Bloomsbury Continuum (London 2019). Pbk. 432 pages. £12.99.
In 1983, Matthew Fox published what was later described as one of the ’20 books that changed the world’. Original Blessing was remarkable not only for turning Augustine’s doctrine of original sin on its head but also for the wealth of quotations from different religious and literary sources.
Alive in God by Fox’s fellow Dominican, Timothy Radcliffe, reminded me of the earlier book and also contains an extraordinary wealth of references, not only to religious and literary texts but to television, film and popular culture. One imagines him to be the perfect dinner guest – intelligent, sensitive, witty and a good raconteur. I laughed out loud at several of his stories.
He writes well but then he is the only member of the English Province of the Dominicans to have held the office of Master of the Order of Preachers since its foundation in 1216. He is no academic lightweight. When being presented with the University of Oxford’s highest honorary degree, Chris Patten said, ‘I present a man distinguished both for eloquence and for wit, a master theologian who has never disregarded ordinary people, a practical man who believes that religion and the teachings of theology must be constantly applied to the conduct of public life’.
He has travelled to every continent and every major war zone in the world and his support for the gay community has made him a controversial figure. If anyone is ‘Alive in God’, Timothy Radcliffe is. Anyone who cites Jeanette Winterson in the epigraph to his book and displays on the front cover Henri Matisse’s La Danse is not to be ignored.
The aim of Alive in God is stated on the first page:
In this book I want to explore how Christian faith can make sense to our contemporaries. Believers do not inhabit a weird fantasy bubble, disconnected from the experiences and aspirations of other people. Because it is about choosing life, the fullness of life, its core beliefs intersect with the hopes and dreams of everyone who wants to live, rather than just survive. Anyone, regardless of their belief (or lack of it), who understands the complexity of being alive, of falling in love, of getting in a mess, of trying to pick one’s life up and start again, of facing sickness and old age, can help Christians to make sense of our faith too.
Welcome to Sea of Faith, Timothy!
His book is in three main sections – Journeying, Teaching, The Risen Life – following the path of the disciples through the gospels as they follow the rather strange man who heals, casts out demons and offers endless forgiveness. There is biblical exposition but it is shot through with contemporary references. While exploring the parable of the Prodigal Son, we are invited to see the film Dead Poets Society, to read A Visit from the Goon Squad, The Disappearance of Childhood, Philip Larkin, Emily Dickinson, Terence Eagleton and others in half a dozen pages.
He considers such contemporary issues as the marginalisation of the sick, growing up, our age of anxiety, the plight of refugees, environmental issues, facing terrorists. The chapter headings are intriguing, for example, A God for Our Aches and Pains, Impossible Friendships, The Non-Violent Imagination. The final section of the book explores the use of prayer, worship and the breaking of bread. In brief, and as it says on the back cover, Timothy Radcliffe’s argument is that ‘we must show how everything we believe is an invitation to live life fully.’
I enjoyed the book and I think many in SOF would too. If we want to engage seriously with Christianity, as it is practised and preached at its best in today’s world, we could have no better exponent. I was challenged and moved by many parts of the book – challenged to reassess my own participation in the church of which I am still a priest; moved by a ministry which has supported many working in the most difficult and impoverished areas of the world.
If there is one area which may disappoint many of us in SOF, who might want to accuse him of avoiding issues of truth, it is the chapter on The Dogmatic Imagination. The doctrines of the Church – the virgin birth, the divinity of Christ, the resurrection of Jesus and so on – are not beliefs in isolated events, but all moments in the great drama of God’s love affair with humanity. Nevertheless, who would disagree that ‘Anyone who understands the beauty and messiness of human life – novelists, poets, filmmakers and so on – can be our allies, whether they believe or not? The challenge is not today’s secularism but its banality.’ Let us in SOF continue to forge those alliances.
Stephen Mitchell is a retired priest and former chair of the SOF Steering Committee.