The honest to God controversy
pp. 621-633
in: Christopher D. Rodkey, Jordan E. Miller (eds), The Palgrave handbook of radical theology, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
Anglican Bishop John A.T. Robinson published Honest to God in 1963. It became an international sensation and scandal for its post-theism and historical-critical understanding of Jesus. It was also the public's first introduction to post-theistic Christianity. This chapter interrogates the structure, themes, and arguments of the book in light of both the radical theology of its time and its contemporary relevance. It argues that, in the end, Robinson's critique was largely right, but that his post-theistic solutions went too far.