Religionless Christianity

Reviews / Votes

Listed in Books received, Theology, June 2009 Pugh's question for the Church today, what is 'religion' and what is 'religionless' is one that clearly needs to be asked. * Theological Book Review, Vol. 21, 2009 * In addition to its helpful critique, Pugh's book benefits from an accurate and insightful analysis of Bonhoeffer's thinking. * The Expository Times, May 2010. * Books on Bonhoeffer abound because Bonhoeffer's legacy continues to attract attention, and rightly so. At this time in global history when religion is too often part of the problem, we need to take seriously Bonhoeffer's alternative reading of Christianity. In "Religionless Christianity" Jeffrey Pugh offers us a well-researched account of what Bonhoeffer had in mind, and he does so in a way that is well-written and eminently readable. -- John W. de Gruchy, Emeritus Professor of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa With the publication of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, Bonhoeffer scholarship has fully matured; we know the details of his life and thought, together with their genealogy and context. Across recent decades the scholarly analysis of modernity has also achieved a certain maturity. But it is Jeffrey Pugh, in Religionless Christianity, who lets us think with and from Bonhoeffer about compelling issues in our own context, shaped as it is by modernity and post-modernity. And he does it superbly well. -- Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary Who is Dietrich Bonhoeffer for us today? It is the Bonhoeffer, according to Pugh, that would have us look to Christ as the key to helping us discern the world in which we live. Drawing on his wealth of knowledge about Bonhoeffer, Pugh helps us understand how Bonhoeffer continues to help us accurately see the powers that we are so tempted to call "freedom." There are plenty of books on Bonhoeffer, but this is a book that not only helps us better understand Bonhoeffer; it also helps us better understand ourselves in light of Bonheoffer's work. Pugh is anything but uncritical in how he approaches Bonhoeffer, but his criticisms are but a tribute to this remarkable man and theologian. -- Stanley M. Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe, Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke University We who still ponder the meaning of Bonhoeffer for our present life and calling are deeply indebted to Jeffrey Pugh for this remarkable book. Pugh's compelling analyses in Religionless Christianity enable us to encounter Bonhoeffer at that more personal level in which his vision for the future and challenges for the present becomes sources of inspiration and moral enrichment as we cope with the troubling issues and problematic moments of our own lives. At every turn in Pugh's book, we are led to appreciate Bonhoeffer's life among the fragments of his courageous resistance to moral degradation within his own nation. -- Geffrey B. Kelly, Professor of Systematic Theology, La Salle University, Philadelphia