"Smith examines basic Christianity by writing about what it means to him and how it has shaped his life and beliefs in chapters that eruditely discuss the Christian worldview, the Christian story, and the three branches of Christianity. A primer filtered through the mind of a brilliant interpreter,"---Booklist. 208 pages, hardcover. HarperSanFrancisco.
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 stars(5 out of 5 stars)
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5 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Dr. Robert W. Kellemen (Taneytown, MD), September 14, 2005
Huston Smith is not one to take on small tasks, as evidenced by his universe-sized purpose statement, "I have tried to describe a Christianity which is fully compatible with everything we now know, and to indicate why Christians feel privileged to give their lives to it." If anyone has earned the right to try, Smith would be that person given his life-long scholarly, passionate pursuit of the history of world religion.
The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition arrives just in the nick of time to perhaps halt something of the great Christian capitulation to post-modern thinking. When so many other Christian authors are hyping the latest trend and hoping on the latest bandwagon, Smith calls a halt to the march.
He does so not as a naïve, head-in-the-sand cultural rejecter, but as a world-aware, Word-wise scholar who is well aware of the multiplicity of competing narratives. Smith expertly presents Christianity as THE meta-narrative that explain all the other mini-narratives. Further, he concisely and precisely sifts through the myriad of competing Christian narratives to restore the great tradition—the grand essentials of core Christian belief. Granted, not everyone, including this reviewer, will name and claim the identical doctrines nor define them identically. However, it is difficult to refute the grand movement in the symphony that Smith composes.
Personally, one of the most helpful premises is Smith’s pithily worded insight that modern (and post-modern) culture has not been able to “distinguish absence-of-evidence from evidence-of-absence.” That is, we may not always be able to scientifically prove the active presence of God, however, nor can we prove the absence of God scientifically, and we certain can discern His affectionate, sovereign presence spiritually.
Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of “Soul Physicians” and “Spiritual Friends.”
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