The Post-Christian Mind

by Harry Blamires, J.I. Packer (Foreword by)

In his classic book, Harry Blamires defined and explained the essential qualities of The Christian Mind. Here he exposes the agenda of the secular mind, vividly describing the way the media is trashing Christian principles in every area of life-human rights, marriage, family, morality, health, economy, environment, politics. "What we need," says Blamires, "is a Christian backlash, a vigorous reponse to the new paganism of the contemporary world." "Like C.S. Lewis, his teacher at Oxford and later his friend, Harry Blamires has written prolifically, from textbooks in his professional field to Christian fantasy novels and diagnostic apologies for mainstream faith. His constant concern as a literary disciple is to display and defend the Christian way of thinking in a non-thinking world. "The Post-Christian Mind is true journalism . . . shrewd reporting of what people around us think and do, with interactive comment offered on a basis of common humanity, common sense, and Christian insight. . . The masterful clarity and precision of the analysis offers wisdom for us all." - J.I. Packer, author of Knowing God

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christian Living, Christianity, Philosophy, Cultural, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

About the author

Harry Blamires is an Anglican theologian, literary critic, and novelist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_B...


Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Seth Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is hard to review since I found so much to criticize. I have decided to critique this work by suggesting new titles that this could be published under:

Misogynist Laments Lack of Women in Kitchen

Old Man Misses Victorian Era

Modernist Mind Reacts Against Postmodern Culture

Professor McRanty Hates Everything That Seems to be Happening

Solutionless Criticisms Against Post-Christian Culture

The Hasty Generalizer Oversimplifies Everything

An Unnuanced Exploration of Philosophical Undercurrents That the Author Appears Unware Of

I Don't Have to Cite Sources Since C.S. Lewis Was My Teacher

Based on This Magazine Article I Have on My Desk, Media is Intentionally Trying to Destroy Christianity

Unwed Mothers Ruin Everything

People Won't Think Like Me Which is Inconceivable


You get the idea. This isn't to say there aren't nuggets of wisdom or interesting thoughts--there are. However the book feels like a run-on blog entry. The value this piece does have for those trying it understand post-Christian culture is how even an educated modern mind sees postmodern culture.

[Hong Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Blamires wrote this book in 1998, he already foresaw that its message will be rejected by future readers. "Developments of this kind threaten to bring in an age of lunacy. Moreover, it will be an age of appalling totalitarianism. For I foresee that in another decade or so, it may well be that I should be prosecuted for making the statements I have made in this book." (p95)

So it is no wonder that this important book is ignored by many today. However I'd highly recommend the earnest Christian to read it, and I've no doubt the book will shed clear light on why the moral landscape turned out the way it is today.

[Stanley Jebb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A penetrating analysis and critique of secular thinking and attitudes.

[Sam Cav · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm generally a cheerful optimist and jump at the chance to encourage, but I do use my one-star reviews for books that need to be set on fire and flung into a canal and/or back into the 1700s.

Spot the difference:

'... to treat any of these as if they were less than a child of God is to deny the validity of one's spiritual existence.'
~ Archbishop Desmond Tutu

vs ...

'... thus we can assert with assurance, that a woman's rights over her own body are non-existent.'
~ Harry Blamires

'The post-Christian mind dare not face facts.'
~ Harry Blamires

'We are in a post-Christian world, a world of self-deceiving psychobabblers from whose minds the moral laws of a whole civilisation have been swept away.'
~ Harry Blamires

'... the way the adolescent who keeps a feverish eye on the pop charts can develop into the classical music enthusiast when taste matures and childish things are put away.'
~ Harry Blamires

... ... so yes, it is a painful read. If you want to misuse scripture to excuse your miserable git-ishness and abundant misogyny, you probably can, but you'll have to squint a bit when you get to the parts about what God's like, or what Jesus actually said - which is probably why there's almost no external citations or biblical references made. Bit awkward.

I'd go further than the person who gave it a very eloquent two-star review; misogyny, generalisation, rants upon rants, it reeks of an academic building justifications for never having to step outside of their university gates. The dreaded 'them' are everywhere in this book. The unwashed, unshaven, frankly incorrect 'them' who are to blame for everything and should be dishonoured at every turn ... apparently. Just as ... Jesus ... did? No, perhaps not.

'I am writing a book about correcting slovenly thinking.'
~ Harry Blamires

... I think Mr Blamires may really have been writing a book about being judgemental. And it has been published and distributed by SPCK.

[Raffi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was easier than the Christian Mind, both linguistically and sentence-wise. The author is writing more American style. I kinda miss his British style, hmmm.
As for the subjects that he discusses, they're very relevant to the problems/issue humanity and the Christian mind is facing today.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book, it spells out much that I knew intuitively and was aware of, but gave me the reasons for my discomfort. A must read for Christians.