What is Deconstruction?

A trend called “deconstruction” began to arise in American Christianity a few years ago, and it has taken firm root in the church environment. Of course, people have been walking away from the Christian faith since the earliest days after Jesus’ ministry. The contemporary deconstruction movement differs from the general threat to apostatize, though. It is not a reaction to the threat of persecution, and it has very little to do with social pressures. It tends to be a deeply personal, individual experience that nevertheless follows a larger trend. 

This article is the first of a two-part series about deconstruction. The first part will focus on what the movement looks like and some defining characteristics shared among its participants. The second part will discuss how to engage someone on the road of deconstruction, as well as steps that ministry leaders can take to prevent people in their churches from starting the process in the first place.

The stumbling block that deconstructionists often encounter does not originate with Christianity but with Christians.

What is Deconstruction?

Defining the term “deconstruction” poses a challenge because those who have gone through the process, either in part or to its completion, will describe it differently. Prominent figures who have deconstructed (by their own admission) include Dc Talk’s Kevin Max, Caedmon’s Call’s Derek Webb, and Joshua Harris, author of the influential book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. 

Each of these has described his experience in a different way: as a response to feeling like an outsider, as a response to Christian bigotry, or as a disillusionment caused by a church’s reaction to a personally painful experience. Whatever the catalyst, all three began what they describe as a reflective journey of asking questions about the Christian faith.

Social media also plays a big role in the deconstruction movement, providing a gathering place for those seeking community in what is usually an isolating process. The YouTube channels, “The Genetically Modified Skeptic” and “Jezebel Vibes,” have a combined one million subscribers.

These channels feature a lapsed Evangelical man and woman, respectively, who regularly post videos that claim to disprove the validity of Christian doctrines or to undermine the truth claims of the Bible. Each channel also features at least one video describing the deconstruction journey taken by its host, which are among the channels’ top ten most popular by number of views.

For most high school students and young adults (who compose a large portion of deconstructionists), their process of detaching from their faith is not something they would discuss on social media. Most people going through deconstruction will not talk about it openly until they have reached some sort of conclusion. 

While a vocal minority who have dubbed themselves “Exvangelicals” often makes the headlines, overt antagonism toward Christianity does not characterize the trend as a whole. The stumbling block that deconstructionists often encounter does not originate with Christianity but with Christians.

Personal Pain as a Catalyst

A common misconception of deconstruction is that it is primarily intellectual in nature—like a kind of anti-apologetics, it offers intellectual arguments against many of the central claims of Christianity. Such a view makes sense because many deconstruction videos and written pieces focus on the unbelievability of Christian doctrines. 

However, when you hear the stories told by those who have gone through the deconstruction process, they almost always began to doubt from a place of pain. The source of pain may be ostracism from a church community (as Derek Webb felt after his divorce) or a perceived lack of Christian empathy with marginalized communities (as Joshua Harris perceived regarding LGBTQ+ groups). In a sense, someone becomes disillusioned with Christians’ behavior and, in turn, begins to doubt Christianity.

Once a person has an emotional desire to disbelieve Christianity because he or she has judged it to be bad, the usual next step includes looking for good intellectual reasons to disbelieve. The intellectual reasons do not cause disbelief; they merely bolster the already-present desire to disbelieve. As a result, if you engage someone walking a road toward deconstruction, you may find yourself frustrated as you answer a bevy of intellectual questions but seem to make no progress toward bringing that person any closer to renewed Christian belief. In the end, most people who are deconstructing do not want to be argued out of it.

How then can we engage with those we care about who are deconstructing? And how can we keep people in our churches from starting the process in the first place? The second part of this series will provide some advice for those important questions.

Andrew Jennings is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Religion and Apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. He is married to Lauren, and they have three children: Anna, Ethan, and Luke. Andrew also serves as a lay elder at NorthPointe Church in Burleson, TX.