Honest to God, 40th Anniversary Edition [Paperback]

John A. T. Robinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 31, 2003

This is the fortieth anniversary edition of John Robinson's classic text. Honest to God is a bracing and engaging call to re-examine outdated and troublesome images of God.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John A. T. Robinson was an New Testament scholar who served as Bishop of Woolwich, England and as Dean of Trinity College, University of Cambridge. Among his many writings are Redating the New Testament, Truth is Two-Eyed, and Wrestling with Romans.

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press; Anniversary edition (January 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0664224229
• ISBN-13: 978-0664224226
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #369,999 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally refreshing and worthy of consideration, July 22, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honest to God (Paperback)

I read this book thirty years ago, and ran across it the other day and decided to reread it. It remains as "honest and refreshingly revealing" today as it did thirty years ago. I was hoping to pick up several copies for friends but have discovered much to my dismay that the publisher is out of stock. Please publish it again, and soon. Robinson, who was Bishop of Woolwich, England in 1963 at the time of first publication, explores his personal faith concepts and convictions about God, the supernatureal, religion, prayer and the like. He draws on the writings of such men as Paul Tillich and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. At the time of first publication it was deemed very controversial by clerics as well as lay people. I suspect that controvery would still exist. However, it demands to be read and reread, as the issues of God, and the presence of God, remain provoking to both believers and non-believers. To quote Robinson, in his Preface, ..."I suspect that we stand on the brink of a period in which it is going to become increasingly difficult to know what the true defence of Christian truth requires...I believe we are being called, over the years ahead, to far more than a restating of traditional orthodoxy in modern terms. Indeed, if our defence of the Faith is limited to this, we shall find in all likelihood that we have lost out to all but a tiny religious remnant...I am convinced that there is a growing gulf between the traditional orthodox suspernaturalism in which our Faith has been framed and the categories which the 'lay' world finds meaningful today. And by that I do not mean there is an increasing gap between Christianity and pagan society...but...many who are Christians find themselves on the same side as those who are not. And among one's intelligent non-Christian friends one discovers many who are far nearer to the Kindom of heaven than they themselves can credit...What dismays me is the vehemence--and at bottom the insecurity--of those who feel that the Faith can only be defended by branding as enemies within the camp those who do not. (find the traditional framework of metaphysics and morals entirely acceptable)."

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A time to use plain language for the core of reality, October 2, 2004

By 

Robert H. Nunnally Jr. "gurdonark" (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Honest to God, 40th Anniversary Edition (Paperback)

In Honest to God, John A.T. Robinson sets forth a short volume to explain in detailed but non-obscure terms the tenets of his form of liberal Christianity. He sets out to take the ideas of 20th Century theologians, and explain them in an accessible but not patronizing tone. In so doing, he manages to avoid the pitfall of many works of modern theology, in that Robinson writes a book about faith for people of faith and people without faith, rather than a mere academic exercise for other theologians.

In its day, Honest to God was considered quite controversial, as Robinson directly addressed his view of the non-literal nature of the Bible, his interpretation of the supernatural aspects of the Christian faith, and a muted but not hidden view that social mores have evolved from the days of earliest Christianity.

Although the book is now decades old, the book arguably deserves readers more today than it did upon its release in an era of liberal Christian works. Robinson does not shy from the complexities of modern theologians, but he uses the direct, workable language of the popular religious writer to show the reader that "liberal Christianity" is not merely a set of complex theories and redefinitions, but instead a real-world attempt to make sense of both the legacy of faith and the evolution of thinking brought on by science.

If you've always associated Christianity with the charismatic theology of televangelists, this book is an excellent read to understand a different, vital form of the faith. Although Robinson in his day Robinson attracted critics and controversy, this book is nothing more (nor less) than a short, good read about a way of experiencing the Christian faith. This was a watershed work of popular theology when it first appeared, and remains important today, when people mistake "liberal religion" for "liberal politics" and imagine that theologians are all trapped in the ivory tower.

Honest to God is a simple, good read, about ultimate things. It may not "convert" you, but its refreshing candor makes it worth the read.

35 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable and loiving exposition of Christ's only message., July 21, 2002

By 

Jim Dunbar (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Honest to God (Paperback)

The "Smoke and mirrors" reviewer misses the whole point of this marvelous book, that Christ himself got beyond the strictures of rules and law and admonishes all of us to do the same. Bishop Robinson reminds us that Jesus' message is love, not ritual, and that by loving all and everything we do not OBEY God, we express Him profoundly in the world and EXPERIENCE Him by living His essence (God is love).

I was so amazed to discover a Christian Bishop encouraging us to go beyond being Christian, Jew, or whatever, beckoning to an end of "theism" simply by living lives of love----be we monk, mogul, or movie star. It is so liberating and fulfilling to love; how odd that some of us could not want this fulfillment, hungering instead for strictures of do's and don'ts, for ecclesiastical structures of power and authority, for form over substance.

As the Bishop understands so well, love integrates, enlarging and completing anyone who will love. On the other hand, hatred, and the divisiveness of sect, cult, nationalism, and every other sort of "ism" isolate one into smaller and smaller corners of reality. We cannot fully know God or His creation if we are not willing to extend love to every person, indeed everything our life presents to us.

Thank you Bishop Robinson for so eloquent and loving a book.