Controversies over Christian values and politics frequently dominate the news.
What causes these conflicts? Why can’t a faith that is ostensibly founded on fostering love
for others settle even its own differences? Answers to these and other questions can be found in...

The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age

There is no apparent end to disagreements about “what Jesus would do” about problems in the modern age. The following excerpts from current news stories exhibit some of the ways Christians are “breaking bad” on fellow believers and the culture at large over issues of ideological authority and political dominance .

Global Warming and the Environment Controversial to Some Christians...
“There are people who want to take my head off…”--Richard Cizik, a Christian environmentalist
A Reuters news story published in the September 26, 2006 Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) contained the following quote from Evangelical Christian environmental lobbyist Richard Cizik: “There are people who disagree with what I'm doing within the evangelical movement in America. Simply standing up and saying 'Climate change is real, the science is solid, we have to care about this issue because of the impact on the poor'--why would that be controversial? Well, I'm sorry to say, it is controversial and there are people who want to take my head off.”

Christianity Fuels Nationalistic Public Policy...
“God can be exploited for nationalist purposes…” Survey conducted by Baylor University
A September 22, 2006 story from the Religion News Service published in the Chicago Tribune says 1 out of 5 Americans surveyed in a Baylor University poll believe God favors the United States in wordly affairs. Paul Froese, an assistant professor of religion at Baylor, a Baptist institution in Waco, Texas, helped devise the survey questions. He said the results show, “The idea of God, the belief in God, can be in a political sense exploited for nationalist purposes, at least for a fifth of the country. In that sense it's an important finding.”

Movie about Jesus Camp reveals Evangelical Christian extremism...
“I want to see these kids laying down their lives for the Gospel in the same way fundamentlist Muslims do.” ––Becky Fischer, Kids On Fire camp director
A review of the movie “Jesus Camp (Chicago Tribune, Sept. 29, 2006) documents the work of Becky Fischer, director of the Kids On Fire bible camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. “I want to see these kids laying down their lives for the Gospel in the same way fundamentalist Muslims do.” The review goes on to warn readers that Evangelical Christianity has perhaps become the single most powerful force in American politics. One church leader claims he has weekly phone contact with the Bush White House.

Not every religion issues deals in extremes, howecver. A story titled “A really higher education” in the August 23, 2006 edition of Beep, a print and online publication targeting suburban Chicago young adults, relates that many students are choosing Christian evangelical colleges so that their faith is not separated from their core education. “There is a firm foundation biblically,” says Shawn Leftwich, director of admissions for Wheaton College (IL), “and it’s ringing true for a lot of people.” The question remains “How is this biblical foundation being taught, upon what foundation?”

It does indeed seem that Christianity is everywhere in the news these days with media of every kind fueling the hype over religious influence on issues of culture, politics and the environment.

Book publishers have responded to this trend by releasing religious titles with increasing frequency. The August 2006 edition of Writer's Digest magazine calls religious writing the hot new market for 2007. But how long will this interest in religious subjects last? The Bible has been around for more than 2000 years, yet the greatest challenge for Christians remains knowing how to read the book many consider the inspired word of God. That challenge is addressed in a fresh and practical way in The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age. The 42,000 word book contends there are rich veins of truth in the Bible that have too long been ignored by Christianity authority from top to bottom.

The genre of religion books has certainly produced some interesting titles in recent years. Notable is the work of author John Shelby Spong, the controversial Episcopal Bishop whose “Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love” and “Why Christianity Must Change or Die” (Harper SanFrancisco) challenge the Evangelical and Fundamentalist communities of believers.

Just as provocative is the work of religious academic Bart Ehrman, the North Carolina University biblical scholar who authored “Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” (HarperCollins) to explain how the original message of the Bible has been corrupted though erroneous transcription and interpretation.

On almost every front, Christian scholars struggle to help believers think clearly and in proper context about the Bible. Author Barbara Rossing of the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago confronts the apocalyptic movement in her book The Rapture Exposed. The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. (Basic Books) These and other voices of religious rationalism and liberal faith are still often overwhelmed by shouts from the bully pulpits of fundamentalism, fatalism and nationalistic zealotry.

The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age by Christopher L. Cudworth illustrates how core issues of faith have been manipulated through biblical literalism. The book had its genesis in the author’s 1998 reading of an essay titled “The Genesis Factor: How Earth Was Forgotten Since Creation” to a group of “green Christians” at an environmental stewardship conference in suburban Chicago. The essay was enthusiastically received as it outlined solutions to conflicts between science and religion generated by literal interpretation of the Bible.

In 1999 the author accepted a position as editorial writer and columnist for the Daily Herald, Illinois' third-largest newspaper. The position offered considerable interaction with the public and gave valuable insight on how people react––both in print and in person–– to issues of public policy.

Following a promotion to a marketing job within the newspaper, the author continued his four-hour-a-day writing habit and embarked on the task of developing the Genesis Factor essay into a fully developed book that blossomed to a 75,000 word volume test-marketed to a diverse group of 30 readers from various backgrounds; conservative, liberal, male and female. The book was then revised and edited to its current 42,000 word format plus Endnotes, bibliography and glossary of terms.

The Genesis Fix taps the public vein of curiosity and concern about how what role faith should take in governing society. Debates over teaching evolution in schools, legislation of gay rights, abortion, stem cell research and fights over moral values all stem from religious worldviews. The Genesis Fix argues that a Christian faith founded on biblical literalism turns religious belief into an “evil riddle” for believers seeking reconciliation of faith to a technologically and scientifically advanced society. The book proposes that there should be no dichtomy between faith and rationalism and that we should read the Bible with an eye on its metaphorical tangibility and organic fundamentalism to more fully comprehend its message and help us know what Jesus and God would have us do in the modern age. Our concept of God is significantly dependent on literary devices such as metonymy and symbolism that help us conceive the notion of deity. The Genesis Fix argues that we should never need to apologize in using metaphors to describe God or discern the message of the Bible.

The Genesis Fix places the blame for confusion in the Christian faith squarely on the shoulders of biblical literalism and its propensity to require denial of everything it chooses to resist. That approach leads to ascetism, legalism and dogma. The Genesis Fix applies scriptural exegesis to deconstruct the argument for literalism and replace it with a proactive faith that can embrace change and accept the empirical flow of modern knowledge.

The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age contains four sections:

Section One: Prologue
1. Identifies and explains how biblical literalism impacts the worldview of Christian believers, explaining the biblical “three-step” of how archetypes, symbols and meaning convey truth

Section Two: Scriptural exegesis and metaphorical understanding
2. Provides a clear, scripturally founded basis for a metaphorical understanding
of the Bible that can be reconciled to modern science and modern life

Section Three: The Genesis Effect; Politics and Religion
3. Documents the effect of biblical literalism in the culture at large and explains
how the Christian religion has historically and is now currently used to manipulate
modern culture and politics

Section Four: The Genesis Solution
4. Delivers a clear, ten-point action list for repair and maintenance of Christian faith going forward

The Genesis Fix seeks to bridge the gap between theology and practical experience. Its niche in religious publishing is in providing clear, scripture-based solutions that can be applied in everyday life. This is not a book of arguments with competing theologians that distracts from the primary objective of helping readers learn both spiritual and rational alternatives to biblical literalism. Support for a metaphorical understanding of the Bible can help readers the state of faith in their own churches and personal lives.

The Genesis Fix employs quotes used by permission from notable personalities Ann Druyan, wife of the late Carl Sagan, and Rabbi David Oler of Congregation Beth Or, a humanistic Jewish synagogue in suburban Chicago. These viewpoints offer valuable perspectives on how Christians might apply better their faith as a practical solution to some of the world's problems.

The author draws on 20 years of membership in a conservative church (Missouri Synod Lutheran) and a long record of public activism in the arts, literature and the environment for which he was named a Distinguished Alumni of St. Charles High School in 1999.

The market for The Genesis Fix is both believers and non-believers curious about how the Christian faith has come to its current state of conflict and confusion. Believers will find The Genesis Fix challenges presumptions about biblical knowledge and its evolved (or evolving) traditions. Non-believers may find solace in the fact that there are rational Christians who do not see their faith as a cure-all or the theocratic solution to the American enterprise.

The platform from which to promote the book will be accomplished through my experience as a marketing and promotions professional with proven expertise in public relations. I have directed and promoted events such as the Alzheimer’s Associaiton Town Hall meeting (1991) that drew more than 400 people, a Drug Abuse Preventation form (2003) that drew 900 people and have been a frequent guest lecturer on the art of getting published in the St. Charles and Geneva, IL., literature and career festivals. I have developed my own website www.naturesymbol.com that features an interactive weblog and response site including The Human Nature Project, a collaborative subsite designed to teach people how to interact and enjoy nature.

The emblem (and cover symbol) for The Genesis Fix: A Repair Manual for Faith in the Modern Age is a cross made of a crescent wrench. It characterizes the idea that repairing one’s faith is sometimes a matter of practicality and hard work.

End of Book Synopsis and Promotional Platform Summary