Dear Christis

First of all I’d like to say that I greatly appreciated the inclusion of Nic Tall’s review of Dave Tomlinson’s book The Post-Evangelical, in issue 50. I would recommend this book wholeheartedly. Whatever you think of Tomlinson’s views he doesn’t seem to be afraid to grasp certain ‘hot potatoes’ which we should all take seriously if we are to take the Church into the next millennium. The Post-Evangelical is a challenging and stimulating read which certainly caused me to re-evaluate my own faith, and my relationship with the Church.

However, I was not so happy with the way your editorial team handled the article. In the text of the piece your editor made a comment regarding one of the points Nic made about the New Age movement. This would seem to be an abuse of the editorial position, and it also looked unprofessional to say the least.

If the editor had a comment to make perhaps he/she should have addressed it in the form of a letter, or maybe even have written an article about Christianity and the new age movement. As it is I think that you owe Nic an apology, I know that I would not have been pleased if you had defaced an article I had submitted.

I would remind you that according to your declaration one of Christis’ aims is to discuss issues related to Christianity in its broadest sense, and that the “views in Christis are not necessarily those of the committee”. If this is truly your aim then I would suggest that you show more respect for the pieces put forward for publication, whatever you think of them.

It would be sad if Christis were allowed to become biased towards a certain perspective, particularly if that perspective mirrors the views of the majority of the committee, or at least those with the loudest voices. If Christis were to become that narrow then (in answer to your Thinker question for issue 50) I would suggest that Christis would not be doing its job.

A suggestion: Perhaps as part of your 50th Birthday navel gazing it might be an idea to commission articles which actively explain and question Christianity in its broadest sense, look at different traditions and perspectives, eg Liberation Theology, feminist Theology, even Conservative evangelicalism. Such a series of articles would be a start in challenging and provoking active Christian witness on campus, and beyond. Not putting forward nice easy answers, but stimulating growth and soul searching which is essential to that growth.

Yours sincerely

Dean Akrill

Dear Dean Akrill and Nic Tall,

Thankyou for your letter of constructive criticism Dean, it was much appreciated. The Editorial comments which were made in the last Issue (50) were made my me, the rest of the committee had a chance to see them at the proofread. The article in question The Post-Evangelical … Dave Tomlinson was certainly well written and thought provoking. I apologise for misusing my Editorial position to criticise it, you are right it was unprofessional. The proper place for such disagreements is certainly in a letter, such as this one. We do want to uphold Christis Declaration of Aims (see inside front cover) which includes welcoming input from all across the range of the theological spectrum.

Reading Nic Tall’s article on The Post-Evangelical I was amazed at the stereotypical vision it promoted about the mainstream evangelical church with its “inappropriate and rigid approach to the Bible”. It is true that Christians must explore their faith and different forms of worship, but to state that the evangelical church is “too rooted in the culture of the Enlightenment to meet this need” for deep spirituality is very offensive. The heart of the evangelical movement is a longing to worship the unchanging God and to follow His word in love. Most churches which would call themselves ‘evangelical’ in their Church constitutions and theology are not introverted dinosaurs stuck in the ninteenth century. They are actively reaching out to God in worship, rather than absorbing the evil methods of the New Age movement which, Tomlinson has the impudence to compare favourably with the pure worship withing the Evangelical Alliance.

Laura Martindale-Sheldon.