Journey into Love

The Rev. Ed Kelly, Jr. this month published his first book, “Journey into Love.” It was released as an e-book by Amazon Kindle.

In the book, also available in paperback, the Rev. Kelly said he shares his life story of discovering that God is absolute, unconditional love, and of his personal, subsequent transformation out of anger, fear and bigotry. 

The Rev. Kelly said he begins with his childhood and reveals how he developed the concept of a “monster God.” 

“I viewed God as angry, punitive and separated from me because I saw myself as evil and deserving of his wrath.” 

The Rev. Kelly calls these concepts of God “the box.” He said this box controlled and dominated his life even later as a Fundamentalist fire-brimstone preacher. He describes the change that occurred in him as the “box” began to unravel through a series of synchronistic events – a depressive suicide crisis and subsequent recovery, education, and a fearless questioning of his beliefs.

The Rev. Kelly lives in Red Oak with his wife, Rose. He is a U.S. Army veteran who served as a combat medic during the Vietnam era, a licensed practical nurse, and a certified mental health peer support specialist. He is currently employed part time as a LPN-peer support specialist with Waubonsie Mental Health IHH in Clarinda.

He was a Fundamentalist Protestant preacher for 20 years and in 1995 began a journey out of fundamentalism through the influence of such writers as Paul Tillich, James Barr and Hans Kung. Now Ed writes and speaks about the need for a non-partisan, non-dogmatic spirituality that embraces all faiths. 

He has a BA from Buena Vista University, MBA from Columbia Southern University and a Master in Theology from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

Asked what he hoped others would take away from the life experiences he shares in the book, the Rev. Kelley said, “I would hope that readers would come to understand that no matter what label of faith we possess, we are all on the same journey – a process to return to the primal image – the image of God, who is love. That spirituality is not limited to one certain religious persuasion.

“Also, sometimes our ‘ideas about God’ keep us from finding this God and also from becoming love. As an extreme Fundamentalist preacher, my theology – ideas about God – closed my heart and mind to people of other faiths. I became a judge – a meddler – of other people’s morality and spirituality. That mindset and attitude blocked me from developing a relationship with God and people. I discovered that in order to rightly relate to God and to others, I had to let go of absolute theological certainties and that God is bigger and better than my mind can conceive or imagine.”

The Rev. Kelly said he had been considering writing the book for about three years. 

“What spurred me to write it was that many of my friends and colleagues thought I should put my journey into writing. I took me one full year of writing,” he said. 

The Rev. Kelly also explained the influence the aforementioned writers had on his faith.

“I was introduced to the writings of James Barr and Hans Kung when I attended Franciscan University in Stebenville, Ohio. 

“James Barr is one of the foremost scholars on the Bible. And maybe here I should answer the question on the Bible. Through his writings I came to understand that there was another way of reading and interpreting the Bible; the way of looking at the Bible seriously yet not literally and by reading it in its social and historical context. 

“Hans Kung influenced me in the unique way he explained the paradigm shifts that have occurred in the history of Christianity.

“I did happen to stumble upon Paul Tillich, in whom I am indebted to for his idea that our theology can become an idol. And certainly as a Fundamentalist, my box – that is what I call my system of ideas about God in my book – my box had become a form of idolatry, something that I protected and held onto with all my strength. I call it idolatry because what was of ultimate concern to me was not God but my ideas about God.”

Asked what becomes of Christ in his newfound faith view, the Rev. Kelly said, “I spend a great deal of time in my book talking about Jesus’s most important teaching about love. In my previous fundamentalist view, I spent more time declaring who I though he was instead of his exhortations “to love one another” and “not to judge one another,” which I believe are so imperative for our present time. Martin Luther King Jr. explained it this way: ‘Love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s progress and only love overcomes violence and hatred.’”

The Rev. Kelly wanted to make something else clear about his view of God.

“I should also like to state that I am not implying that all fundamentalists are bigots. But I certainly was. For 25 years I was a vicious carrier of hate. It is something that I am now not proud of but I am living proof that people can change.”