Theologizin' Bigger

Homilies on Living Freely and Loving Wholly

By: Trey Ferguson

Narrated by: Myron Abernathy

Faith can get messy. Whether we’re talking about personal beliefs or the ideologies that end up shaping our institutions, there’s a lot to wade through. As people drifting through—and sometimes away from—faith communities reexamine their convictions, there’s more desire than ever to live freely and to grant our curiosity an audience.

In Theologizin’ Bigger: Homilies on Living Freely and Loving Wholly, pastor, podcaster, and public theologian Trey Ferguson encourages you to re-engage your imagination, and to construct theologies that speak to our current contexts, just as people of faith have done throughout history.

With personal stories and some lo-fi truth telling, Ferguson leads us through topics like how we read the Bible, our inherited traditions, the shame and confusion we experience, and a faith that can shape tomorrow. Ferguson writes, “Theology requires imagination. The ability to imagine is part of what makes us human. And salvation is, in part, a rehumanization project.”

You don’t have to ignore your nagging doubts and honest questions. You don’t have to check any part of yourself at the door. You can find the faith to live freely and love wholly. When you’re Theologizin’ Bigger, you get to decide where the crown goes.

©2024 R. G. A. & Trey Ferguson III (P)2024 R. G. A. & Trey Ferguson III

Critic reviews

“Prophets are rare in our culture and poets are needed in this challenging contemporary moment. Trey Ferguson is a poet and a prophet for such a time as this.” —Otis Moss, III, Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, and author of Dancing in the Darkness

Great in Many Ways!

I had the privilege of meeting Tamron Hall in January. I am in avid mystery book reader and when I found out she wrote a book, I think it was in my audible collection before that day finished. I love the angle taken in her writing. We don't just have a story, we have thought provoking content and humanity. Marginalized people are highlighted in ways that bring our attention to grave systemic wrongs while keeping a balance so the characters feel real and relatable. I highly recommend it.

Excellent, Timely, Timeless

I enjoyed this book from start to finish! Smart, funny, and themes that I think anyone could learn from, especially in times like these. Such a thoughtful reflection on culture, theology, and faith. Read so well, I was bummed when I finished!

Beautiful, thought provoking, and much needed!

Grateful for Trey’s voice and ability to challenge the narratives of our culture and upbringings!

A Beautiful Conversation

This book is a conversation with Pastor Trey Ferguson. It’s a conversation about thinking and imagining more so than knowing. Masterfully written, Pastor Trey is personable, funny, and straight forward with his challenges to some of the set ways of Christendom. Each chapter draws you in like a well crafted sermon. Preaching, while never feeling preachy. This book is a great personal read, great for sharing, and even useful for teaching—as I plan to incorporate it into my curriculum and resource library.

Hermeneutics and theology for the Christian life.

I am the kind of person who picks up an audiobook of theology because I have a full day of work to do in my yard, and I need something to keep me motivated. Theologizin’ Bigger is exactly what I needed to keep me going.

There are a lot of books that I will listen to while working and then I will get the broad overview and decide if they are worth coming back to more slowly in print later. This is a book that I think is worth revisiting in print later, not because it is hard to understand but because it is well-written and deserves careful reading.

There are 17 chapters split into four sections, and I don’t know which is my favorite. I spent a lot of time grappling with hermeneutics (how we understand the role and message of the Bible) about 10 or so years ago. I went to seminary in my early 20s. I am glad I did because it was easier to do grad school when I was young, but there are questions that I didn’t have in my early 20s because I did not have the life experience yet. For me the role of scripture was a question for my late 30s. I was aware of a number of technical issues around the Bible and biblical interpretation, but it took me longer to see more bad uses to really start grappling with the ways that the methods of our bible reading were a real part of the problem of Christianity. The chapters of on the bible may seem simple, but they are not simplistic.

I started following Trey Ferguson on Twitter because I met one of the other co-hosts of the Three Black Men podcast at a conference back in 2019. My grappling with issues of race is why I was at a Jude 3 conference in the first place. I am not new to issues around distortions of Christianity because of Whiteness, but the second section of the book, on distortions of Christianity and how his life experience matters to correcting those distortion. The reality that Christianity and Jesus was about freedom does matter. A Christianity that is not about liberating people isn’t a real Christianity.

There is a real thread that goes through the third and fourth sections of the book, but I think it is more subtle than the first two sections. In many ways, it is a continuation of the theme of liberation. Part of liberating people from bad Theologizin, that has a God and vision for faith that is far too small is confronting the wrong ideas. Trey Ferguson was on the Gravity Common’s podcast talking about the problems with Penal Substitutionary Atonement as it is normally presented and at the end of the podcast he was asked to preach the real gospel. That podcast I think showed the real focus of the last two sections, not that they are concerned solely with PSA but that like PSA, we have to “lean into mystery” and focus on a “rehumanizing project” as his last two chapters are called.

Faith matters, and part of why Ferguson is calling us to a large view of theology and our role in it, is because the small view of what it means to understand our role in the world needs a bigger view. A strong view of boundary setting, which is what many in the Christian world want to focus on, will limit what it is that we can do in the world. Even if our understanding of God is often too small, God is not a small God.

My one complaint is a standard complaint for me. I really do prefer that authors read their own books. Trey is a pastor and speaker. He hosts two podcasts and is regularly on other people’s podcasts. He has a distinctive voice, not just the sound of his voice but the content of his voice and while this audiobook was fine, it wasn’t his voice. And I would have preferred it to be his voice.

Just what I needed

Pacing of the reading felt a bit rushed during transitions between chapters, but the readers overall sounded great! Content is also top tier and well needed, especially given the overall Western Christian climate.

Honest Self Reflection on the Faith needed to be a Black Christian

Trey Ferguson does an impeccable job of dissecting the/his black Christian experience. If you pay attention, you will find that Trey successfully serves three groups in this book. The three groups are curious black American Christians, white American Christians who are game to play within the rules of the black experience, and black non-Christians looking to connect the dots and learn about the structure of faith.

He is artful in his ability to remain relatable and, of course, human. I appreciate him tackling the battle to stay curious when all obvious influences tend to shut up and think like the rest. I hope he continues to bring fun and heart to all of his works in the future.

The only knock is that I know the author is a former actor. I would vote for him to be the narrator of the next installment. To be clear, the performance was excellent. I just would have liked to hear Mr. Ferguson.