The Rt Hon Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury and well-regarded theologian, has dedicated a significant portion of his long ministry to making Christianity accessible to those with little knowledge or experience of it.
In his previous books, such as Being Christian and Being Human (SPCK), he has taken his deep spirituality and made it understandable to people for whom the esoteric pursuit of theology is not part of their daily lives. With Discovering Christianity: A guide for the curious, he’s taken a further step back and begun with the assumption that the reader has no knowledge of Christianity at all. In our secularised and unbelieving society, this may be a large audience – although there are some signs that the tide might be slowly turning.
Lord Williams opens the book with a basic explanation of the Church, the Trinity (with a beautiful explanation of what that concept means), and the death and resurrection of Jesus before moving on to apply the same clarity and simplicity to faith, theology, the Bible, tradition and reason.
Williams describes faith as a discipline that enables you to be able to see the world as much bigger than you suspect, and to see beyond your own wants and needs to the depth and ineffability of the universe. He presents the case that faith is an enlarging thing, and not one that reduces the world of the practitioner. Comprehending the unconditional love that God has for us leaves us with questions about how we treat those we meet every day.
In many ways, this small volume (128 pages) cements Williams as the worthy heir of CS Lewis, a leading voice in helping people make sense of Christianity in the culture in which they live.
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