Chris Haw

{{Infobox writer

| name = Chris Haw

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| image = Chris Haw, 2008 (cropped).jpg

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| alt = A photograph of a man with facial hair

| caption = Haw in 2008

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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1981}}

| birth_place = Chicago metropolitan area

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| occupation = Writer

| language = English

| nationality = American

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| alma_mater = Villanova University

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| genre = Christian devotional literature

| subjects = New Monasticism
Self-denial
Social justice

| movement =

| notableworks = Jesus for President
From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart

| spouse = Cassie Haw

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| children = Simon Haw

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| years_active = 2008–present

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Chris Haw (born 1981) is a Catholic theologian and professor in the United States.

Biography

Haw was baptized into the Catholic Church{{Cite news|work=Catholic Sentinel|title=Writers Recount Their Own Faith Stories in New Books|date=December 25, 2012|url=http://www.catholicsentinel.org/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=20160|accessdate=May 23, 2015|archive-date=May 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526054310/http://www.catholicsentinel.org/m/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=20160|url-status=dead}} and attended Catholic churches as a child until his mother started attending Willow Creek Community Church, after which he began attending there as well.{{Cite news|work=National Catholic Reporter|title=Swimming Against a Demographic Tide|author=Roberts, Tom|date=July 20, 2013|url=http://ncronline.org/books/2013/07/swimming-against-demographic-tide|accessdate=May 23, 2015|archive-date=May 26, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526052643/http://ncronline.org/books/2013/07/swimming-against-demographic-tide|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|work=Chicago Tribune|author=Brachear, Manya A.|title=A Catholic Homecoming: Chris Haw Explores His Journey from Evangelicalism Back to Catholicism|date=November 24, 2012|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/11/24/a-catholic-homecoming/|access-date=May 23, 2015|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121125212323/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-24/features/ct-prj-1125-chris-haw-20121124_1_christian-community-protestants-christian-college|archive-date=November 25, 2012}}

In 2004, Haw founded Camden Community House,{{sfn|Jones|2010|p=32}} 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.

He then studied theology at Villanova University{{Cite journal|author=Westerlund, George|date=April 15, 2008|title=Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals|journal=Library Journal|volume=133|issue=7|page=89}} and spent a semester in Belize, studying Christian views on environmentalism.{{sfn|Samson|2014|p=97}}

In 2008, he co-wrote Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals with Shane Claiborne,{{Cite news|work=Christianity Today|title=Book Review: Jesus for President (Part 1)|author=Swanson, David|author-link=David Swanson|date=March 28, 2008|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/parse/2008/march/book-review-jesus-for-president-part-1.html?paging=off|accessdate=April 12, 2015}} whom he met at Willow Creek.{{Cite news|work=Hartford Courant|title=The Case for Jesus as President|author=Campell, Susan|date=June 22, 2008|url=https://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&NS=16&AID=9UNI002400&an=KRTHC00020080622e46m00001&cat=a&ep=ASI|accessdate=April 14, 2015}}

Haw graduated from Villanova in 2009 with an MA in theology and later studied for a PhD at Notre Dame.

= Book on reversion to Catholicism =

{{Infobox book

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| name = From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart

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| country = United States

| language = English

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| subject = Catholicism
Evangelicalism
Religious conversion
Willow Creek Community Church

| genre = Autobiography
Christian apologetics
Christian devotional literature

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| published = 2012 (Ave Maria Press)

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| pages = 234

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| isbn = 978-1-59471-292-0

| dewey = 248.2/42092 B

| congress = BX4705.H3337A3 2012

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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 again.{{Cite news|work=America|title=The New Young Catholics|author=Braune, Joan|date=March 23, 2015|page=36|volume=212|issue=10|url=http://americamagazine.org/issue/culture/new-young-catholics|accessdate=May 25, 2015}} The book was published by Ave Maria Press in 2012.{{sfn|Claiborne|Campolo|2012|p=270}} 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.{{Cite news|work=Fox News Channel|title=Why I Went Back to the Catholic Church|date=November 9, 2012|url=http://video.foxnews.com/v/1959305032001/why-i-went-back-to-the-catholic-church-/?#sp=show-clips|accessdate=May 25, 2015}} 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".{{sfn|Mehl-Laituri|2012|p=232}} A Publishers Weekly reviewer suggests that the book will interest Protestants and Catholics alike because it provides an opportunity for both groups to learn and reflect on their spiritual lives.{{Cite news|work=Publishers Weekly|title=From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart: Rekindling My Love for Catholicism|date=October 8, 2012|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-59471-292-0|accessdate=May 25, 2015}} LaVonne Neff, in The Christian Century, says that "Haw does an exceptionally fine job of uniting theology, personal narrative and contemporary social realities".{{Cite news|work=The Christian Century|title=From Willow Creek to Sacred Heart, by Chris Haw|author=LaVonne Neff|date=January 10, 2013|url=http://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2013-01/willow-creek-sacred-heart-chris-haw|accessdate=May 25, 2015}}

= Teaching =

In 2018, Haw was hired as a theology professor at the University of Scranton.

Personal life

Haw and his wife, Cassie, have a son and a daughter.{{Cite news|date=October 25, 2012|title=Catholic Again, After Living in Camden|work=Catholic Star Herald|url=http://catholicstarherald.org/catholic-again-after-living-in-camden/|accessdate=May 23, 2015}}

Citations

References

{{cite book |last1=Claiborne |first1=S. |authorlink1=Shane Claiborne |last2=Campolo |first2=T. |authorlink2=Tony Campolo |title=Red Letter Revolution: What If Jesus Really Meant What He Said? |publisher=Thomas Nelson |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4002-0419-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1P44Di6KS8C&pg=PA270 }}
{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Toby |title=The Way of Jesus: Re-Forming Spiritual Communities in a Post-Church Age |year=2010 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-60899-152-5 }}
{{cite book |last=Mehl-Laituri |first=L. |title=Reborn on the Fourth of July: The Challenge of Faith, Patriotism & Conscience |publisher=InterVarsity Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8308-6689-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T1FyDaQvf-8C&pg=PA232 }}
{{Cite book |last=Samson |first=Will |title=The New Monasticism |journal=The New Evangelical Social Engagement |editor1=Brian Steensland |editor2=Philip Goff |year=2014 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-932954-0 }}