I first began thinking seriously about Christianity with the help of the Lion Publishing House. On my confirmation, my godparents gave me the Lion Handbook to the Bible, a hardback volume containing outlines of what was in each Bible book, some background information, and interesting inset boxes with information about famous Christians, church history, philosophers and theological ideas (these boxes were my favourite part). I know it wasn’t cheap – thanks Jill and Gary!
The Lion books were always very attractively designed, with colour photos, stylish graphics, contemporary fonts and articles that were just the right length. I only came to appreciate how good they were when I began working as an editor. I added various other handbooks from Lion down the years: Colin Chapman’s The Case for Christianity and Christianity on Trial (which I still use); The History of Christianity and The World’s Religions. If ever I got a book voucher as a school prize, I looked for a Lion title.
However, I hadn’t picked up a Lion book for decades until I saw the Lion Access Guides on the shelf at Moore Books. They attracted my attention because they fitted well into the brief of my new job in apologetics teaching and scholarship at New College, University of New South Wales.
These Access Guides are 160-page introductions to big ideas in religion: The Bible, Christianity, Jesus, World Religions, Postmodernism and History of Ideas. I picked up the last two, interested to see how they would handle such topics in pocket-book form. Sometimes, these introductions can be so potted they are potbound, trapped in summaries of summaries without really coming to grips with the subject they are introducing.
I was pleasantly reminded of my childhood experience. The books are very attractive, with strong colour covers, beautiful photos and most topics handled on a two-page spread each. This accessibility (living up to the name of the series) means that a lot of content can be covered without it feeling cumbersome. At the same time, the breadth and depth of material was impressive.
The postmodernism title is generous in its coverage, providing a concise but well-detailed introduction to major thinkers, concepts and movements since modernism. The author (Kevin O’Donnell) shows a sympathy for some postmodernist thought, particularly postmodern views of the ‘self’, without surrendering a belief in revealed truth and the Word made flesh.
The ‘Postmodern Creed’ with which the book concludes could sound like a piece of New Age twaddle before you have read the book, but if you begin at the beginning, it might make more sense by the time you reach it. Still, it must be stated that it is a Christless creed – this is a very gentle, nearly compromising way of bringing people a step towards faith in Christ. Nevertheless, I think it’s an approach with some value.
The history of ideas book is similarly detailed yet succinct, beginning with ancient Greece and touring the reader through Eastern wisdom, the rise of Christianity, the influence of Islam in the Middle Ages, and the Enlightenment – all in 160 pages, with pictures! There is considerable overlap with the postmodernism title in the final section of the book, which considers ideas that have recently developed in reaction against Enlightenment rationalism.
Even as a teenager, I remember the Lion books being more interested in the place of Christianity in the world than in the message of the gospel itself. This emphasis remains in this new series; the business or theological reasons for which, I do not know. It comes out in a focus on creation, the incarnation and the Trinity, and the relative neglect of the atonement, resurrection, the church and eschatology.
Notwithstanding my critical observations, I recommend these two books to anyone looking for an introduction to Big Ideas that are informing our culture, explored from within the Christian tradition, broadly conceived.
They are especially good for students starting out in an Arts degree, or enrolling in a CASE course! They are not cheap – $24.95 each – but cheap is not what these books are about. They are about making ideas attractive, making reading about them attractive, and supporting the importance of the ideas discussed with a presentation that aids the reader at every point. I like that!
Dr Greg Clarke is the Director of CASE, New College, University of NSW. Web: www.case.edu.au
