Dare We Speak of God in Public?: The Edward Cadbury Lectures, 1993-94

by Frances M. Young

There is no doubt that the current trend is to keep religion out of politics and the public domain, assigning it to the sphere of private morality or personal faith. Indeed, religion is regarded as not only irrelevant, but, in a pluralist society, as potentially divisive and therefore also antisocial. However much some Christians may regard social responsibility as an integral part of their religious commitment, public life is not responsive to the imperatives of religious beliefs and values.
In this excellent and varied collection, based on the 1993-94 Cadbury Lectures, the contributors seek to explore why 'God-language' has become marginalized and theology sidelined, and to ask what theological concepts and ideas might have to offer to wider concerns and issues beyond the churches. They each approach the dilemma from the area of their own expertise and together examine such issues as education, ecology, history, psychotherapy, the Bible, prayer and the Holocaust. None sidesteps the realities of our age in which God and religious language have become the preserve of committed minorities rather than the assumptions of the majority. Yet the book is essentially positive about the value of religious concepts and provides a creative explanation of meaning and myth in contemporary society.

161 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1995