The first occupant of Lambeth Palace is several generations with an international reputation as a theologian, he is nevertheless often considered a difficult writer, more admired than read and understood. Many people remain puzzled by how his social radicalism can coexist with a reputation for orthodoxy in doctrine.
 Rowan Williams: An Introduction is the first thorough account of the Archbishop's career and evolution as a thinker. A long biographical chapter is followed by three further sections on key aspects of Williams's theology, spirituality and politics. 
 The result is a sympathetic but not uncritical profile of a leader with unmatched talents for enhancing dialogue between Christianity and secular culture.

Rowan Williams : An Introduction

Biographies & Memoirs

Shortt, Rupert

Leaders & Notable People

Darton, Longman, and Todd

History is littered with wars and atrocities apparently inspired by religion, and today there seems no end to reports of cruelty and violence carried out in the name of God. But is it belief in God that motivates these evils? Or do they spring from other motives? At the same time, history testifies to numerous benefits to humanity brought about by religious individuals and movements. But despite these positive outcomes might it be true, as some atheists believe, that religion in general does more harm than good? Is religion itself inherently toxic? Or could it simply be that there is good religion and there is bad religion, and we just need to learn to tell the difference? The author's investigation of these questions will encourage both believers and unbelievers to discard the lazy thinking and easy assumptions that so often disfigure the arguments on either side of this debate.

Does Religion do More Harm than Good?

History

World

SPCK Publishing

In his new book Outgrowing God, Richard Dawkins purports to demolish the claims of mainstream religion, starting with belief in a Creator. All of life’s big questions can apparently be answered by science. But does he even understand what he rejects? Rupert Shortt’s answer in Outgrowing Dawkins is a resounding ‘No’. The high priest of New Atheism quite literally doesn’t know what he’s talking about, because the deity he rejects is a childish parody. From this flow many further muddles and straw man arguments. Shortt’s incisive rebuttal includes positive suggestions for advancing an often-sterile debate.

Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups

Religion & Spirituality

Agnosticism

Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop of Canterbury

William B. Eerdmans

A fascinating, fair-minded depiction of Archbishop Rowan Williams. Rowan Williams is a complex and controversial figure. Widely revered for his personal qualities, he is also an intellectual giant who towers over almost all his predecessors as Archbishop of Canterbury. Among other achievements, he has trounced the atheist Richard Dawkins, and published over twenty well-regarded books, including several volumes of poetry and a major study of Dostoevsky. Yet he is also one of the most reviled church leaders in modern history. Long before facing calls to step down after his lecture on sharia law in early 2008, he had been accused of heresy on account of his pro-gay views. He has disappointed many of his own supporters as well. So how has high office changed Rowan Williams? Has he been bullied and manipulated? Or is he perhaps playing a long game, obliged to rate church unity above the pursuit of his own vision at a time when the Anglican Communion has never looked more unstable? Rupert Shortt, already the author of an acclaimed introduction to the Archbishop's thought, offers answers to these and other questions in this authoritative biography. He explores how the events of the Archbishop's remarkable life have shaped his beliefs and practices today. Of particular interest is the riveting account of Williams's experience near the World Trade Center towers on the morning of September 11, 2001. Written with Williams's cooperation, Rowan's Rule not only elucidates his ideas but gives a compelling portrait of a private and in some ways surprisingly vulnerable man.

Eerdmans

On October 29, 2005, three Indonesian schoolgirls were beheaded as they walked to school -- targeted because they were Christian. Like them, many Christians around the world suffer violence or discrimination for their faith. In fact, more Christians than people of any other faith group now live under threat. Why is this religious persecution so widely ignored? In Christianophobia Rupert Shortt investigates the shocking treatment of Christians on several continents and exposes the extent of official collusion. Christian believers generally don't become radicalized but tend to resist nonviolently and keep a low profile, which has enabled politicians and the media to play down a problem of huge dimensions. The book is replete with relevant historical background to place events within their appropriate political and social context. Shortt demonstrates how freedom of belief is the canary in the mine for freedom in general. Published at a time when the fundamental importance of faith on the world stage is being recognized more than ever, this book will be essential reading for anyone interested in people's right to religious freedom, no matter where, or among whom, they live.

Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

The first occupant of Lambeth Palace in several generations with an international reputation as a theologian, he is nevertheless often considered a difficult writer, more admired than read and understood. Many people remain puzzled by how his social radicalism can coexist with a reputation for orthodoxy in doctrine. Rowan Williams: An Introduction is the first thorough account of the Archbishop's career and evolution as a thinker. A long biographical chapter is followed by three further sections on key aspects of Williams's theology, spirituality and politics. The result is a sympathetic but not uncritical profile of a leader with unmatched talents for enhancing dialogue between Christianity and secular culture.

Rowan Williams: An Introduction

Morehouse Publishing

The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering

To many, the problem of evil and suffering constitutes by far the most serious objection to mainstream religious belief. For all its starkness and salience, though, the dilemma is also widely misinterpreted. That visceral feelings often dominate discussion is understandable on one level. But this can displace the clearer-headed thinking needed to shed greater light on the subject.\nIn this brief but broad-ranging book, Rupert Shortt shows that belief in a divine Creator is much more coherent intellectually than many sceptics suppose. Basic misconceptions about core aspects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam can in turn spawn still greater caricatures of subjects including divine power. Having cleared the ground, Shortt goes on to discuss the nature of evil from a classical Abrahamic standpoint and how Christian resources in particular offer guidance in an area where raw emotion, conceptual thought and the deepest trials of the spirit overlap. If the dilemma has no clear solution, that need not discredit sensitive and creative ways of grappling with it.\nThe Hardest Problem is an accessible contemporary reflection on the perennial question of human suffering.

Christian Books & Bibles

Hodder Faith

To many,&nbsp;the problem of evil and suffering constitutes by far the most serious objection to mainstream religious belief. For all its starkness and salience,&nbsp;though,&nbsp;the dilemma is also widely misinterpreted. That visceral feelings often dominate discussion is understandable on one level. But this can displace the clearer-headed thinking needed to shed greater light on the subject. In this brief but broad-ranging book,&nbsp;Rupert Shortt shows that belief in a divine Creator is much more coherent intellectually than many sceptics suppose. Basic misconceptions about core aspects of Judaism,&nbsp;Christianity and Islam can in turn spawn still greater caricatures of subjects including divine power. Having cleared the ground,&nbsp;Shortt goes on to discuss the nature of evil from a classical Abrahamic standpoint and how Christian resources in particular offer guidance in an area where raw emotion,&nbsp;conceptual thought and the deepest trials of the spirit overlap. If the dilemma has no clear solution,&nbsp;that need not discredit sensitive and creative ways of grappling with it. The Hardest Problem&nbsp;is an accessible contemporary reflection on the perennial question of human suffering.

A call for Christianity to recover its confidence The mainstream Churches are faltering - or even at risk of dying out - in their Western and Middle Eastern heartlands. Surveys confirm that only a minority of people in a country such as Britain now claim Christian allegiance. The pattern is being matched in neighbouring societies. At the same time many opinion formers preach secularist ideology with a self-confidence shading into dogmatism. Others, unsure of their moorings, feel some residual attachment to spirituality, while being sceptical about the existence of God and other articles of belief. Yet church teaching remains intellectually robust, as well as inspiring a transformative global presence. In this major and wide-ranging international study - both a report on the unsettling consequences of secularisation and a defence of a creed too often belittled by its opponents - Rupert Shortt outlines Christianity's fading profile in the present, but also argues compellingly that Europe's historic faith remains critical to the survival of a humane culture.

The Eclipse of Christianity: and why it matters

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shortt, Rupert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shortt, Rupert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shortt, Rupert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Rowan Williams : An Introduction

Does Religion do More Harm than Good?

Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups

Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Rowan's Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Christianophobia: A Faith Under Attack

Rowan Williams: An Introduction

The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering

The Hardest Problem: God, Evil and Suffering

The Eclipse of Christianity: and why it matters