A brilliant book, comprehensive in scope... Shortt presents a compelling case for a Christian vision of what it means to live well. An extraordinary tour de force, and one of Shortt's best pieces of writing. Utterly compelling. -- Peter Sedgwick, academic and ethicist
A persuasive and elegantly written analysis of one of the most important cultural shifts of recent times. * Graham Tomlin, Director, Centre for Cultural Witness *
Compulsory reading for all who claim Christianity is dead... To lose Christianity is to lose grounds for believing in human dignity, human rights and human equality: this is a strong case for a return to our sources. * Angela Tilby, author and theologian *
A brave and splendidly ambitious case both for Christians and secularists to take Christianity seriously, in a Western world more desperate than it acknowledges for soundly based principles and hopes. * Lucy Beckett, author of In the Light of Christ: Writings in the Western Tradition *
Shortt's careful research and analysis of the religious and spiritual yearnings of a secular age, and the way churches are responding provide rich food for thought. His central question of how we might recover sight of the transcendent in a time that feels adrift is of fundamental importance. * Mark Vernon, psychotherapist and author *
A brilliant survey of Christianity's decline in Britain - how it's happened, and why it matters - by one of our most learned and stimulating apologists. * Tom Holland, author of Dominion *
Lucid, brilliant, accessible. A must read! * Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel *
Rupert Shortt is always clear, cogent, compassionate, flawlessly reasonable and perfectly informed. Whether you feel tempted to dismiss Christianity or called to defend it, you must read this book. * Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, academic and author *
Wide-ranging, readable, and forthright, Shortt offers an acute analysis of the problems and prospects facing Christian faith today. * David Fergusson, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge *
Shortt has an admirable gift for making the obscure lucid. * David Bentley Hart *
Shortt is world class * John Cornwell *
One of the UK's most thoughtful and self-effacing religious commentators * Professor Michael Barnes SJ *
Shortt is in a line stretching back to C. S. Lewis, Dorothy Sayers, and G. K. Chesterton. * Bishop John Saxbee *
