Leaving Christendom for Good: Church-World Dialogue in a Secular Age

by James Gerard McEvoy

Leaving Christendom for Good argues that the solution to some of the most troubling tensions in the life of the Catholic Church since Vatican II can be found in the council’s document Gaudium et spes. This text’s view of the church’s mission and social relationships as dialogical has the capacity to liberate. Part One studies the contemporary place of religion—with particular reference to Charles Taylor’s groundbreaking work, A Secular Age—and examines Gaudium et spes’s dialogical view of the church-world relationship. Part Two explores what true dialogue entails and how it is best understood theologically, engaging critically with Joseph Ratzinger’s view of the church-world relationship. The book’s final chapter considers two practical implications of its how evangelization can be best understood today, and how the church can best approach issues in the public sphere.

212 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Peter Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this book after working through Charles Taylor's A Secular Age. While accessible without having read Taylor I am glad I read Taylor first.

While written for a catholic audience, the discussion on language and in particular dialogue in the light of Gadamer Truth and Method was insightful. To then expand that into an exploration God's dialogue with humanity covering the three element of the Trinity fantastic.

A critic of Ratzinger's position that modernity is unreedambly corrupted was a Catholic focus but articulated concerns I have with positions currently being presented in evangelical faith.

Overall a great use of Taylor to orientate and then present a way to be authentically Christian in our present age.