Horror and Hope: The Conflicted Legacy of Christianity
Ebook
Overview
Christianity is a global phenomenon that has affected the lives of millions of people and expressed itself in many ways over the centuries. Often these expressions have been at odds with the core values of the gospel and teachings of Jesus. Imperialism, colonization, anti-Semitism, racism, misogyny--to name but some issues--have all been associated with this religion almost from the outset. They are part of a legacy that we can no longer evade in the face of the many questioning voices of the modern world. But how has this curious and conflicted situation come about? And did Jesus even intend to found a new religion? Drawing on modern scriptural studies, current academic thinking, and several decades of personal religious and monastic life the writer seeks to find answers, examining the historical record of the past two millennia. In a world that is increasingly secular and skeptical of religious claims the answer to how the Christian legacy is to be presented in a post-Christian world is crucial for the future and the challenge this book seeks to address.
“With courage and honesty, Kirkham confronts some of the most
perplexing and troubling problems of our time. A former monk and a
meticulous scholar, Kirkham eloquently engages these issues with
unflinching analyses of how Christianity has enabled and abetted
profound evils as well as how it can offer hope for their
healing.”
—Robert J. Miller, Juniata College
“In this impressive collection of scholarly essays, Dominic Kirkham
sets out to identify and assess ‘the ambiguities and complex
divinity that constitute Christianity.’ He has done much more, for
the result is a catalogue of the collapse of many sacred certitudes
that have too long been the touchstones of Western
civilization.”
—Tom Hall, former editor, Polebridge Press
“This examination of Christianity is for grown-ups. It invites the
reader to reexamine life in its conflicts and challenges—in the
lively and informed company of Kirkham. As Coleridge says of
Shakespeare, ‘You feel him to be a poet, inasmuch as for a time he
has made you one—an active creative being.’”
—David M. Lambourn, Sea of Faith Network, United Kingdom
- Title: Horror and Hope: The Conflicted Legacy of Christianity
- Author: Dominic Kirkham
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Print Publication Date: 2021
- Logos Release Date: 2021
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666714807, 9781666714784, 9781666714791, 1666714801, 166671478X, 1666714798
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666714807
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T19:52:51Z
Dominic Kirkham has been a teacher, a member of a religious
order, a chaplain, a priest, and community activist. After over
twenty-five years of religious life he moved beyond the order and
church but continued his involvement in community businesses and
award-winning social projects in a variety of roles. He has
authored two books, From Monk to Modernity (2015) and Our
Shadowed World (2019).