Spiritual and Religious · the Gospel in an Age of Paganism

‘I’m spiritual, but not religious.’

It’s an expression that people often use to explain why, although they don’t go to church, they believe that life has some transcendent meaning.

But what does this ‘spirituality’ consist of? In Spiritual and Religious Tom Wright argues that, whether they realize it or not, people are often simply indulging in forms of ancient paganism – forms that are very similar to those that surrounded the first Christians.

With his characteristic verve and incisiveness, Wright traces the parallels between the paganisms of the first and twenty-first centuries, and shows how a better understanding of God as Trinity can breathe fresh life into our understanding and communication of the gospel today.

He concludes with a call to all Christians to make a choice:

‘Are we . . . to water down the distinctives of Christian faith in order to make it more palatable? . . . Or are we to worship the God who is Father, Son and Spirit, and to find in that worship a renewed courage, a renewed sense of direction and a renewed hope for the future?’