one direction or the other, and in the past I’ve found myself leaning more towards teaching doctrine and hoping the application works itself out. As I desire to teach my students in a robust way that connects with their daily lives, I’m always looking for resources I can use to strengthen that integration. What’s Wrong With Religion: 9 Things No One Told You About Faith by Skye Jethani is one of those resources.

Summary of the Book

In just over 110 pages, Jethani presents several truths about faith and religion that are common to all people. The first and most foundational of these is “Everyone is Religious”, the title of chapter 1. Upon establishing this premise, Jethani proceeds to explain how “the religious person tries to win God’s favor through moral behavior” (p. 27). He also details some of the abuses of religion that have done more bad than good for the world, while also exploring the ways discarding religion doesn’t solve the problem. The turning point in the book comes in chapters 4-6, where Jethani uses the parable of the prodigal son to explain that “[w]hat God cares most about is not your obedience nor your disobedience but your presence” (p. 71). As the title of chapter 6 explains, the solution is “living WITH God.” The remaining chapters focus on a few aspects of living life with God, such as living in communion with God through prayer, trusting God’s sovereignty and strength rather than living in fear, and the primary role of knowing and experiencing God’s love.

Each chapter is fairly brief, interspersed with illustrations to express Jethani’s points more vividly. The logical flow from understanding that everyone is religious, to seeing that religion is primarily about control, to the contrasting call to give up control and abide in Jesus is helpful to keep the reader tracking with the Jethani’s goal. Each chapter also includes a question or two for reflection, and the book ends with some suggested next steps.

How Is This Book Helpful to Youth Workers?

There are many types of resources that youth pastor theologians can benefit from, such as rich works of theology, commentaries and reference texts, and books dissecting research on the lives of teenagers. This book stands as a complement to these other types of resources, as a thought-provoking conversation starter. It’s beneficial first and foremost to youth pastors themselves, in challenging them to consider if their walk with Christ is truly one lived in communion with him. We are reminded that Christ’s incarnation was not simply to accomplish a salvation focused on going to heaven, but to reconcile us to God for ongoing relationship. It is possible for the time spent studying Scripture and planning ministry to derail a life spent abiding in Jesus, and Jethani offers a gentle yet firm push back towards the youth pastor’s first love. This is expanded further in another book from Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, one of the resources he suggests at the end of the book.

Youth pastors may also be challenged to consider the messaging we present to students, especially implicitly. One of the chapters focuses on how we don’t exist to be used, just as God does not exist to be used by us. The challenge is really to consider how an overemphasis on mission or the things we are doing for God can overtake the primacy of living with God. As we hope to encourage students to serve and use their gifts, we must ensure that we are not putting the cart before the horse. All that we and our students are called to do in service to God flows out of a life of abiding faith. This points back to the truth in creation, that humanity is called to be stewards of God’s creation as we live with him. The ways we serve and use our gifts can easily be tainted by the fall, as we make it about ourselves and our capabilities. Jethani offers a corrective back to see how living life with God does not remove mission and service, but instead places them in proper focus.

This book is also beneficial to students themselves, in part because of how accessible and illustrative it is. For those students who have no prior experience or knowledge of faith, Jethani provides a path for them to see how they have been living religiously and to see that the way of Jesus is different than other paths. In contrast to religions which emphasize human effort, he points the reader to see how the good news of Jesus is about grace. It’s also beneficial for students who have grown up in the church, who have a lot of knowledge about God and may have even trusted in Christ. This book can help them to see how knowing God means more than knowing about him, and spur them to consider their life with Jesus more critically than they may have before. Students may understand their initial conversion is not something they can earn. Yet the gospel also involves a life lived with Jesus in an ongoing basis, which is a gift as well.

While What’s Wrong With Religion is not the most robust or specific resource, it’s not trying to be. I think it’s an incredible tool to use in the integration of theology and practice. It can be used within individual or small group discipleship, as a way to begin discussion on living life with Jesus. I plan to use it that way with a small group of graduating seniors this spring, to help them think through their assumptions about faith and challenge them to live life with Jesus. This book can also supplement a study of John’s gospel, provoking thought about what it practically means to abide in Jesus. I believe What’s Wrong With Religion is an invaluable resource for any youth pastor to have in their toolkit.

Note: YPT did not receive a review copy of this book, but has offered this review to commend a good resource to our readers. Ordering through affiliate links helps YPT provide more content like this for youth workers.