Rupert Shortt is Religion editor of the Times Literary Supplement and a former Visiting Fellow at Oxford University. His books include Benedict XVI (2005), Christianophobia: A Faith under Attack (2012) and Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop (2014).
Shortt offers a conception of nature which grants us the right to
say that it brims over with intimations of the divine.
*Times Literary Supplement*
This is a case for Faith which will trouble the doubting with
reason's light.
*A.N. Wilson*
A powerful indirect commendation of Christian faith ... [T]his is
an excellent book, spirited, lucid and plainspoken without losing
generosity. It deserves a place alongside the best of the recent
crop of intelligent responses to the New Atheism.
*The Guardian*
Rupert Shortt takes no prisoners. This is Christian apologetics
with shirt-sleeves rolled up.
*Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church,
University of Oxford, and author of 'A History of Christianity: The
First Three Thousand Years'*
[Shortt] is in a line stretching back to C. S. Lewis, Dorothy
Sayers, and G. K. Chesterton . . . his evident learning, combined
with an engaging style and light touch, makes this a book that can
be confidently placed in the hands of even the most stubborn
sceptic with some hope of a fair hearing . . . This short book
packs a punch.
*Church Times*
One word that is attached to the reality of God is transcendent --
he is like goodness and truth and life, only more so. But as Rupert
Shortt . . . reminds us, God is also, in the words of St Augustine
of Hippo, closer to us than we are to ourselves.
*The Telegraph*
[Shortt] sets out with modesty, sensitivity and unfailing courtesy
to demonstrate the coherence of Christian belief, managing along
the way to encompass a remarkably wide range of topics, with
elegance and economy. ... But for all its courtesy and absence of
scorn, God is No Thing unflinchingly tackles the philosophically
naive parodies of Christian belief targeted in secularist criticism
... skilfully weaving a way through the confusions and ambiguities
arising from the use of the word "creation" in both scientific and
theological contexts.
*The Tablet*
An intellectually robust case for Christianity . . . [Shortt]
brings thoughtfulness and intellectual rigour to his defence . . .
deserves to be reflected upon and debated by believers and
unbelievers alike.
*The Catholic Herald*
Deft and timely: a primer for believers, and for everyone else, of
the ways in which Christianity feeds heart and mind.
*Francis Spufford, author of 'Red Plenty' and 'Unapologetic'*
Rupert Shortt's passionate book is a fine antidote to the distorted
and simplified views of Christianity widespread in the current
debate about religion. Many books have attempted to describe what
is wrong with the 'new atheist' account of religion -- Shortt's is
one of the best. In articulating a 'grown-up form of Christianity
between scepticism and fundamentalism', it will surely speak to
those believers who have 'lived themselves into a new way of
thinking', in Shortt's memorable phrase. But it ought to be of
interest also to those atheists who want to understand what the
Christian life might genuinely be like.
*Tim Crane, Knightbridge Professor of Philosophy*
'[A] meditative exploration of what Christian commitment means in
the contemporary world.'
Rupert Shortt's intellectually and emotionally engaging essay
succeeds admirably in bringing out how far authentic Christian
belief diverges from the crude caricatures of its secular critics
and the misguided literalism of its fundamentalist advocates.
*John Cottingham, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of
Reading, Professorial Research Fellow, Heythrop College London, and
Honorary Fellow, St John's College, Oxford*
'God Is No Thing' is a beautifully written spiritual tour de force,
drawing on rich and profound sources in philosophy, theology and
comparative religion. At its heart is a compelling argument that
contrasts authentic religious pluralism with religious relativism.
The reader is ultimately brought to his irresistible conclusion --
that Christianity is the religion of love that most fully fits the
human heart.
*John Cornwell, Fellow Commoner at Jesus College, University of
Cambridge, and author of 'Darwin's Angel'*
Is there a case, now, for Christianity as a coherent set of
beliefs? Rupert Shortt has made it here, extraordinarily well.
Wide-ranging in reference, rigorous in its theology, and sharply
written, this book is a resounding challenge to Christians of all
stripes as well as to agnostics and atheists. It is also an
exhilarating read.
*Lucy Beckett, author of 'In the Light of Christ: Writings in the
Western Tradition'*
Brilliant . . . [Shortt] demonstrates that Christianity has a
beautiful intellectual coherence, which is often lacking in today's
atheists.
*Methodist Recorder*
good evidence that Christian apologetic is often best attempted by
lay people . . . [Shortt] takes critical and sceptical theology in
his stride . . . a thoughtful and welcome attempt to defend
Christianity as a faith that is both credible and attractive.
*Theology Journal*
To call 'God is No Thing' a work of Christian apologetics rather
than a detailed analysis of claims about the ontological status of
religious phenomena is not to underestimate its extraordinary
achievement. In no more than 120 pages of rich theological
argument, Shortt brings cool reason, and an added measure of acid
polemic, to bear against the pretensions of the anti-religious
secularism of the so-called New Atheists.
*Thinking Faith*
The cultured despisers of Christian faith often set up caricature
versions of it to knock down. Rupert Shortt shows that mainline
Christianity remains more than able to withstand intellectual
attack, and in a robust, lucid style opens up the philosophical and
doctrinal arguments for the non-specialist reader.
*The Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans*
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