Religion under Attack By Nigel Leaves Polebridge Press (Salem , OR: USA). Pbk. 240 pages. £17.50.
Given the modest size of the Antipodean population, it’s extraordinary how it includes two of the theological world’s most radical voices: Lloyd Geering (New Zealand) and Nigel Leaves (Australia). Geering still bears the scars of his 1967 heresy trial, but as a serving Anglican priest, Leaves is in the more exposed position. Already well known as the intellectual biographer of Don Cupitt, in Odyssey on the Sea of Faith and Surfing on the Sea of Faith, he is much more than just a purveyor and interpreter of others’ opinions. In The God Problem’he looked at the ‘increasing difficulty of God-talk’, a subject he returns to in this book.
Given the wretched economic and demographic state of the churches, it’s not surprising all sorts of wheezes are employed to try and keep people’s spirits up. Bishops talk excitedly about ‘going for growth’ – when the reality is palpably one of responding to decline. But instead of this inspiring and encouraging, it’s simply another example of the Church being out of touch with reality – because in all advanced societies religious faith and practice are declining fast, across the denominations. Like Laplace, increasing numbers of thoughtful people today simply ‘have no need of that hypothesis’.
The churches find such an idea so deeply threatening, that they retreat into their laagers and cover their ears to make it all go away. Things have moved on since Bruno was burned at the stake, and the nineteenth century David Friedrich Strauss was merely sacked and isolated. The same fate might have befallen Don Cupitt in 1980 when Taking Leave of God came out, and he showed just how radical he really was – had he not had the foresight to wait until he’d got academic tenure. It did, however, abruptly end both his university and ecclesiastical careers, and sent him into the outer darkness reserved for those who dare to think their own thoughts. But Leaves is undeterred, and boldly goes where precious few of his colleagues dare.
The problem, of course, is God/‘God’. We ab/use the word at our peril, and however much we might wish it otherwise, for all practical purposes there is no alternative. But we need to move beyond the preposterous idea that there’s anything simple or straightforward about it. Leaves shows our understanding of ‘God’ will ‘determine how conservative, liberal, or radical’ is our religion and where we are ‘along the exclusivistinclusivist continuum’. It also means there are lots of gods (rather than simply different ways of worshipping the same one), who can be grouped into the distinct (and usually warring) families of Inclusive or Exclusive. The key questions are always ‘what kind of God does your religion promote?’ And ‘what has your God helped you become?’ Given that God is the churches’ core business, it means any significant refashioning of the God-idea, if it is to take root, has to involve them in some way. It’s an urgent task, because ‘in the absence of a major theological revolution, traditional religions will continue their further decline into either obscurity or fossilized fundamentalism’. Leaves urges us to ask ‘what notion of God can best save a religion from itself’, what notions will liberate and expand our understanding of what it is to be human (‘an endless interrogation of the nature of existence’), rather than enslave and diminish us as we seek to tie down the nature of ultimate reality, and in the process engage in one-upmanship with regards to other people’s religious visions?
Leaves has no time for the transcendent God, refuses to be bound by dogma – and is not ashamed (or afraid) to say so. The Church needs far more like him, not so as to become uniformly non-realist, but to provide some sort of counter-weight to the dead hand of doctrinal orthodoxy. Given his readiness to ask truly searching questions, his ministry as an Anglican priest must be a source of both outrage and encouragement. And it’s why this is such a splendid addition to the handful of genuinely radical theological books. If you would like to see thoughtful and generous approaches to religion continue in existence, buy it and do everything possible to disseminate its message, as time is fast running out!
The easiest way to get this book is online.