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What is the Point of Being a Christian?
WINNER OF THE MICHAEL RAMSEY PRIZE FOR THE BEST IN THEOLOGICAL WRITINGWhat is the point of being a Christian? One is pointed to God, who is the point of everything. If one thinks of religion as just 'useful' then one has reduced it to another consumer product. But if we are pointed to God, then this should make a difference to how we live. This is not a moral superiority. Christians are usually no better than anyone else. But the lives of Christians should be marked by some form of hope, freedom, happiness and courage. If they are not then why should anyone believe a word they say?In this new book, Timothy Radcliffe is at his best, writing with a prophetic edge. His argument for Christian belief is profoundly Catholic and profoundly human. But what is just as remarkable, Radcliffe's argument for and interpretation of Christian Gospel is couched in a deep understanding of human nature and the problems and anxieties of modern men and women.Radcliffe is far distant from the theologian's ivory tower and yet his understanding of the Gospel is profoundly theological. The frame of reference for this book is wide, and it is based amongst other things on Fr Radcliffe's pastoral experience of dealing with people with problematic marriages, those struggling with celibacy, those trying to understand the nature of religious authority and those trying to remain loyal to the Church which finds their sexual orientation 'irregular'.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
52 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Radcliffe
90 books33 followersTimothy Peter Joseph Radcliffe, OP was born in London in 1945. He joined the English Province of the Dominican Order in 1965, and was ordained a priest in 1971.
He was master of the Dominican order from 1992 to 2001 and professor at Oxford University.
He was master of the Dominican order from 1992 to 2001 and professor at Oxford University.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 29, 2023
Short tracts (sermons?) on various topics, illuminating the added value of the Christianity. Interesting, but not really heartwarming. Perhaps too intellectual? Also a very uneven collection.
May 3, 2014
Timothy Radcliffe presents a more positive outlook on the Church's stances regarding sexual ethics, politics, etc; and certainly emphasizes "what we're for" as opposed to "what we're against."
While I think he attempted to address a few too many topics for one book, he certainly seems to understand the intricacies of doctrine, and espouses the power of a unified Church, the only Church that can really blossom in modern times.
Key takeaway: The relationship he derived from the Last Supper and sexual ethics was unlike any I've heard before. Awesome perspective on the fundamental story of the new Christian covenant.
While I think he attempted to address a few too many topics for one book, he certainly seems to understand the intricacies of doctrine, and espouses the power of a unified Church, the only Church that can really blossom in modern times.
Key takeaway: The relationship he derived from the Last Supper and sexual ethics was unlike any I've heard before. Awesome perspective on the fundamental story of the new Christian covenant.
June 14, 2015
I really loved this book. I was initially put off by the title, which felt too utilitarian or something, but when I got into it, I felt like it was such a wealth of insight. Radcliffe is incredible at applying biblical concepts and virtues and looking at them from the perspective of the culture. You can see that he has a beautiful relationship with God and the book is incredibly deep and challenging. I feel like I highlighted like 10% of the book, there were so many really well expressed thoughts.
June 8, 2016
Very interesting from a theological standpoint but Radcliffe also adds practical points and applicability as well. It gets a bit involved toward the end of the book with all the material he covers however it is an excellent summary of what we as Christians believe and why to believe it. It can make for a challenging read.
August 1, 2016
The point in the title addresses the "How" question more than the "why" question, prepare your mental framework accordingly. Slowed down towards the middle chapters, but good summarising conclusion.
________
We talk about love, freedom, happiness and so on, but unless our churches are seen really to be places in which people are free and courageous, then why should anyone believe us? Is our good news really treated as such?
There can be no preaching of the good news unless it springs from joy.
Who are we? This is placed between questions about the past and the future. We can only know who we are if we have a longer story which looks backwards and forwards. Our Christian ancestors lived within the story that looked back to Creation and forward to the Kingdom. We come from God and go back to God again.
The point of Christianity, before anything else, is to show that there is a point to our lives. Our lives are pointed towards some ultimate end.
Every one of us, surely, has known that moment when we are drifting towards some sin that we do not admit to ourselves. We set out to sin, fooling ourselves that we are going to do something else, hating ourselves for the buried intentions that we do not acknowledge even to ourselves.
Ethics is entirely concerned with doing what you want, that is to say, being free. Most of the difficulty arises from the difficulty of recognising what we want.
Regret is being sorry for what one did in the past. Remorse is discovering that one never really wished to do it at all. Spontaneity is the fruit of being single-hearted.
So spontaneity is not doing the first thing that comes into one's head. It is acting from the core of one's being, where God is, sustaining one in existence.
Maybe one reason why so many young people believe but have no desire to belong is because they do not find a shared rejoicing at the heart of our Christian celebrations.
The mechanisms of approval train us in deceit. Delight invites us to come into the open and be seen as we are.
In infatuation, the beloved is elevated to the position of God. Of course, what we are worshipping is our own creation. It is a projection. Perhaps nearly all true love goes through this insane, obsessive stage. The only cure for it is to live with the person day by day, and see that they are not God, just his child. Love matures when we are healed of this illusion and find ourselves face to face with a real person and not a projection of our desires. As Octavio Paz says, 'Love reveals reality to desire.'
In opposition lust reduces the other person to a mere sexual object, something only to satisfy one's sexual needs. In lust, one claims to be God oneself, dominating the other.
Enter chastity, retaining the dynamic balance along this spectrum. If egoism takes over then one tips into lust, and if infatuation then self-denial my be so absolute one loses all identity.
Ethics is not about what is permitted or forbidden, but seeks to articulate the meaning of what we do. The Christian claim is that to give one's body to another person is an act with an intrinsic meaning and that if we sleep around promiscuously we are contradicting the meaning embedded in our bodies, which is bound to lead to frustration and unhappiness.
Humility is liberation from compulsion to claim the centre of the stage, accepting to play a part in the story that one shares with others, but not necessarily always with the leading role. As so often, virtue is about living in the real world in which we are not always stars.
Walter Davis: 'the self is not a substance one unearths by peeling away layers until one gets to the core, but an integrity one struggles to bring into existence.'
Rowan Williams: 'We do not grow without competition, but competition without mutual recognition and mutual need is barbarous and self-destructive.'
The three idols whose worship deforms the global village: Cultivation of limitless desire, absolutisation of private property and the deification of money.
Often, the issue in political correctness is not what one says but the message 'that might be sent'. One must not give the wrong signal. This implies a profound distrust of the intelligence of people and an understanding of language in terms of sound bites rather than as a subtle tool with which to search for understanding.
Dissonance, if you are interested, leads to discovery. When one dares to entertain two truths that seem to be incompatible, then one is forced to look for the larger horizon in which they may be reconciled.
On the Sabbath: We need moments of leisure where we serenely let ourselves be naked before God and in the eyes of those whom we love. It takes time to unveil ourselves, to let ourselves be seen in our complexity and our contradictions. You cannot show yourself in a moment.
________
We talk about love, freedom, happiness and so on, but unless our churches are seen really to be places in which people are free and courageous, then why should anyone believe us? Is our good news really treated as such?
There can be no preaching of the good news unless it springs from joy.
Who are we? This is placed between questions about the past and the future. We can only know who we are if we have a longer story which looks backwards and forwards. Our Christian ancestors lived within the story that looked back to Creation and forward to the Kingdom. We come from God and go back to God again.
The point of Christianity, before anything else, is to show that there is a point to our lives. Our lives are pointed towards some ultimate end.
Every one of us, surely, has known that moment when we are drifting towards some sin that we do not admit to ourselves. We set out to sin, fooling ourselves that we are going to do something else, hating ourselves for the buried intentions that we do not acknowledge even to ourselves.
Ethics is entirely concerned with doing what you want, that is to say, being free. Most of the difficulty arises from the difficulty of recognising what we want.
Regret is being sorry for what one did in the past. Remorse is discovering that one never really wished to do it at all. Spontaneity is the fruit of being single-hearted.
So spontaneity is not doing the first thing that comes into one's head. It is acting from the core of one's being, where God is, sustaining one in existence.
Maybe one reason why so many young people believe but have no desire to belong is because they do not find a shared rejoicing at the heart of our Christian celebrations.
The mechanisms of approval train us in deceit. Delight invites us to come into the open and be seen as we are.
In infatuation, the beloved is elevated to the position of God. Of course, what we are worshipping is our own creation. It is a projection. Perhaps nearly all true love goes through this insane, obsessive stage. The only cure for it is to live with the person day by day, and see that they are not God, just his child. Love matures when we are healed of this illusion and find ourselves face to face with a real person and not a projection of our desires. As Octavio Paz says, 'Love reveals reality to desire.'
In opposition lust reduces the other person to a mere sexual object, something only to satisfy one's sexual needs. In lust, one claims to be God oneself, dominating the other.
Enter chastity, retaining the dynamic balance along this spectrum. If egoism takes over then one tips into lust, and if infatuation then self-denial my be so absolute one loses all identity.
Ethics is not about what is permitted or forbidden, but seeks to articulate the meaning of what we do. The Christian claim is that to give one's body to another person is an act with an intrinsic meaning and that if we sleep around promiscuously we are contradicting the meaning embedded in our bodies, which is bound to lead to frustration and unhappiness.
Humility is liberation from compulsion to claim the centre of the stage, accepting to play a part in the story that one shares with others, but not necessarily always with the leading role. As so often, virtue is about living in the real world in which we are not always stars.
Walter Davis: 'the self is not a substance one unearths by peeling away layers until one gets to the core, but an integrity one struggles to bring into existence.'
Rowan Williams: 'We do not grow without competition, but competition without mutual recognition and mutual need is barbarous and self-destructive.'
The three idols whose worship deforms the global village: Cultivation of limitless desire, absolutisation of private property and the deification of money.
Often, the issue in political correctness is not what one says but the message 'that might be sent'. One must not give the wrong signal. This implies a profound distrust of the intelligence of people and an understanding of language in terms of sound bites rather than as a subtle tool with which to search for understanding.
Dissonance, if you are interested, leads to discovery. When one dares to entertain two truths that seem to be incompatible, then one is forced to look for the larger horizon in which they may be reconciled.
On the Sabbath: We need moments of leisure where we serenely let ourselves be naked before God and in the eyes of those whom we love. It takes time to unveil ourselves, to let ourselves be seen in our complexity and our contradictions. You cannot show yourself in a moment.
December 18, 2020
Father Radcliffe argues that belief in Christianity is based on truth, at least that is what attracted him to the Dominican order. The order's motto is Veritas, the Latin word for truth. When he tells people who asked the titular question, "What is the point of being Christian?", Radcliffe was a bit befuddled at their dissatisfaction with his answer. People expected some results or benefit from being a Christian. Radcliffe explores the idea of what benefit or positive impact Christian faith has.
The book wanders around, taking on different issues like hope, suffering, violence, corporeality, and other topics. Radcliffe has a wide breadth of experience to draw from, but often it seems like he's just showing off his international travels and openness to other spiritual traditions. He grapples with our contemporary idolatry of consumerism and convincingly argues for a temperate attitude toward money and private property. He does not really get to the purpose of wealth and how to use it in a Christian way.
The scandal of the division among Christians gets a lot of coverage. He talks about both the separation of denominations and the internal division within denominations. He dislikes the left/right, traditional/progressive, and conservative/liberal descriptions of an internal divide within the Catholic Church. While I agree these are not the most accurate descriptions, Radcliffe's substitutions "Kingdom Catholics" and "Communion Catholic" are unwieldy and unconvincing. He identifies the problem but does not have a coherent solution.
Radcliffe has a broad range of ideas. The reader gets plenty to think about. But the big picture, i.e. the point of being Christian, gets lost somewhere along the way. I found the book unsatisfying and won't be hanging on to it.
Not recommended.
The book wanders around, taking on different issues like hope, suffering, violence, corporeality, and other topics. Radcliffe has a wide breadth of experience to draw from, but often it seems like he's just showing off his international travels and openness to other spiritual traditions. He grapples with our contemporary idolatry of consumerism and convincingly argues for a temperate attitude toward money and private property. He does not really get to the purpose of wealth and how to use it in a Christian way.
The scandal of the division among Christians gets a lot of coverage. He talks about both the separation of denominations and the internal division within denominations. He dislikes the left/right, traditional/progressive, and conservative/liberal descriptions of an internal divide within the Catholic Church. While I agree these are not the most accurate descriptions, Radcliffe's substitutions "Kingdom Catholics" and "Communion Catholic" are unwieldy and unconvincing. He identifies the problem but does not have a coherent solution.
Radcliffe has a broad range of ideas. The reader gets plenty to think about. But the big picture, i.e. the point of being Christian, gets lost somewhere along the way. I found the book unsatisfying and won't be hanging on to it.
Not recommended.
February 11, 2025
Point taken
I bought this for my daughter a few years ago, and pulled it off her shelf for some Lenten spiritual reading (somewhat belatedly, as I didn't get round to starting it until Easter afternoon). It's an excellent, thought-provoking account which starts with a gentle reminder of (what should be) one of the characteristics of the Christian life: an attractive and intriguing freedom that excites the curiosity of others. The author follows that by sharing his insights into the nature of things like suffering, compassion, justice, community and love. These are huge topics, but they're tackled with an ease that draws the reader along as the differences between the Christian perspective and that of the secular, materialist world is highlighted. Take, for example, this answer (p78) to a question that's been asked in every generation:
"Why is waiting so much part of being a Christian? Why cannot God just give us now what we long for, justice for the poor and perfect happiness for us all? [...] One reason why our God takes so much time is because he is not a god. Our God is not a powerful celestial superman, a sort of invisible President Bush on a cosmic scale who might come bursting in from the outside. [...] God comes from within. He is, as St Augustine said, close to us than we are to ourselves or, as the Qur'an says, closer to us than our jugular vein."
Some might think it surprising to find an reference to the Qur'an in a book written by a Catholic priest, but it easily falls within his wide scope here (for example, he frequently refers with great approval to the words of Rowan Williams, who was Archbishop of Canterbury when this book was written). Those of us who've heard Fr Radcliffe's sermons might have perhaps felt the need to take some of his wise and generous words away to ponder: this book satisfies that very well.
Originally reviewed 21 May 2012
I bought this for my daughter a few years ago, and pulled it off her shelf for some Lenten spiritual reading (somewhat belatedly, as I didn't get round to starting it until Easter afternoon). It's an excellent, thought-provoking account which starts with a gentle reminder of (what should be) one of the characteristics of the Christian life: an attractive and intriguing freedom that excites the curiosity of others. The author follows that by sharing his insights into the nature of things like suffering, compassion, justice, community and love. These are huge topics, but they're tackled with an ease that draws the reader along as the differences between the Christian perspective and that of the secular, materialist world is highlighted. Take, for example, this answer (p78) to a question that's been asked in every generation:
"Why is waiting so much part of being a Christian? Why cannot God just give us now what we long for, justice for the poor and perfect happiness for us all? [...] One reason why our God takes so much time is because he is not a god. Our God is not a powerful celestial superman, a sort of invisible President Bush on a cosmic scale who might come bursting in from the outside. [...] God comes from within. He is, as St Augustine said, close to us than we are to ourselves or, as the Qur'an says, closer to us than our jugular vein."
Some might think it surprising to find an reference to the Qur'an in a book written by a Catholic priest, but it easily falls within his wide scope here (for example, he frequently refers with great approval to the words of Rowan Williams, who was Archbishop of Canterbury when this book was written). Those of us who've heard Fr Radcliffe's sermons might have perhaps felt the need to take some of his wise and generous words away to ponder: this book satisfies that very well.
Originally reviewed 21 May 2012
June 1, 2020
The predecessor to Why Go to Church?, What is the Point of Being a Christian? is written in much the same lively and accessible style. Broadly speaking it covers eleven characteristics of Christianity and the Church at its best: hope, freedom, happiness, courage, physicality, truth, community, solidarity, unity, listening and rest. It becomes clear that the book is therefore divided roughly speaking between five abstract values of faith, five ways in which this is rooted in ecclesiology and a final summation by looking at the sabbath and the Lord's Day.
His style, I suspect, is better heard than read. He has a remarkable number of quotes - all very good quotes - but sometimes it feels as though these are a string of pearls without a great deal of string. After a while you wonder quite where the authorial voice is. I found chapters 9 and 10 most interesting, from a Protestant perspective, as it gave me insights into the Catholic church and attitudes towards Vatican II that I hadn't previously appreciated.
His style, I suspect, is better heard than read. He has a remarkable number of quotes - all very good quotes - but sometimes it feels as though these are a string of pearls without a great deal of string. After a while you wonder quite where the authorial voice is. I found chapters 9 and 10 most interesting, from a Protestant perspective, as it gave me insights into the Catholic church and attitudes towards Vatican II that I hadn't previously appreciated.
March 31, 2021
Take a deep breath before you embark on Radcliffe's style: it will either delight or infuriate. That he is an eminently intelligent and educated fellow is obvious and his technique is to scatter nuggets of knowledge throughout. Chapter 1 in only 17 pages has 38 referenced footnotes and as many attributed asides and passing comments. It is all too much, an eclectic ragbag of erudite theology and popular culture - the latter's relevance often difficult to discern. The phrase "so what?" was often on my lips.
And yet he manages to deliver several passages of great profundity, gentle sincerity and an almost prophetic voice for modern times. Chapter 4 in particular continues to resound for me in its insight.
And yet he manages to deliver several passages of great profundity, gentle sincerity and an almost prophetic voice for modern times. Chapter 4 in particular continues to resound for me in its insight.
May 3, 2019
Timothy Radcliffe presents a more positive outlook on the Church's stances regarding sexual ethics, politics, etc; and certainly emphasizes "what we're for" as opposed to "what we're against."
While I think he attempted to address a few too many topics for one book, he certainly seems to understand the intricacies of doctrine, and espouses the power of a unified Church, the only Church that can really blossom in modern times.
Key takeaway: The relationship he derived from the Last Supper and sexual ethics was unlike any I've heard before. Awesome perspective on the fundamental story of the new Christian covenant.
While I think he attempted to address a few too many topics for one book, he certainly seems to understand the intricacies of doctrine, and espouses the power of a unified Church, the only Church that can really blossom in modern times.
Key takeaway: The relationship he derived from the Last Supper and sexual ethics was unlike any I've heard before. Awesome perspective on the fundamental story of the new Christian covenant.
May 20, 2023
Some of the chapters are really engaging, thoughtful and worthwhile but many of the later chapters are not really not answering the title. Rather it is "What is the Point of being a Catholic".
However, having said that, even an average book by Timothy Radcliffe is worth reading. Just skim the less interesting bits.
However, having said that, even an average book by Timothy Radcliffe is worth reading. Just skim the less interesting bits.
October 15, 2019
I read this book 3 times in different periods of my life, I learned something new each time. Defenitly one of my favourites books.
June 15, 2021
The first half and the last chapter was dynamite. Lost me in the middle.
March 23, 2024
Plenty to think about in Radcliffe’s book which mérite a slow reading with a pencil on hand to underline key passages.
September 4, 2010
I am not sure that everyone reading this book will "get the point" of a Christian world view, but he argues for a perspective beyond "what's in it for me" as a way of life. Good reading for those in despair about the current state of affairs in the RC Church.
May 21, 2015
He never fully answers the title question, but he does discuss his views on what Christians should think and feel. He is very eloquent and quite often incisive. If the title question was How do I become a complete Christian, then he'd be closer to answering it.
August 12, 2011
Encouraging and affirming; it looks at the big picture of faith and encourages full commitment rather than a half-hearted lipservice
April 23, 2014
Starts very well. Loses steam toward the end.
June 7, 2016
good book.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews