Views Of Christianity

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30064, 23 February 1963, Page 3

Views Of Christianity

Three Views of Christianity. By John Collins, Peter Howard and T. S. Gregory. Gollancz 159 pp. The three essays that comprise this book were written at the request of Mr. Victor Gollancz as the result of a dinner-party discussion at which Canon Collins was violently attacked because of the political slant it his preaching and outlook. Mr Gollancz asked Canon Collins to write an essay on his position. To balance the work Peter Howard, the leading exponent in Britain of moral rearmament, and T. S. Gregory, with his deep philosophical outlook, were invited to contribute their views. The three contributors did not see one another's essays. The book is not balanced, but it is forthright and provocative and will disturb many readers and stimulate others. Canon Collins writes on

“Christianity as a Gospel of Political Action.”

Peter Howard’s essay is on “Christianity as a Gospel of Personal Relationships.” It is perhaps inevitable that advocates of distinctive views tend to over-simplify them. This is so with the M.R.A. movement.

Mr T. S. Gregory’s essay “Christianity is Communion With God,” is a deep philosophical essay and demands close attention. Only as there is communion with God ca>. there be a real and valid religion. It is not a matter of giving that communion a name, it is a matter of human experience. To Mr. Gregory, God is living and transcendent to whom the individual is precious.

While the essays are markedly different from one another. there is a personal concern linking them, the concern for a living faith with eyes wide open.