Borrowing from the tragic twist in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein story, the authors of Frankenchurch offer a parallel study on the nature of life. Victor Frankenstein’s informed, well-intentioned creation of physical life that ultimately became destructive, can resemble the divine, spiritually-alive creation of church life, which can also become destructive. Reflecting on the process of God’s life being incarnated into graceless mortals, the parallel image is striking; that of break-through, newly-created life formed in a grotesque monster.
And the parallel continues throughout the story. Frankenstein’s monster is sufficiently different from others to scare them but he also feels compassion and care for them. Persistent in trying to connect against impossible odds, he eventually allows the life of intense rejection to turn him into the monster others claim he is. From that point on, his life is developed in reaction to his adversaries, rather than by the original vision of his creator.
Churches are as diverse as the people who lead and follow them. Frankenchurch provides readers with a platform for discussion about their own church experiences.
Perhaps you’ve been one who has been timid about asking the hard questions; or confused about the contradictions; or just plain frustrated, in your desire to integrate your “church life” with your “real life.” Reading this book (and thinking through the reflection questions it provides in section 2) will invest you with courage and provide you with a framework to ask yourself and others the tough questions and to enter into the struggle of grace in a world that seems, at times, to only understand power and agendas.