A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original review appears below. John Vaudry is the minister of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Wingham, Ontario.

Wright, David E, The Christian Faith and Homosexuality
Stein, Jock, Spirituality Today
Taylor, Howard, The Uniqueness of Christ in a Pluralist World
Edinburgh: Cutting Edge Books, 1994.

These titles are part of a series of topical booklets tackling controversial issues that is published by Rutherford House, the study centre in Edinburgh supported largely by evangelicals in the Church of Scotland.

David Wright is well-known as a church historian. As former Dean of Divinity at New College, he brings his considerable academic skill to bear on the much-debated subject of The Christian Faith and Homosexuality. After an insightful survey of biblical teaching, Wright attempts to answer two objections to the conservative position. One frequently raised is that biblical condemnations of same-sexuality are transcended or relativized by some higher principle, especially love as taught by Jesus. The other is the biblical teaching is irrelevant because not valid scientifically. These questions and others are handled ably and sensitively in this 28 page booklet written in a semi-popular style.

In response to Western culture’s current preoccupation with “spirituality,” Jock Stein, former missionary in East Africa, has written a useful booklet on Spirituality Today that deals with a wide range of issues and provides some guidelines for evaluating spiritual ideas and practices. Stein traces some of the influences on the New Age movement and points out a few of its flaws. He makes the sad but true observation that many New Agers first looked for authentic spirituality in the churches and were disappointed. An interesting feature of this booklet is its survey of the different approaches to spirituality in the Christian tradition. Brief sketches are given of Anglican, Catholic, Celtic, Charismatic, Creation, Evangelical, Feminist, Ignatian and other forms of spirituality. I wish that, in addition to being descriptive, the author had also provided more critique here. He gives the impression that all the various “Christian” approaches are equally valid.

Howard Taylor, also a former missionary, tackles the daunting topic of The Uniqueness of Christ in a Pluralist World. In our shrinking world, people ask about the validity of religions other than Christianity, about the proper approach to mission, and about the vexed question of the final destiny of those who have never heard of Jesus. Taylor argues for giving the Bible priority in religious education in public schools (in Britain). He also discusses three views of the relation of Christianity to other world religions: exclusivism (only those who have accepted Christ will be saved), pluralism (all religions lead to God), and inclusivism (“Christ is the only Saviour and all who are saved are saved on the basis of his atonement, but it is not necessary for them, in this life, to know that”). He opts for the inclusivist position, a view that is becoming increasingly respectable among evangelicals, but a view that is not without problems of its own.

These three booklets represent some of the well-researched, attractively produced materials available from Rutherford House. Anyone interested in a mainline British evangelical perspective might want to get in contact with the House.