Tomorrow’s Faith is an accessible guide to contemporary thinking about Christianity, carried out through an examination of what lies behind the claims made in the various Creeds of the Church. Its 30 short chapters make it ideal for dipping into as well as for use in discussion groups. Each one begins with a summary of a traditional understanding of the topic, put alongside a contemporary understanding.
The chapter then explores the way that the former has, for most thoughtful people, become transformed into the latter.
Adrian Smith is a prolific author and popular teacher, and the book is written out of his long experience of the needs and questions of those on the edges of faith. Liberal rather than radical in its assumptions, the book contains plenty to get members of church congregations thinking and arguing, but maybe has rather less for those of a SoF inclination, who have probably moved beyond a view of religious faith as based on the holding of certain propositional beliefs.
Much of the book involves debunking some of the more obvious sillinesses that literalism involves, but it’s not clear how far down the non-realist road Smith is prepared to go. At times he employs an apparently realist approach, with God implicitly taken to be an objective being, at least as measured by the use of active verbs: ‘God requires of us’ (px); ‘God asks for our love’ (px); ‘God reveals himself’ (p11); ‘God created us’ (p52); ‘God expects of us’ (p96). Perhaps these expressions are all being used metaphorically, but in any event they are likely to grate with those who no longer talk or think like this. At other times he employs religious language in what seems to be an unambiguously metaphorical/mythical sense: ‘we think of Heaven being not a place in the sky but another dimension of being’ (p54). Much less for the SoF person to object to there, although some might like an indication as to how he proposed to unpack ‘another dimension of being’.
The writing is straightforward, so much so that he sometimes displays a clarity of vision that many in SoF will find remarkable: ‘We all originate from the same source, the mind of the Creator, and we are all destined for the same ultimate experience of unity with the Divine’ (p46). Really? And again: ‘The Divine Will is manifested to us through the continuing day-to-day process of creation’ (p68).
The religious problem is trying to do justice to our sheer ignorant inarticulacy (if we are really honest) in the face of the brute fact of our existence, whilst continuing to cling to the idea that religion offers us a way of responding to this in a positive way. Some will have a greater need for words, on the grounds that they at least give us some sort of handle on the world, which means (on a good day) that we might be able to convince ourselves that it isn’t in fact quite such a mysterious place as we feared. People in that category will find the examples of Smith’s clarity of vision reassuring, whilst the rest may be content to pass over them in silence.
Those who are struggling with traditional understandings of Christian doctrine will find this a very helpful book, in that it takes their problems seriously and gives pointers towards some of the alternative ways of moving forward. Many in SoF however will have taken that step already, and are probably looking for something rather more radical.
However, everyone who is not a thoroughgoing literalist will find much of interest here. And because it is not off-the-scale radical it can be safely put into the hands of the many members (and potential members) of congregations who are looking for something that is challenging but not too theologically frightening. The value of the Suggestions for Further Reading at the back is enhanced by helpful comments on each book. No mention of Don Cupitt, but Lloyd Geering appears twice as does John Spong. In addition there are suggestions as to how the book might most profitably be used in discussion and study groups.
Tomorrow’s Faith is to be recommended to anyone interested in Christianity, although those at the conservative or radical ends of the theological spectrum are likely to have certain reservations about it. It is a useful addition to the body of material available to enquirers, and shows that although banality and mindlessness are endemic in much of the Church, there are ways in which thoughtful people can continue to take religion seriously.
Tony Windross is Vicar of St Peter’s, Sheringham, Norfolk, and a member of SoF Steering Committee. His book The Thoughtful Guide to Faith was published by O Books in 2004.
Tony Windross reviews Tomorrow's Faith: A New Framework of Christian Belief by Adrian B. Smith. O Books (Winchester), 2005. £9.99. 160 pages. Pbk. ISBN: 1905047177.