This book is written for all those who, for any reason at all, honestly and sincerely want to know what Christianity, what being a Christian, really means.
It is written also for those
who do not believe, but nevertheless seriously inquire;
who did believe, but are not satisfied with their unbelief;
who do believe, but feel insecure in their faith;
who are at a loss, between belief and unbelief ;
who are skeptical, both about their convictions and about their doubts.
It is written then for Christians and atheists, Gnostics and agnostics, pietists and positivists, lukewarm and zealous Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox.
It is an attempt, in the midst of an epoch-making upheaval of the Church's doctrine, morality and discipline, to discover what is permanent: what is different from other world religions and modern humanisms; and at the same time what is common to the separate Christian Churches. The reader will rightly expect us to work out for him in his practice of Christianity, in a way that is both historically exact and yet up to date, in the light of the most recent scholarship and yet intelligibly, what is decisive and distinctive about the Christian program: what this program originally meant, before it was covered with the dust and debris of two thousand years, and what this program, brought to light again, can offer today by way of a meaningful, fulfilled life to each and every one.
This is not another gospel, but the same ancient gospel rediscovered for today!