By John Mac Ghlionn, Catholic Herald. (photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons)
Rowan Williams wants to make Christianity safe for modern ears. That’s the real story behind his long, meandering interviews, such as the recent extensive interview he did with the New York Times, and poetic turns of phrase.
He tells us that suffering doesn’t need an answer. That faith is elusive, mysterious, like a cloud of incense swirling around a flame we’ll never quite touch. But in trying to make Christianity palatable to doubters, Williams strips it of its essence. In place of the Gospel, we’re left with a mood.
He means well, of course. The former Archbishop of Canterbury is no fool. Williams has read the mystics, the philosophers, the poets. He’s good at riddles and metaphors. But Christianity is not a metaphor. It’s not a feeling or a sensibility or a literary style. It’s a faith rooted in the Incarnation – God made flesh. Not God as fog. Not God as idea. But a man who walked, bled, died and rose again. Jesus Christ not as a metaphor for love, but as love with a pulse and a name.
Williams says the New Atheists attack a God he doesn’t believe in either. But that’s a dodge – a clever one, dressed in academic humility. Because the New Atheists aren’t swinging at vague deities or cartoonish caricatures. They’re aiming directly at the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the one who split seas, raised the dead, and etched moral law into stone.
The God who commands, convicts, forgives and reigns. Not a therapist in the sky. A sovereign. A judge. And yes, I know, that makes some people uncomfortable. But that’s the point. Christianity doesn’t need to soften that truth. It needs to speak it – clearly, unapologetically and without flinching.