The Gospel of Doubt: Selected Poems of Simon Bar-Jonah

The way of faith is familiar, in some fashion, to most. The initial enthusiasm can be equal parts fanaticism and addiction, tempered with doubt. Can this be real? Is he for real? Am I worthy of this attention? Is this a path I really want to walk? Perhaps my dismal comfort zone is "enough." When we finally decide we are done testing the waters, and we are in with both feet, doubt does not recede. Instead, as we become a true follower of the way, doubt often increases as we learn how much we don't understand, and realize we are incapable, on our own, of clearing a bar set impossibly high. Our pride and ego are continually challenged. Eventually, true discipleship may emerge from a cycle of boasting and emotional self-flagellation, of professions of faith and bitter denial. Ultimately, there is no path other than being sifted like wheat. The chaff gets very deep. The good news is that doubt is a sure sign that sifting is under way: that where there is chaff, there is grain. These are the collected poems of Simon Bar-Jonah, also known to history as Simon Peter. Culled from the hundreds of complete verse and fragments extant, these most "finished" works span the years of Simon's apprenticeship with Jesus of Nazareth. You will not encounter here the sanitized saint of stained-glass windows and hagiography. These are the words of a deeply troubled man struggling with brokenness and pride, and encountering a kind of holiness completely outside his prior experience. And he would also likely observe that the Jesus with whom he walked was outside all our experience, as well.

About the Author :
Greg Wright is a pastor, technology consultant, lecturer, film critic, and writer who taught literature, film, and theater while Writer in Residence at Puget Sound Christian College. Managing Editor of HollywoodJesus.com from 2000-2012, he is the author and editor of many scholarly works, including Two Roads Through Narnia, Tolkien in Perspective, Peter Jackson in Perspective, and The Da Vinci Code Adventure. Under the pen name W. John MacGregor, he has published the novels West of the Gospel and the forthcoming Early Winters. His published plays include Homecoming, Beasley's Christmas Party (adapted from the book of the same title and Ramsey Milholland, both by Booth Tarkington), and a three-act adaptation of William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. In 2019 he joined the Methow Valley's Confluence Poets. His poems have appeared in The Shrub-Steppe Poetry Journal and Whispers of Wenatchee.