THE WORLD NEXT DOOR:
A short guide to the Christian faith
By Rory Shiner and Peter Orr
Matthias Media. 142 pages. £6.99
ISBN 978 1 925 424 720
Books are frequently published seeking novel ways to explain the Christian faith, yet Rory Shiner and Peter Orr achieve this through an old method: the Apostles’ Creed.
Shiner and Orr introduce this work as their ‘best shot at commending the Christian message to [their] friends’ (p.7). The book’s approach is fresh, containing 13 short chapters, each tackling a different part of the Creed which is backed up with engaging illustrations. The explanation of the Spirit’s role in the life of a believer (pp.107-111) and chapter 8 on the resurrection were personal highlights, particularly as these areas are sometimes brushed over too quickly in gospel presentations. The authors keep the writing style informal whilst clearly trying to navigate the fine line between saying just enough and not too much.
However, as a book for non-believers, I felt this could have been much simpler. Whilst the Apostles’ Creed lays out an orthodox statement of Christian belief, it also contains details that the authors often have to acknowledge seem out of place, such as emphasising the virgin birth (see p.57) or jumping from Jesus’ birth to His death with no reference to His life (see p.69). It felt at times like the format of the Creed hindered this book rather than enabling its message to come through clearly. Similarly, opening the book with a chapter on demons and demon possession from Mark 5 seemed unhelpful as a place to begin, as did the sometimes-technical content which assumed a decent level of prior knowledge.
I found myself concluding this might be a book I’d recommend to a reasonably new believer to further ground their faith, or even someone who has been a Christian slightly longer. But an unbeliever could lose the main thread in a book that covers a wide range of topics in what is designed to be an accessible introduction to the Christian faith.
