Christianity in a Post-atheist Age - Softcover

Marsh, Clive

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0334028698 ISBN 13: 9780334028697

Publisher: SCM Press, 2002

Synopsis

as new unused

About this title

From the Author

This is the book I’ve long wanted to write. This isn’t because it’s in part autobiographical, though using my own experience directly in the book has proved invaluable and refreshing. It’s because I think I’ve found a way to try and talk about Christianity in Britain today which might connect with those who simply assume Christianity’s not for them, and that’s something I’ve been trying to do that for over ten years. The book will certainly be of use to those who are in the church and often wonder why they’re still there.
What I’ve tried to do is get readers to think about how and why they live as they do. And in the process of doing that, I’m inviting readers to think about what Britain is like at the moment, as far as religion is concerned. I then try and work out what Christianity – its theology, communities and practices – has been about and could still be about. I then urge readers to look at ways in which Christianity has already linked up with their lives, and may yet do so.
It’s quite an ‘upfront’ book. I show the kinds of things I am wrestling with myself. I’m not wanting to dodge awkward issues. I’m also prepared to challenge both the church of which I’m a part, and those who might laugh at the whole business of religion. But the whole book is built upon a dilemma well-characterized by Ian Hislop, whom I quote in the book’s Introduction. He once said: ‘Sometimes I sit in church and think: "This is complete bollocks, all of it, and always has been," and then a month later I’d sit there thinking: "This is all there is."’ That’s a dilemma experience by many. Perhaps it’s a dilemma that could usefully be experienced by even more. And that’s the only question I am really trying to address in this book: does it all matter or not?

Synopsis

Christianity is in crisis in the West and is failing to persuade people to adopt a religious lifestyle. This work is directed at anyone willing to have a serious look at the issues involved. Echoing the form of Luther's theses and the intent of Schleiermacher's "Speeches", the text offers 95 discussion starters for bemused contemporaries. It invites readers to think deeply about their own lives and to examine the religious and theological contexts of Britain today. The book then offers a bold proposal for a viable form of Christian belief, drawing heavily but not uncritically on liberal Protestantism. It thus develops further a tradition of Christian thought which SCM Press has done much to promote in the past. The appendices make the book suitable for individual or group study.

Edition details

• Publisher: SCM Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0334028698
• ISBN 13: 9780334028697
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 158