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Discovering Christianity

A Guide for the Curious

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Discovering Christianity

By: Rowan Williams
Narrated by: Rowan Williams
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'Rowan Williams offers a typically intelligent, attractive, and beguiling picture of what it means to be a Christian... When I read Williams I feel something coming to birth inside me, whispers from a shore I want to set out for.'
Mark Oakley, Dean of Southwark Cathedral, London

Internationally acclaimed theologian Rowan Williams invites you to explore with him the vital questions that go right to the heart of Christianity:

How does Jesus reveal God?
Who or what is the Holy Spirit?
Why do Christians treasure the Bible?
What's the point of theology?

Rowan Williams' guide to the essentials of the faith will get you thinking about God in fresh and exciting ways. It will help you to grasp the way in which the best Christian theology is arrived at through the creative interplay of scripture, tradition and reason. And it will help you develop a broader and deeper appreciation of the positive difference Christianity continues to make in the world today.

Brief, engaging and profoundly simple, this book takes you to the heart of what Christianity is all about, offering food for thought for a lifetime.

©2025 Rowan Williams (P)2025 SPCK Publishing Christianity Philosophy
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Critic reviews

'Rowan Williams offers a typically intelligent, attractive, and beguiling picture of what it means to be a Christian. . . . When I read Williams I feel something coming to birth inside me, whispers from a shore I want to set out for.' (Mark Oakley in Church Times)
'Rowan Williams explains the basis for Christian belief, a task made highly complex because of all the differences and doctrinal nuances held dear within the wider Christian family. He succeeds admirably because, behind his careful explanations, his knowledge is so comprehensive; and faith in Christ is thus wonderfully clarified.' (The Reader)
'Rowan Williams writes with a gentle strength that witnesses to the joy to be found in being disciples of Jesus.' (Kate Bottley)
All stars
Most relevant
Really good this. One particularly cringe moment is ”not another dead white male… laugh” comment in conversation 2 at around 08:00 minutes. Very Church of England and insecure woke. We don’t need that in our serious adult religious discourse. Otherwise very interesting book. Thanks.

Very good

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and this book seems to me to touch on profound ideas that are intriguing and challenging. I found the format rather startling, with its sudden interjections of another unexpected voice at the end of each chapter, though the question/answer pattern was quite illuminating sometimes, as were the rather formal sounding suggestions for further discussion. I kept on listening, despite a few breaks for feeling a bit alienated. I am not an insider when it comes to Christianity.

Rowan Williams is never less than thought provoking

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It’s always interesting listening about someone’s journey.
I enjoyed Rowan William’s gentle, non confrontational style and I listened to his narrative with curiosity but little revelation.
I was left feeling that he has, in fact, evolved beyond his original faith, and , like many of us, he has embraced science, uncensored enquiry, and a search for truth as the next step toward spiritual wholeness. I sense he has realised this, and it seemed that the claim that Christianity evolves through a process of shared thought, renewed interpretation, application to today’s issues and an acceptance of divergence of opinion, was the last act of mental gymnastics to reconcile traditionally held views with the realisation that the world is very much larger and far more complex than religion allows.
Listening to him makes me think he would be just as comfortable with the strangeness of the universe thrown up by quantum physics as he would traditional Christian absurdities such as the Virgin Birth.
I read this book having heard a debate between Rowan Williams and Richard Dawkins, and I feel they complement each other well in their gentlemanly style of discussion, allowing exploration of ideas.
I enjoyed it.

Discovering Christianity

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I’ve been swimming around in trying to understand Christianity recently and seeing what is really on offer in that world view, this is after years of writing it off as out of date and useless. This book offers an amazing insight into the possibilities that Christian faith could represent if approached with humility and that in fact it is far from out of date or useless.

Compelling discussion

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