Post-Christendom

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The best in its genre - Rated
I loved this book. And I am genuinely thankful to Stuart for doing it. It is scholarly in the classically British way--understated, gentle, articulate, and thoroughly devasating to views that have held that Christendom was the acme of a so-called Christian civilization. If you are trying to get to grips with what the church must be and become, particularly from the missional perspective. Then this is a must read.

And all this coming from an Aussie. It must be good. :-)

A Good Application of History to the Contemporary Church - Rated
The central idea of this book is that whether people lament or celebrate it the last vestiges of christendom are disappearing and Christians in the UK are going to have to get used to living `on the margins' of society.

Murray's book is split into two main sections. The first a broad survey of the history of the Christendom mindset and its implications on Church life and the second a tentative proposal of how the Church must change to adapt to this new situation.

Overall I found this book an excellent introduction to the whole subject of Christianity and Christendom and how antithetical it is to the Christian gospel. The book is wide ranging and as a result does lack somewhat for detail however this is unavoidable given its breadth. This is however counterbalanced by good referencing and a key bibliography that enables those wishing to pursue areas further to do so (I already have a couple of key books on order).

On the negative side I did find it a little strange given its concetration of British Post-Christendom that there was so little analysis of the rise of Christendom within England/Britain (the English reformation under Henry VIII, for example, is (externally) a prime example of a top-down conversion).

Overall though this is recommended.