Chris Haw


Chris Haw is an important figure in New Monasticism. He was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church and attended Catholic churches as a child until his mother started attending Willow Creek Community Church, a megachurch located in the Chicago metropolitan area of Illinois, and he switched to attending there as well. He studied theology at Villanova University. He spent a semester in Belize studying Christian views on environmentalism.
In 2004, Haw founded Camden Community House, a Christian intentional community in Camden, New Jersey, composed of people who seek to emulate early Christians by being actively involved in their community and by sharing their wealth among the community. In 2008, he co-wrote Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals with Shane Claiborne, whom he met at Willow Creek. Haw is married. His wife's name is Cassie and they have a son named Simon.

''From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart''

From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart: Rekindling My Love for Catholicism is a book of Christian apologetics by Haw that documents his transitions from Catholicism to evangelicalism and back to Catholicism. The book was published by Ave Maria Press in 2012. The first half of the book is autobiographical while the second half is a defense against evangelical criticisms of Catholicism.
William T. Cavanaugh, who teaches Catholic studies at DePaul University, wrote the afterword for the book. In a National Catholic Reporter review, Tom Roberts compares From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart to Kaya Oakes' Radical Reinvention: An Unlikely Return to the Catholic Church, calling them both "very smart books". Fox News Channel interviewed Haw about From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart. In his book Reborn on the Fourth of July: The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism & Conscience, Logan Mehl-Laituri writes about From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart, saying that he "cannot recommend it highly enough". A Publishers Weekly reviewer suggests that the book will interest Protestants and Catholics alike because the book provides opportunity for both groups to learn and reflect on their spiritual lives. LaVonne Neff, in The Christian Century, says that "Haw does an exceptionally fine job of uniting theology, personal narrative and contemporary social realities".

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