In the Ruins of the Church: Sustaining Faith in an Age of Diminished Christianity

by R.R. Reno

Argues that the postmodern Western church is in ruins and that to be in the church is to embrace a "broken way of life"

Genres: Christianity, Theology

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Russell Ronald Reno III is the editor of First Things magazine. He was formerly a professor of theology and ethics at Creighton University.

A theological and political conservative, Reno was baptized into the Episcopal Church as an infant and grew up as a member of the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, Maryland. As an adult he was an active participant in the Episcopal Church, serving as Senior Warden of the Church of the Resurrection in Omaha, Nebraska from 1991–1995, as deputy to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1993, 1996, and 1999, and as a member of the Theology Committee of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops from 2001-2003. On September 18, 2004, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

Reviews

[Christopher Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

An appropriation of Ephraim Radner's diagnostic - done in Reno's acerbic take no prisoners style. The book presents an argument that Reno apparently rejects a few years later: he left "the ruins" he knew and sought more attractive ruins in Rome.

Still worth reading.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well-written. I have so many question re: Reno's conservative notions, and yet I cannot help but agree with him on the dire need for intimacy and stability amid our fragmentary, postmodern culture.

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellently written work. Reno's analysis of what ails Anglicanism at the opening of the 21st century has a lot of purchase on the present struggles in the United Methodist Church. I gave it 4 rather than 5 stars because I found some of the later chapters a little disjointed from the rest of the whole. On the whole, though, a thoroughly helpful analysis for anyone wondering what it means to live in and serve a church "in ruins."

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come. In a nutshell, though: Wanted more precise, real-world illustrative examples; does not ever adequately unpack the phrase, "in the ruins of the church"; nevertheless, extraordinary philosophical and difficult book (I like that, it makes me think), levels a reasonable critique against common assumptions that the left holds out.

[Guy Mofley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really impacted my thinking. R.R. Reno is a great author and his review of the church and its place in the post-modern landscape is both frightening and stimulating. His analogy on Postmodern Irony and Petronian Humanism is fantastic!

[Erik Bonkovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

First two chapters of this were good, before it good a bit esoteric and Episcopalian