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The Faith of the English- Integrating Christ & Culture

Reviewed by Julian Reindorp.

This is a quirky but fascinating account of 'deep listening' to English culture by an author who has also done this process in Tanzania.

Twenty four pages are taken up with a 6/7 week course on “How can we be English and Christian: An imaginative and reflective course integrating Englishness and Christian Faith” (www.spckpublishing.co.uk/shop/the-faith-of-the-english). The six themes he chooses are: moderation – ‘don't rock the boat’; humorous moaning - 'typical'; privacy - 'an Englishman's home is his castle'; fair play - 'well, to be fair'; class - 'I know my place'; courtesy - 'sorry'. This is contextual theology at its best: reading, reflection and results from the groups that have already used the material are all brought together in this original and perceptive book.

“The task for English Christians is to bury the English God, but to rediscover the English Christ (p.115)” He uses John Drane's analysis (2000, 2005, 2008) that the church in general offers an unattractive religiosity without much true spirituality at its heart, and George Lings' picture of the Christendom church that lies at the bottom of a cultural valley relying on the fact that the culture will naturally 'roll' people into it, as opposed to the post-Christendom church which is located on the top of a steep cultural hill which rolls people away from church. He takes very seriously our 'primal' religion which includes both folk and implicit religion. There is no 'silver bullet' here, but there are real pointers, and he notes three elements from Eastern faiths that have rather fallen out of use here since the Reformation - Shrines, Festivals and Pilgrimages.

He argues we need to be aware of our Englishness and what this means, and the links and tensions between our culture and faith – not so long ago being Christian and English were seen as synonymous. My suggestion is to look at the website and this may draw you into this fascinating way of exploring our national characteristics, and integrating our faith and culture. There is a useful bibliography and index