DAVID ADAMS enjoys Rory Shiner and Peter Orr’s short yet profound guide to what Christians believe…
Rory Shiner and Peter Orr
The World Next Door: A short guide to the Christian faith
Matthias Media, Sydney, Australia, 2021
ISBN-13: 978-1925424720
“Short and sharp (at only 150 pages), this is an incisive and entertaining ride through the Christian faith. It doesn’t have all the answers but is a useful tool in providing a broad outline of what Christianity’s all about, whether that’s to someone who isn’t a Christian but is interested in finding out what it’s all about, someone new to the faith, or a seasoned Christ-follower up for a refresher or a different way of looking at things.”
Talking about demons – what they might be and how they fit into the Christian worldview – is an unusual way to start a primer on the Christian faith. As the authors – Western Australian pastor Rory Shiner and former atheist, now theologian Peter Orr – admit, it could even be considered an “own goal” or an “unforced error”, going on to note that in fact the Bible is “not particularly focused on demons, angels, the heavens, or what’s under the earth” but rather, for the most part “firmly focused on our world”.
Their reason for doing so, however, gives a great insight into what The World Next Door is all about. They’re inviting the reader on a journey to discover how questions about morality and the “good life” fit into “bigger realities” – “God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, together with the heavenly hosts of angels, and the underworld armies of the un-dead”. And – and this is why the talk of demons so early – they’re taking a “boots and all” approach.
“”[T]he real explanatory power of Christianity can only be experienced by indwelling it. The Christian faith is less like an object in the world, whose existence is accepted by some and denied by others, and more like a pair of glasses through which you look at the rest of life, the universe, and everything. We think it makes sense. But more than that, we think it makes sense of everything else. Magnificently so.”
These opening chapters of The World Next Door set the tone for the rest of the book – this is something of a roller-coaster ride through the Christian faith with attendant highs and some momentary lulls to catch your breath in what’s overall a short, sharp experience that’s all over way too soon.
Written at a brisk pace, the book’s exploration of Christianity follows the subjects raised in the statement of faith known as the Apostle’s Creed – what they describe as “the most universally accepted summary of the Christian faith”.
Under the three broad themes of ‘God’, ‘Jesus’ and ‘The Holy Spirit and his work’, the chapter headings are a (not exact) mirror of the creed’s words. So, as well as looking at the persons of God, the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holly Spirit, The World Next Door provides interesting insights into everything from an explanation of the role of the church to forgiveness (with some powerful examples of what forgiveness looks like including one involving Dolly Parton) and the resurrection of the body.
Short and sharp (at only 150 pages), this is an incisive and entertaining ride through the Christian faith. It doesn’t have all the answers but is a useful tool in providing a broad outline of what Christianity’s all about, whether that’s to someone who isn’t a Christian but is interested in finding out what it’s all about, someone new to the faith, or a seasoned Christ-follower up for a refresher or a different way of looking at things.
