Gerd Theissen

On Having a Critical Faith Gerd Theissen

This book,' Dr Theissen remarks, 'means more to me than any other of my writings. The ideas in it go back to my student days, and my dissatisfaction then over the attitude of so many theologians. I kept on asking myself, how they could go on working, day after day, when they could not even give a convincing answer to the insinuation that God is an illusion. I resolved either to find an answer of my own or to give up theology altogether.' This is his answer. In a short and clearly reasoned study he considers the arguments most commonly produced against Christian belief from the outside, and explores how they can be answered. First he looks at the charge that Christianity is an ideology born out of social conflict and distorted personalities. Then he counters the criticism that religious belief has no grounding in everyday experience and reality. Finally, he argues against the view that the historical approach makes everything relative. There are good reasons, he concludes, for being a Christian. But this does not mean that Christianity can be defended in its traditional form. It will have to change if it is not going to lose all credibility in the modern world.