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Humane Christianity

Author:	Alan Bartlett
Published By:	Darton, Longman and Todd (London)
Pages:	208
Price:	£12.95
ISBN:	0 232 52513 7

Reviewed by Chris Skilton.

The aim of this book is a laudable one - to put the case for a Christian faith that is life-giving and positive; not “against” everything but for all that enriches and ennobles humanity. In Bartlett’s own words the aim is to focus on what as Christians we are saved for not what we are saved from.

He sets out to do this by a critical re-evaluation of three of the great foundations of Christian spirituality, poverty, obedience and chastity intending to show that these are not instruments of repression but properly understood bring freedom and vitality. So for instance the chapter on obedience wants us to move away from the tyranny of blind obedience to the intimacy and obedience of love. Each chapter ends with a Biblical reflection - which does not always sit easily with the chapter itself. I enjoyed his study of Luke 7: 36-50 and the conclusion that  “This is a profound and impulsive welcoming of a dangerous sinner back into the family of God, long before she is safe” (p.101) but the connections with the central argument are difficult to make. The book draws on a wide variety of sources - Benedict,  Jeremy Taylor, Nick Hornby, Martin and Luther and Ian McEwan to name but a few (and there is a perceptive commentary on the latter’s novel; ‘Atonement’ which helped me enormously with my understanding of it). There are plenty of fascinating insights along the way about how the church has operated down through its history to the detriment of a gospel of love. However much as I enjoyed reading this book for some of its insights along the way, I found the logic of the overall argument difficult to follow and the passion and conviction of the whole less compelling than its parts.