The Exiled Church

Reviews / Votes

"Anyone knowing Martyn Percy's work will already realise that he is habitually averse to applying saccharine, romanticism or institutionalism to his subjects. This deep dive into today's church is no exception. In a world suffering from what he calls 'truth decay', Percy's analysis is not afraid of reality. Much of the data is frankly frightening. Drilling into attendance figures, finance and the distribution of power exposes a bleak landscape, and yet this book is not without hope. Religion is not dead, it's just not where you think it is anymore." -- Revd Canon Rosie Harper, Oxford. "Martyn Percy deploys his formidable talent and long experience on the central challenge for the modern church: how to define its role in a society that seems to have cast it out. He is a model teacher, keen to correct but unfailingly humane, reasonable and encouraging. His perspective is simultaneously broad and eagle-eyed; there are fascinating insights on every page, with ideas that could and should fuel weeks of discussion in a book group and years of debate within the church." -- David Voas "This is a compelling and creative book by Martyn Percy in which he skilfully leads readers to understand the potency and potential the 'heresy' of secularization within the churches. Percy uses the model of school curriculum to explore secularization in many areas of study, drawing important implications and insights for religion. He presents a sophisticated revisionist account of the future of the churches which heightens the role of religion in the present. Another outstanding work by an accomplished scholar and thinker which assists the church in heading into the future." -- Brian Douglas "Martyn Percy is reliably incisive, well-read and creative. The Christian churches in their many varieties are undergoing accelerating decline if not crisis. This short, provocative book offers a curriculum in reorientation. Historically, exile has been a time of vitality. He disentangles statistics, sociologies and trends to show how much of the hollowing out of the churches has been self-inflicted. Ideologies are adopted as values as if they were matters of faith, and unaccountable officials have sheltered behind 'canon law'." -- Iain Torrance "The Church is haemorrhaging both people and credibility. Part of the reason for this stems from broader social and cultural changes, but as much appears to be the product of self-harm. Scandal follows scandal and mistrust becomes distrust. Church "messaging" increasingly has the feel (and all the depth) of a PR reputation management programme, but to little avail. In The Exiled Church, Martyn Percy has written a tremendous book to goad and guide the honest and soul-searching conversations that will be essential if the church is not to bleed out the trust which is its very lifeblood." -- Andrew McKinnon In his characteristically astute and engaging style, the Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy explores current and future institutionalized Christianity and its relationship with secularity. Written for religious professionals who may be unfamiliar with secularization theory and practice, Percy designs the book around 'lessons' meant to inform and prepare Church leaders for the dark period ahead. Through brave and unflinching analysis, delivered often with a light touch, Percy both criticizes and challenges leaders whose states of denial are responsible for the Church's self-secularizing decline. Proponents of secularization theory also have lessons to learn, he says, advising them to recognize how the profane and sacred can overlap and mutually infuse.
Unlike most priests and theologians, Percy treats respectfully secular professionals who are non-religious, yet often spiritual and 'implicitly religious'. Those 'agony aunts' and therapists who offer the weary and heavy-laden the compassion, hope and grace one might have expected from a Church, now almost wholly self-centred and distracted by ambitions of growth and false gods of marketing and managerialism.
Only in exile, and banking on a forgiving God, can Christian leaders accept their inevitable societal expulsion as a blessing, not a curse. He urges them to see that period as an opportunity to reflect, pray and learn their lessons. While, one assumes, avoiding stony ground. -- Abby Day