Christian Atheist: Belonging Without Believing
Brian Mountford
ISBN 978-1-84694-439-0
John Hunt Publishing, 2011
The term Christian Atheist is something of an oxymoron. It could be described as “Christianity - good, God - a bit iffy”. This book was written when Mountford - who by his own admission is a liberal Christian - a Vicar of the University Church, Oxford. It seeks to explore why there are atheists who attend church services and appreciate Christian aesthetics, liturgy, values, morals and so forth without any belief in God. This is an interesting phenomenon that Mountford explores through interviews. Unfortunately, the “research” method is flawed as it is based on opportunity sampling - he interviews those he knows. Nevertheless, he makes some interesting points based on the interviews he has conducted. All those interviewed are “Anglican” in disposition, so the book might better be titled Anglican Atheists. It would be interesting to do a much broader study of those in different denominations. Could there be Calvinist Atheists?
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