Re-Enchanting Christianity

This book takes us back to basics, looking at what we really believe and how that impacts on us and those we meet. It explores the 'sacred cows' of belief and shows how some of them have developed a life of their own, far detached from what we read of God in the Bible. It reminds us again and again of how much God loves all of humanity and wants to spend time with each one of us. It also, perhaps surprisingly, looks at the way the Anglican Church is set up as being a positive model for Mission with many opportunities to meet people where they are. Now all the Church needs to do is make sure that they feel welcome. We need to work at that but overall I found this to be an affirming book.

Far fewer people would be leaving church if they had read this book before closing the door. Here Dave Tomlinson, known for his seminal work The Post Evangelical helpfully reconstructs a credible Christianity for the doubting, questioning, and disillusioned Christian who is trying to reconnect with their first love of faith in today’s spiritual world. Using the principle of ‘thesis, antithesis and synthesis’ we find a real appreciation of the antithesis to faith and the synthesis which leads to the re-enchanting Christianity of the book title. Beautifully written with excellent illustrations from the first page, he helpfully leads the reader along a path he calls ‘progressive orthodoxy’, to face and explore many of the difficult theological issues which caused many Christians to give up the journey of faith. Masterful.