Modern Church Series (6 vols.)

Is there life after death? Do heaven and hell exist? Paul Badham, a leading authority in research on death and near-death experiences, argues that belief in immortality is essential to the coherence of Christian doctrine and worship. In Making Sense of Death and Immortality, Badham accomplishes three things: he links the extensive historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection with the Christian hope of life after death, examines what religious and near-death experiences tell us about our relationship with God, and he explains religious objections to belief in hell and outlines ways in which the hope of heaven is articulated today.

This engaging book effectively encapsulates arguments for and against a belief in the afterlife and helps us to make sense of death and what is to come.

Many people’s understanding of the world does not include God. A number of “new atheist” authors—such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett—claim that science can explain the universe without any need for the divine. Jonathan Clatworthy observes that this seems to have become the default position in modern Western culture. But a great number of people are prepared to spend time and effort trying to establish some sort of spiritual dimension to their lives. Faced with the false dilemma of either rejecting modern scientific knowledge or all awareness of the divine, they choose from a range of vaguely spiritual practices and ideas, which can be picked up and dropped with minimal commitment.

Making Sense of Faith in God, as the title indicates, offers a third way: to reject neither reason nor God, because believing in God makes sense.

Lorraine Cavanagh seeks to help those trapped by guilt and a dark view of God as punitive and bloodthirsty. It presents the central doctrine of the atonement in a wider spiritual framework for Christians, in a way which will respond to their spiritual as well as theological needs.

Is Christian faith the only or best route to relationship with God? In Making Sense of Religious Pluralism, Alan Race argues that new relationships, shared common action and dialogue between people whose experiences differ are changing the way Christian theologians are thinking about religious pluralism. No longer objects of ridicule or condemnation, world religions are genuine vehicles of spiritual vision, capable of transforming human hearts and minds.

Throughout his career, Race has built reputation for understanding and dialogue between faith communities. In this work, he deals with the use of Scripture, inclusivism and exclusivism, pluralism and particularism, and mission and dialogue. The next phase of Christian thought, he argues, will be shaped by new appreciation and insight stemming from the fact that Christianity is one religion among many.

All living creatures are sexed. Human beings belong to societies where traditions about who can have sex with whom, and how, and when, are centuries old. Making Sense of Sex assumes that there is a rational way of understanding our basic drives. Adrian Thatcher argues that realizing our failure to get sex right is the beginning of a proper and theological understanding of sex.

The Christian tradition, especially in its conservative forms, is often thought to be unhelpful in making sense of sex. Christian sexual ethics may seem overly demanding: holistic in theory, yet sexist and pessimistic in practice. Adrian Thatcher argues, however, that instead of being pessimistic about sex, Christians can be grateful realists instead.

Making Sense of Sex draws on unconventional theology to promote a mature union of spirituality and sexuality. Exploring topics such as desire, bodies and the body of christ, sexual difference, homosexuality, marriage, and Paul’s reflection on “flesh” and “spirit,” Thatcher hopes to guide readers towards a spiritual understanding of shared sexual love.

In Making Sense of the Bible, Helen-Ann Hartley questions whether the Bible speaks with a unified voice on any matter. With humor and examples drawn from art and life, Hartley argues that our reading of the varied collection of writings that make up the Bible has to be generous, not exclusive.

According to Hartley, to appreciate fully the Bible’s richness and diversity, we have to wrestle critically and creatively with themes that attract us and repel us. Not only should we draw meaning from the Bible, we must let our lives contribute meaning to the stories it tells, engaging in conversation with those stories and allowing them to urge us into thought, speech, and action. Hartley concludes that to make sense of the Bible, we must first make sense of who we are in relationship to God.