What they are saying...
This is a truly radical book, in that it looks for the roots of a liberal approach
to Christianity that is principled, inclusive and undogmatic. Jonathan Clatworthy
shows how liberal faith has always striven to temper the wisdom of the past
with the promptings of the Spirit in the present. This book will provide encouragement
and sustenance for those who wish for an alternative to absolute certainty, in its
secular and religious forms; as Jonathan says, ‘Only God is infallible’. Elaine Graham
Professor of Social and Pastoral Theology, University of Manchester .
Everything you hoped you'd never need to know about fundamentalism, and were afraid
might be true. If you have ever been disturbed by the seemingly invincible advance
of literalists and harsh judgementalism within Anglicanism this is the book which
will give the confidence to resist. Clatworthy's arguments and evidence, if anything
can, will lead to a resurgence of robust diversity and the intellectual, theological
basis upon which it rests. A great deal is at stake. This book is not afraid to take
sides. Are you? Richard Kirker Chief Executive, Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement
For a long time, liberals in the Church of England have been exposed to jibes that
they offer a watered-down version of Christianity and have trimmed their sails according
to the prevailing winds of secularism. Now there are signs of a fight-back. Jonathan
Clatworthy’s book is one manifestation of this. Clearly written, with a firm grounding
in the historical and intellectual background of contemporary debates, and plenty
of common sense, he argues for the properly theological truth of liberalism. This
work will encourage many to move from the defensive to speak out all the more strongly
for the rightness as well as the humaneness of a liberal approach. George Pattison
Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford
What is currently dividing the Anglican Communion is not sexual ethics, but the refusal
of a substantial minority to accept diversity and an insistence on getting its own
way at all costs. Jonathan Clatworthy's timely book traces the development of the
classic Anglican position as inclusive and open to truth wherever it is found, and
argues that unless this is rediscovered the result can only be an endless series
of rifts, as hardliners find ever more issues on which to hold the church to ransom.
It should be read by everyone concerned with our present plight. Professor John Barton
Oriel College, Oxford
This book offers a strong defence of the liberal tradition within Christianity. In
particular it highlights the importance that classic Anglicanism has always given
to balancing the claims of Scripture, Tradition and Reason and hence to accepting
the inevitability of diversity within a single Church. Clatworthy shows very clearly
what is at stake in today’s debate within the Anglican communion and how tragic it
would be if a fundamentalist uniformity were to triumph over a reasoned diversity.
Professor Paul Badham Department of Theology, University of Wales, Lampeter
When we find it hard to agree with one another we must re-double our efforts to understand
one another. Here Jonathan Clatworthy makes a significant and timely contribution
to mutual understanding in a Church where celebrating diversity will do most to heal
divisions. Rt Rev John Saxbee Bishop of Lincoln
