26 February 2015, The Tablet

Christ Actually: the Son of God for the secular age

by James Carroll, reviewed by Nicholas King

 
As all Tablet readers will know, the title of this book comes from Bonhoeffer, rather than Hugh Grant. The theologian, facing execution in a Nazi jail, wrote, in the light of the ugly new world that had been ushered in, “Who is Christ actually for us today?”He was raising, of course, the all-important question, one that is heard on many lips today, including those of Pope Francis, “How can Christ become the Lord of the religionless as well?”The popular historian and novelist James Carroll makes four good points. The first is that “Jesus is elusive. If he were not, he would be useless to us.” This is an observation that we need to recite to ourselves several times a day. The second, denied by the Nazis, and too often by the Church, but asserted by Bonhoe
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