Dancing on the Edge: Making sense of faith in a post-christian age - Tapa blanda

‘There is a struggle going on for the soul of Christianity,’ warns Richard Holloway, right at the start of this uncompromising call to arms on behalf of the Christian faith.

In a rapidly changing society, the Churches have largely responded by digging their heals in and refusing to acknowledge progress.

Bishop Holloway, one of the leading prelates in the Anglican Church, has long been fascinated by doubt and uncertainty. Now, for the first time he tackles the fundamental beliefs of Christianity, ranging from the existence of God and the authority of the Bible to sexuality, suffering and a society growing ever distant from daily church life.

Under three sections – God, Us and the Church – he takes a daring, challenging and sometimes controversial journey through the signs of the times and the relevance of the Christian faith at the end of the century.

There are all sorts of people struggling between belief and unbelief today. Some have turned their back on organised religion, others are hanging on to membership of a church by their fingertips. But few are given the opportunity to explore their faltering faith honestly against the background of churches which speak ‘exclusively’ for God. This ground breaking book is just such an opportunity.

In an inspiring epistle for a post Christian age, Richard Holloway gets to grips with the core beliefs of the Christian faith. When science and morality are shifting daily, do we have a shrinking sense of God, a mere ‘God of the Gaps’ as Bonhoeffer described? Or can we make sense of God and each other in a life enhancing way? How do we manage this in the face of suffering in the world, the complexity of relationships and church communities, and the off putting rigidity of fundamentalism?

Such overcritical, even oppressive, forms of religion encourage only fear. But fear, contends Richard Holloway, is the enemy of real faith. The real faith of the Christian is more akin to a rolling jazz session than a march on the barrack square. It is about joy and exhilaration, about dancing on the edge.

By turns compassionate, challenging and controversial, Bishop Holloway traces that dance through the signs of the times and argues the relevance of his faith at the end of the century.