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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Best, simple Introduction to Christianity
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
I need me a simple (yet wise), readable (for the non-academic) introduction to orthodox Christianity in the Anglican tradition for 17- 25 year olds.
I'm thinking Simply Christian by NT Wright and Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief by Rowan Williams but am worried both might be a bit too high brow for my audience.
Are they readable for the un-churched, non-academic, yet interested young person?
Any other suggestions?
TIA.
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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Ahleal V
Shipmate
# 8404
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Posted
I read CS Lewis' Mere Christianity as (an admittedly bookish) 16yr old and found it ok?
'Why Christianity Makes Sense' by John Pritchard could be an option. 'Unapologetic' by Francis Spufford could be one for the more pugilistic teen.
My first option would be 'This is Our Faith' by Jeffrey John, published by Redemptorist Press.
x
AV
[ 17. May 2014, 12:06: Message edited by: Ahleal V ]
Posts: 499 | From: English Spires | Registered: Aug 2004
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Jack o' the Green
Shipmate
# 11091
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ahleal V:
'Unapologetic' by Francis Spufford could be one for the more pugilistic teen.
They will probably be pleasantly surprised how often the word "fuck" appears!
Posts: 3121 | From: Lancashire, England | Registered: Feb 2006
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I seriously doubt that the same book(s) will speak to everyone. There is a saying to the effect that in order to reach someone, you have to go where they are.
I think it is worthwhile to compile a list of books with different perspectives, and tell people that if one doesn't help them, they should try another.
Moo
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
I have used Simply Christian in a similar context with slightly older students and found it most helpful. As noted above, though, it doesn't scratch everyone's itch-- Wright of course has a unique style of writing that is lovely for some and maddening for others. But it's clear and gives a relatively simple and biblical structure to the whole.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
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Oxonian Ecclesiastic
Shipmate
# 12722
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Posted
While not quite of his tradition, I have always found Vaughan Roberts's 'Turning Points' to be a lively, readable introduction to the Christian faith. Fr Vaughan is the Rector of S. Ebbe's, Oxford.
Posts: 174 | From: London | Registered: Jun 2007
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Pyx_e
Quixotic Tilter
# 57
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Posted
Why do people insist on courses?
Why not just get down and dirty with Luke? Not "What does the Bible mean?" but "What does the Bible mean to me/us today?" "What does it mean to pray for those who hurt me/us?"
Why do we insists on intellectualising and making Christianity an academic thing? Why can we just not grapple with, be in awe of the subtle kingdom teaching and how it flat works in such a broken world?
Today I feel like saying it is just another way of putting God in a box.
Pyx_e
[ 17. May 2014, 16:21: Message edited by: Pyx_e ]
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It is better to be Kind than right.
Posts: 9778 | From: The Dark Tower | Registered: May 2001
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art dunce
Shipmate
# 9258
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Posted
Pyx_e I think too few people pick up the Bible to get to know about Jesus. One good part of my fundamentalist childhood is that we spent a lot of time with the Bible.
I recommend Secrets in the Dark by Frederick Buechner when people ask me for a book. It's a compilation of sermons he gave at Philips Exeter Academy to the young men and it is a wonderful book that covers many areas of faith.
He is an excellent story teller and so very accessible while never watering down the gospel. His fiction is great too. Someone gave me the four books of the Book of Bebb as a wedding gift (I thought four paperbacks as a wedding gift?) but read them straight through.
[ 17. May 2014, 16:37: Message edited by: art dunce ]
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Ego is not your amigo.
Posts: 1283 | From: in the studio | Registered: Apr 2005
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mousethief
Ship's Thieving Rodent
# 953
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Posted
A book introduces people to Christian ideas, not to Christianity, which is a faith lived in community.
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This is the last sig I'll ever write for you...
Posts: 63536 | From: Washington | Registered: Jul 2001
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gog
Shipmate
# 15615
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Posted
Might be a little heaver but can suggest two:
Faith Lacking Understanding: Theology 'Through a Glass, Darkly by Randal Raauser. This follows the Apostles Creed as a structure.
The Huumble God: A Basic Course in Christian Doctrine by D. Densil Morgan. the Archbishop of Wales' Lent book in 2006, and recommended for use with conformation classes.
Posts: 103 | From: somewhere over the border | Registered: Apr 2010
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Pyx_e:
Why do we insists on intellectualising and making Christianity an academic thing? Why can we just not grapple with, be in awe of the subtle kingdom teaching and how it flat works in such a broken world?
Because you can't grapple with subtle kingdom teaching and how it works if you haven't the faintest idea what it is.
The young woman in question (who I want to give an intro to) has had no religious instruction in Christianity bar a few months of a cooky charismatic sect that taught her she would have a microchip embedded in her body that would help pay for everything in the world when Jesus came again and that this idea was biblically justifiable.
I'm attempting to straighten out a few ridiculous knots.
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Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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Beeswax Altar
Shipmate
# 11644
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Posted
Are you sure?
The microchip is the mark of the beast. Receiving the microchip is to sacrifice your very soul. Either she or her Australian charismatic sect got it backwards.
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Losing sleep is something you want to avoid, if possible.
-Og: King of Bashan
Posts: 8411 | From: By a large lake | Registered: Jul 2006
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Evensong
Shipmate
# 14696
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Posted
How do people dream up this shit?
Was an Indonesian sect in the middle of Borneo as it happens. Frickin weirdoes get everywhere.
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a theological scrapbook
Posts: 9481 | From: Australia | Registered: Apr 2009
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deano
princess
# 12063
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Posted
It's quite dated now, but The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis is quite straightforward.
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"The moral high ground is slowly being bombed to oblivion. " - Supermatelot
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I think my best introduction to Christianity when I was a child was my Sunday School teacher. She was a loving and gentle woman with a heart of gold and a core of Steel.
Thank-you Mrs Stevenson.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
In what may be a first, I find myself in agreement with Mousethief. Christianity is more than a set of ideas.
A book is good for a book person, but it won't help all people. For some, the best introduction to christianity may be to sit down and talk with a good minister over a cup of tea or a decent ale.
If someone does like books, I'll usually ask what their 'bent' is and try to recommend something appropriate. So do they come because they are investigating what they might refer to as 'spirituality'? Are they coming from a philosophical background? Do they have doubts concerning how christianity is compatible with science?
Finding where someone is coming from is usually a decent method of helping them find where they are going.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
A simple version is available from BBC Schools. It is brief, it is fairly accurate and I recognise the religion there. This cannot be said of another BBC website.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
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Belle Ringer
Shipmate
# 13379
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Posted
Among my friends in that age group, smart people almost ignorant of Christianity, a comic book format would be devoured. Really. I'm amazed how many 40 year olds LOVE comic format books and video cartoons.
(There exists a comic book style version of the Bible but it is not well done - two artists alternated, so for example Moses alternates between being an old man with a long grey beard and a middle aged man with a trim black beard, which made the story hard for me to follow in spite of knowing the story, because I didn't realize for a while these two very different men were the same man.)
So I second Screwtape Letters. And Gospel of Luke. Stories with visual imagery and emotional impacts are remembered far longer and better than exposition.
Then move to a more academically worded organized theology introduction for beginners.
Posts: 5830 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2008
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StevHep
Shipmate
# 17198
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Posted
Well, Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton is a fun read and is also a free ebook so if it doesn't take what have you lost?
Also although Catholic the apologetics of Ronald Knox are very English (not Anglican but Angelic) In Soft Garments being his most popular piece.
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Posts: 241 | From: Exeter | Registered: Jul 2012
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Garasu
Shipmate
# 17152
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Posted
In Quaker terms, I'm wondering whether you're thinking of George Fox's
Journal, or Robert Barclay's Apology
[ 20. May 2014, 21:57: Message edited by: Garasu ]
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"Could I believe in the doctrine without believing in the deity?". - Modesitt, L. E., Jr., 1943- Imager.
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