The Salt of the Earth Religious Resilience in a Secular Age [Hardcover]

This is a sparkling collection of essays by one of Britain's best-known and acute commentators of the church scene and of contemporary religious life. Martyn Percy explores new liberalism, the churches and human rights in the European Union, football and religion, pilgrimage, demonology, common spirituality, religious attitudes to nudity, and the relationship between religion and advertising. The argument running throughout this book is that despite claims--and the appearance--of increasing secularity, the influence of religious themes and values on our everyday life remains pervasive.

Introduction
Part I  Church and Culture
1. Resistance and Accommodation: Theology and Contemporary Culture
2. A Knowledge of Angles: How Spiritual Are the English?
3. Cultural History: The Revision of Secularization Theories
4. Church-State Relations in Britain: Transforming Culture
5. A Clash of Cultures: Church Autonomy and Human Rights
Part II  Christianity and Popular Culture
6. The Church in the Market-Place: Advertising, Media and Religion
7. Shopping for God: Production, Consumption and Globalization
8. Leisure, Ecstasy and Identity: Football and Contemporary Religion
9. From Eternity to Here: Sin, Censorship and Society
10. Sympathy for the Devil: On Discerning the Demonic
Part III  Ministry and Mission in Contemporary Culture
11. Pilgrimage and Place: The Journey Within
12. Religious Power: People, Politics and Prophecy
13. Care-Taking and Health in Contemporary Culture: Exploring the Vocational
14. The Gift of Authority: Of Ministry, Morals and Money
15. Christ and Culture: The Development of Doctrine and the Meaning of Mission
Afterword: The Perennial Need for Religion
Bibliography
Index

The Very Reverend ProfessorMartyn Percyis member of the Faculty of Theology at Oxford University, Professor of Theological Education at King's College London and Professorial Research Fellow at Heythrop College, UlC