Deep Church Rising

The divisions between conservative and liberal Christians leave many confused and disillusioned. This book shows how we can overcome those divisions by recovering what C. S. Lewis called 'deep church'.

Draws on the best of the major traditions, making fresh connections between 'right believing', 'right worship' and 'right practice'. The major cultural changes in Western societies since the Reformation have created a serious challenge for the Church. Modernity in particular has been inhospitable to Christian orthodoxy and many have been tempted to reject classical versions of the faith. This has led to a division within churches that Walker and Parry name 'the third schism,' a divide between those who embrace what C. S. Lewis called 'mere Christianity' or 'deep church,' and those who do not.

This book is a call deep church, to remember our future, to make a half-turn back to premodernity. Not in order to repeat the past but in order to find often forgotten resources for the present. Embracing the spirituality of deep church, according to Walker and Parry, is the only way that the church can be true to its calling in the midst of the postmodern world.

“This is a powerful and persuasive call to the churches to ground themselves in the Christian tradition, and retrieve its riches. An essential antidote to the shallow theology of technique-based approaches to mission.” – Alister McGrath.