Czech theologian, Msg Thomas Halik, was in Australia recently and his appearances included an interview with Geraldine Doogue and Fr Frank Brennan.
(45 mins duration. see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MStnUa4yAV8&t=22s )
This prompted me to read his book, “The Afternoon of Christianity”. He postulates that the Church is on the cusp of a new epoch, one that will see a more mature, open, inclusive and welcoming Church. Here’s hoping!
Halik, having grown up in a country oppressed by communism, provides a distinctly eastern European perspective on the Church. Nevertheless, I found his characterisation of Church history engaging and optimistic. He traces the decline of the Church’s influence through the renaissance, reformation and enlightenment to modernity and post modernity. He does not regard the advance of secularism in Western democracies as a necessarily bad development, but rather an opportunity for much needed reform.
Halik believes Christianity must reinvent itself as it moves into a more mature phase of its development. One can only hope that the People of God can rise to the occasion.
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