"A Rare Gem , a book that carries conviction by being honest all the way through." (John Gray, Independent)

"Reviewing this book The Times said, "His case for faith is rude, intelligent, and convincing." For me, it was definitely intelligent and insightful. His "rudeness" felt unnecessary at times, perhaps overblown. Without a doubt he's a good writer and many of the lines are worth writing down to ponder on. However, at times it didn't feel convincing to me. It felt messy with overdrawn judgments and conclusions that lacked sufficient argument or backing. That said, there was much to chew on and learn from. Here's an attempt to summarize his basic arguments.

His argument is that the fundamental core of Christianity makes emotional sense. For instance in the bleakness of life, there's a "crack in everything" - the human potential to f*** things up (HPtFtU) - a phrase he uses throughout the book, relatively synonymous with the scorned and often misunderstood word from scripture: "sin." It's an idea he returns to again and again, and for me, it was a helpful reminder of it's power and ubiquity.

From the HPtFtU, he turns to the feeling of great silence when we encounter nature - I thought of the feeling of wonder. From this nothingness and silence, every so often we feel an answer, sometimes when asking for help. That is God.

From there he turns to feelings of disgust, even rage, in realizing of the "problem of pain," i.e. how an all-powerful, loving God allows such horrors. He summarizes the list of common "resolutions" and concludes, "Theodicies try to justify God by justifying the cruel world. They vary, but they have one thing in common. None of them quite work." In the end Christians believe that God is here with us in the suffering; God is "that man in the crowd; a man under arrest and on his way to our common catastrophe. (106)"

He then retells the story of Jesus, followed by a chapter of commentary on the gospels, scripture, and the story of Jesus.

Overall, it was worth reading. His honesty was refreshing. And it'll likely be a book I return to. That being said, I think I was hoping for more. A similar but in some ways better book is Christian Wiman's My Bright Abyss. Both are edgy but in different ways - both are thoughtful engagements with Christianity from people who left faith for many years later to return to it with helpful perspective."

"An extremely interesting and readable book that fills an important niche. It has one of the more important introductions as it is written to Americans because the book originally was published in England and it helps clear up some things that otherwise would be opaque.

Ultimately Chapter 5 was my favorite, it gives a different perspective on Jesus' life than pure apologetics could ever provide. It is not maybe as complete as it could be, I honestly think a stronger case could be made, but it does a real good job as far as it goes.

It is also rare that a book like this would contain as many profanities as it does. The author explains it in the Introduction, but it still may be off putting to some US readers. If you can get past it however, it is worth the read."

"5.0 out of 5 stars The chapter which re-tells the story of Jesus is worth the price of the book" (Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2021)
"
A wonderful, beautiful read. Irreverent (so not for everyone) but moving and profound. Spufford is a wordsmith, which demands a reader have some ability to process language that is a few steps beyond Guideposts or Our Sunday Visitor, but if you are curious about how an intellectually inclined, hip and down-to-earth British novelist might write about the Christian faith, there is so much here to enjoy."

"The chapter which re-tells the story of Jesus is worth the price of the book. If you've outgrown C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and realize the argument in that book doesn't work anyway, this is a much needed update. It does not, as the dustcover says, argue that the Christian faith is provable, but it explains the emotional resonance of the Christian story - which is the reason anyone would bother with it anyway."

"I wish Spufford would keep writing in this vein. The world has enough academic theologians and devotionals your grandmother might keep in her knitting basket -- but this is something different. I bet he'd be a terrific preacher if he wanted to practice the art. I wish he would"

"It’s called Unapologetic because he’s writing about his own experience and reason for being a Christian, rather than using apologetics to defend his position. You might see it marketed as an answer to modern atheists like Richard Dawkins—and there are a few snarky footnotes here and there—but it’s less that than his personal experience, understanding, and thoughts on being a Christian. I thought there was a lot of food for thought in this book, especially in chapters 5-8 (the second half of the book).
The first half was a bit more rambling and elusive to me. I was actually thinking about chalking it up as DNF before I got to chapter 5. But I’m very glad I stayed with it. Here are some quotes I liked and took the the time to note for inclusion in the review.
If Christianity is anything, it’s a refusal to see human behavior as ruled by the balance sheet. We’re not supposed to see the things we do as adding up into piles of good and evil we can subtract from each according to some calculus to tell us, on balance, how we’re doing...the bad stuff cannot be averaged. It can only be confessed."

"For us, you see, the church is not just another institution. It’s a failing but never quite failed attempt, by limited people, to perpetuate the unlimited generosity of God in the world."

"About the swearing—if swearing is a deal-breaker for you, don’t bother with this. It’s not a deal-breaker for me. My opinion is it’s neither here nor there in the evaluation of one’s Christianity, and evaluating other people’s Christianity is not my job anyway.
I don’t know how many people will react to the first half the way I did, but if you’re not feeling it at the beginning, I suggest skimming until you get to the Yeshua chapter. If your experience matches mine, you’ll get more out of it from that point on."

A tweet from Nadia Bolz-Weber brought this book to my attention. Since I like her writing and a lot of her ideas, I thought I’d take it for a spin.
It’s called Unapologetic because he’s writing about his own experience and reason for being a Christian, rather than using apologetics to defend his position. You might see it marketed as an answer to modern atheists like Richard Dawkins—and there are a few snarky footnotes here and there—but it’s less that than his personal experience, understanding, and thoughts on being a Christian. I thought there was a lot of food for thought in this book, especially in chapters 5-8 (the second half of the book).
The first half was a bit more rambling and elusive to me. I was actually thinking about chalking it up as DNF before I got to chapter 5. But I’m very glad I stayed with it. Here are some quotes I liked and took the the time to note for inclusion in the review.

If Christianity is anything, it’s a refusal to see human behavior as ruled by the balance sheet. We’re not supposed to see the things we do as adding up into piles of good and evil we can subtract from each according to some calculus to tell us, on balance, how we’re doing...the bad stuff cannot be averaged. It can only be confessed.

Good Friday should be the day of all days in the Christian year when we are ashamed of even our tiniest and most necessary cruelties—seeing before us the image of their consequences...it’s righteous anger, in this world, with guilt pushed out of sight, that gets crucifixions done.

For us, you see, the church is not just another institution. It’s a failing but never quite failed attempt, by limited people, to perpetuate the unlimited generosity of God in the world.

About the swearing—if swearing is a deal-breaker for you, don’t bother with this. It’s not a deal-breaker for me. My opinion is it’s neither here nor there in the evaluation of one’s Christianity, and evaluating other people’s Christianity is not my job anyway.
I don’t know how many people will react to the first half the way I did, but if you’re not feeling it at the beginning, I suggest skimming until you get to the Yeshua chapter. If your experience matches mine, you’ll get more out of it from that point on. ( )

Reviewing this book The Times said, "His case for faith is rude, intelligent, and convincing." For me, it was definitely intelligent and insightful. His "rudeness" felt unnecessary at times, perhaps overblown. Without a doubt he's a good writer and many of the lines are worth writing down to ponder on. However, at times it didn't feel convincing to me. It felt messy with overdrawn judgments and conclusions that lacked sufficient argument or backing. That said, there was much to chew on and learn from. Here's an attempt to summarize his basic arguments.

His argument is that the fundamental core of Christianity makes emotional sense. For instance in the bleakness of life, there's a "crack in everything" - the human potential to f*** things up (HPtFtU) - a phrase he uses throughout the book, relatively synonymous with the scorned and often misunderstood word from scripture: "sin." It's an idea he returns to again and again, and for me, it was a helpful reminder of it's power and ubiquity.

From the HPtFtU, he turns to the feeling of great silence when we encounter nature - I thought of the feeling of wonder. From this nothingness and silence, every so often we feel an answer, sometimes when asking for help. That is God.

From there he turns to feelings of disgust, even rage, in realizing of the "problem of pain," i.e. how an all-powerful, loving God allows such horrors. He summarizes the list of common "resolutions" and concludes, "Theodicies try to justify God by justifying the cruel world. They vary, but they have one thing in common. None of them quite work." In the end Christians believe that God is here with us in the suffering; God is "that man in the crowd; a man under arrest and on his way to our common catastrophe. (106)"

He then retells the story of Jesus, followed by a chapter of commentary on the gospels, scripture, and the story of Jesus.

Overall, it was worth reading. His honesty was refreshing. And it'll likely be a book I return to. That being said, I think I was hoping for more. A similar but in some ways better book is Christian Wiman's My Bright Abyss. Both are edgy but in different ways - both are thoughtful engagements with Christianity from people who left faith for many years later to return to it with helpful perspective. ( )

An extremely interesting and readable book that fills an important niche. It has one of the more important introductions as it is written to Americans because the book originally was published in England and it helps clear up some things that otherwise would be opaque.

Ultimately Chapter 5 was my favorite, it gives a different perspective on Jesus' life than pure apologetics could ever provide. It is not maybe as complete as it could be, I honestly think a stronger case could be made, but it does a real good job as far as it goes.

It is also rare that a book like this would contain as many profanities as it does. The author explains it in the Introduction, but it still may be off putting to some US readers. If you can get past it however, it is worth the read. ( )

Setting this one aside.

An interesting writer, I just didn't "catch on" and feel inclined to complete it at this time. Moving it to my "to read" pile in case I get motivated to read it later. It just felt too cluttered and stream of consciousness for me to see my way through. (Compared to Mere Christianity, which I can read and re-read any day of the week....) ( )