In my early twenties, I dove deep into questions and doubts about the Christian faith. After hundreds of Sundays, countless youth programs, and a few years at a Christian college, I began dismantling many things I had always assumed. Today we would describe that experience as a kind of deconstruction. To those around me, I appeared argumentative and jaded. Inside, sometimes I felt free, sometimes afraid, sometimes numb. In the middle of that personal journey, I discovered a traveling companion as I began to read Augustine.
What Is Deconstruction?
Before thinking about Augustine’s story, we should pause to address the question, “What is deconstruction?” A recent cover article of Christianity Today is titled, “What, You’re Not Deconstructing?”—underlining the relevance of the topic. In that article, Kirsten Sanders describes deconstruction in a generally positive sense as “the struggle to correct or deepen naive belief.” This positive view often focuses on…
