Why I am Still a Christian by Hans Küng

Why I am Still a Christian Reviews

• 
  нєνєℓ ¢ανα

  Moving, impressive, logical, thought-provoking, and much more...
• 
  Charlene Mathe

  In this brief book, Hans Kung distills for the layman what he has written in more complex scholarly books (p.13). While acknowledging the flaws and failures of the church, he laments the growing spiritual homelessness and rootlessness that accompany alienation and disassociation (p.23).
  "With this critical questioning of accepted authorities, traditions and ways of life, the values associated with them seem to be called into question as well. Liberalization was necessary, but often went further than had been foreseen ... The effects of all these developments have been anything but liberating. The ground has been cut from under the feet of some people--especially the young--who now feel their lives have no meaning and turn to delinquency, or extreme religious sects, or to political fanaticism, even terrorism." (p.20)
  Were he writing in 2015 instead of 1987, Kung would observe a generation absorbed in social media, video games and virtual realities. It is remarkable to note his concern thirty years ago that our youth find meaning in terrorism--a phenomena we observe today with hundreds and perhaps thousands of teens and young adults streaming into the middle east as volunteers for the jihad!
  "That is to say," he writes on p.26, "we cannot put religion aside without accepting the consequences." "I am not suggesting a nostalgic retreat into the past; but perhaps we should chart our future course with the help of a certain ancient compass, which may not have outlived its usefulness after all." (p.27-28)
  Kung goes on to discuss the reasonableness of faith, the elevation of character, the fortification of will, the resilience under pressure, the enhancement of everyday life that are part of choosing to trust a Good God and choosing to live as part of a faith family. He asserts the right to individual differences within a faith family, and rejects institutional dogmatism. Specific issues with his own Catholic church and his role in reform movements are identified.
  Kung does not completely answer the question, "Why be Christian;" i.e. why "believe in Jesus." Rather he is discussing why remain in a flawed community--i.e., "Why I am STILL a (Catholic) Christian."
  The world we see today, with empty churches and weakened Western democracies, is the world Hans Kung did not want us to chose; a world he foresaw should society relinquish its historic faith traditions as well as the Enlightenment and reason.
• 
  Jude

  Hans Kung is a venerable scholar who writes long and impressively thorough books on theology and philosophy. “Does God Exist” stretches to 800 pages and has to work its way through every argument ever made on the subject before reaching Kung’s responses.
  
  This book feels like a concession to a publisher who asked him to write something more marketable. And, unfortunately, Hans just can’t do that. His writing style in this book is the same as his long-winded style in other books, meaning that he isn’t able to fit much substance into its 100 or so pages. He uses uncharacteristically vague language in response to being rushed - sort of like someone who can’t figure out how to boil down a long argument so he just waves his hands and says: “it’s too complicated to explain in a short time.” He asks, “why am I still a Christian,” but spends a third of the book setting up the question and describing the feelings that may have brought the reader to the book - presumably not what the reader is looking for. Then his answer never gets much beyond: “well you’ve got to believe something and it’s quite a religion, isn’t it?”
• 
  Cédric Léchot

  Très bon éléments dans les trois premiers chapitres (première moitié du livre), puis certaines compréhensions, notamment sur la personne de Jésus, sont difficile à cautionner. Le dernier chapitre (p61) qui fait office de conclusion, ainsi que les 2 Applications donnent a nouveaux de bon éléments, mais encore une fois tout n'est pas à garder.
• 
  Lance Eads

  It makes me want to check out some of his larger books and give them a read. Kung is very liberal in some respects, and yet reads the Bible more literally than most other liberal theologians that I have come across.
• 
  Gregory

  Useful in understanding the mind of a theological liberal.