Introduction
What do Christians believe? Why do they believe this? And what difference does it make? In the Christian Belief for Everyone series, I aim to explore the basic themes of a simple and genuinely Christian faith.
I have been persuaded of the need for this new series through personal conversations with many, both inside and outside Christianity. Ordinary churchgoers have often told me that they wrestle with their faith, being perfectly prepared to trust God, but not so sure about some of the Church’s ways of talking about him. Other Christians have spoken of how they are frequently puzzled by some of their beliefs, like the doctrine of the Trinity, while many outside the faith have indicated that they are intrigued by the new way of seeing things that such doctrines make possible. My discussions with those who do not believe have often taken unexpected turns: I remember my delight after one particular conversation with an atheist in Australia, in which I explained what the Trinity was all about. ‘That makes sense!’ he declared. ‘Tell me more.’
The ‘big picture’ of the Christian faith that I aim to set out in this series is something that makes sense both of what we see around us and what we experience within. Traditional introductions to Christian belief have tended to treat its ideas – such as incarnation or redemption or the creeds (to which we will return later) – as if each is a little box or watertight compartment, unconnected to any other, to be opened up and explored individually. I would like to take a different approach, one that emphasizes the importance of seeing the whole, not just examining its constituent elements, because it seems to me that in order to appreciate individual beliefs, you need to see the big picture of which they are part. So in this first volume we will begin with the ‘panorama’, as it were; then in the next four volumes we will move on to the ‘snapshots’, as we look at individual beliefs in more detail. Of course, I will not manage to cover everything, but I hope those interested in Christianity’s core themes will find that they really want to go on to explore them more thoroughly.
As I am writing primarily for ‘ordinary’ Christians rather than professional theologians or clergy, it seems fitting to draw on three of the great lay theologians of the twentieth century – G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936), C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) and Dorothy L. Sayers (1893–1957). These writers each showed a remarkable ability to grasp the essence of Christianity, to express it in ways that connect up with everyday life – through powerful prose, memorable stories and vivid analogies – and to defend it to those who doubted.
Chesterton was a journalist, noted for his Father Brown novels, who captured the imagination of his readers with his winsome accounts of the Christian faith. Sayers, one of the most renowned writers of crime fiction of her age, found that her faith helped her make sense of the biggest mystery of all – the meaning of life. And Lewis, a former atheist who discovered Christianity through reading great literature, went on to express his faith in works that, in turn, became classics. All three will be our travelling companions as we explore the landscape of faith, and try to grasp the new way of seeing that it makes possible.
In fact, the approach of this series is similar to that adopted by Lewis in his Mere Christianity (1952). Lewis drew a helpful distinction between the common, shared assumptions of the Christian faith, and their more specific interpretation by individual denominations. He asked his readers to imagine a large hall, with doors leading to various rooms. The hall, for Lewis, represented the simple, consensual faith that underlies Christianity – what he himself termed ‘mere Christianity’. The rooms represented particular ways of understanding and applying this basic Christianity – the various denominations that have developed over the centuries, each with its own distinctive approach to living out the faith. Like Lewis, I will be exploring a consensual, basic Christianity, using accessible and engaging language and images. I will leave it to you to work out for yourself where this may take you in terms of your denominational commitments.
Later books in this series will look at aspects of Christian thinking, such as its understanding of the nature of God, and of the identity and significance of Jesus of Nazareth. But for now, let’s concentrate on the place and purpose of personal faith and public creeds. What do Christians mean when they say they ‘believe in God’? Why do we use creeds? Can’t we just trust in God and get on with life? These are all fair questions, and I hope we can come up with some helpful answers.
This series of books is dedicated to the people of the Shill Valley and Broadshire benefice in west Oxfordshire, consisting of the churches in the Cotswold villages of Alvescot, Black Bourton, Broadwell, Broughton Poggs, Filkins, Holwell, Kelmscott, Kencot, Langford, Little Faringdon, Shilton and Westwell. It has been my privilege to minister to those village congregations for the past five years, and much of the material in this series has been adapted from sermons preached during that period.
Alister McGrath