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Evolution of the West

How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values

Evolution of the West

How Christianity Has Shaped Our Values

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Paperback / softback

£9.99

£4.99

Publisher: SPCK Publishing
ISBN: 9780281075201
Number of Pages: 208
Published: 15/09/2016
Width: 12.9 cm
Height: 19.8 cm

What has Christianity ever done for us? A lot more than you might think, as Nick Spencer reveals in this fresh exploration of our cultural origins. Looking at the big ideas that characterize the West, such as human dignity, the rule of law, human rights, science - and even, paradoxically, atheism and secularism - he traces the varied ways in which many of our present values grew up and flourished in distinctively Christian soil. Always alert to the tensions and the mess of history, and careful not to overstate the Christian role in shaping our present values, Spencer shows how a better awareness of what we owe to Christianity can help us as we face new cultural challenges.

Acknowledgements Introduction 1 1 Why the West is different 10 2 A Christian nation 25 3 Trouble with the law: Magna Carta and the limits of the law 38 4 Christianity and democracy: friend and foe 51 5 Saving humanism from the humanists 64 6 Christianity and atheism: a family affair 79 7 The accidental midwife: the emergence of a scientific culture 94 8 'No doubts as to how one ought to act': Darwin's doubts and his faith 110 9 The religion of Christianity and the religion of human rights 125 10 The secular self 138 11 'Always with you': Capital, inequality and the 'absence of war' 152 12 Christianity and the welfare state 167 Books consulted 185 Index 187

Nick Spencer (Author)

Nick Spencer is Senior Fellow at Theos think tank and Visiting Research Fellow at the Faiths and Civil Society Unit, Goldsmiths, University of London. He is also a frequent contributor to the national press and the author of several books.

All readers, whatever their religious, non-religious or political persuasions, should read this. * Sughra Ahmed, Chair, Islamic Society of Britain * Surrounded by complex issues, it is hard to understand what's going on, what the important thinkers are saying, and what a thinking Christian might make of it all. Nick Spencer carves out a clear path through this jungle, helping us to see how we got here in the first place and how we might move forward in faith and wisdom. * N. T. Wright, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, University of St Andrews * This is a much needed book. Spencer shows persuasively that we cannot understand our political, economic or social culture without taking into account the key role Christianity has played in shaping Western values. Balanced and never claiming too much, it offers an essential corrective to contemporary narratives that try to write Christianity out of the script. * Richard Harries, House of Lords * An informative and interesting read. * Pobl Dewi * moves along an excellent pace, deservedly a Church Times bestseller * Progressive Voices * a collection of insightful and challenging essays * Reader Magazine *

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