David Gushee is a calm voice of powerful reason calling the Christian church to leave American evangelicalism for a more meaningful and productive life meant for those called to follow Jesus.

Officially, the Rev. Dr. David Gushee is Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics and Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life at Mercer University.

His latest book, “Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism,” in which he writes of his experiences that began with becoming a born-again Southern Baptist in 1978 to being kicked out of evangelicalism in 2014 for his stance on LGBT inclusion in the church. But Gushee's religious pilgrimage proves even broader than that, as he leads his reader through his childhood experiences in Roman Catholicism, his difficult days at the liberal Union Seminary in New York, his encounters with the Christian Right, and more. In telling his story, Gushee speaks to the cultural divisions of a generation, as well as of today, and to those who have themselves been disillusioned by many battles within American Christianity.

He is the author or editor of 20 books and hundreds of articles in his field, including Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust, Kingdom Ethics, The Sacredness of Human Life, and, most recently, Changing Our Mind. Dr. Gushee has always accompanied his scholarly production with church work (First Baptist Church, Decatur), activism (human rights, creation care, LGBT acceptance), opinion writing (Washington Post, Huffington Post, Baptist News Global, now Religion News Service), board service (Public Religion Research, Sojourners, Center for Victims of Torture), and domestic and global media consultation. He has lectured on every continent, with endowed lectures in New Zealand, Holland, and Switzerlan. Dr. Gushee has been married to Jeanie for 31 years. They are the parents of two daughters and a son, and one grandson. 

His latest book would make a great Christmas gift, and I found him to be insightful, spiritual and humble in this interview.