Christianity To-day

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

Christianity To-day

UII THAT Has Christianity to W Say?" This is the title of one of the most inspiring as well as challenging books that have been published for some time back by the Student Christian Movement Press. It is the work of Canon P. R. Barry, one of the ablest and most outstanding men in the Church of England. He tells us for whom the book is primarily intended. It is "'the ordinary, thoughtful Briton who believes in his heart that Christianity holds the solution for the world's needs, but is uncertain what it really has to say. - ' It is what it really has to say, therelore, that he attempts to make plain, with immediate reference to the world situation at the present moment. And what is the world situation at the present moment 1 We have only to think of the abounding ignorance of what Christianity is theologically and as a principle of life and conduct, of the equally abounding want of faith in and sympathy with Christ, of the resultant widespread spiritual bankruptcy and mass-hysteria, of the Communism. Nationalism. Fascism, and other "titanic" forres that are, as l)r. Barry put* it. smashing in the gateways of history and drawing all our lives into their conflicts—we have only to think of these things to understand. The colours in which he paints the world of our time, and its problems and complexities. arc vivid but are not overdone. But his main task, and lie achieves it, is to make no less clear what Christianity is, and what it will do if it is accepted and acted on. It would be difficult to speak too highly of this book.