LETTER: Fashions in faith

LETTER:

Fashions in faith

Sir: With the benefit of hindsight, much of what passed for biblical and theological scholarship in the last 150 years (letters 4, 9 September) now looks like a series of fads which expressed the culture of the day.

Molly Rosenthal's apparent liking for "questioning" faith may be another one of those fads. Whilst questioning God and wrestling with problems is basic to biblical faith (most obviously in the Psalms), there is a place for conviction too. The rejection of certainty as a need for the spiritually immature not only feels rather superior, but parallels a wider cultural disdain for authority and the idea that things can be taken on trust. In a generation or two, Ms Rosenthal's perspective (and probably her reliance on modern cosmology too) may look just as dated as previous versions of "culture Christianity'.

The Rev DAVID KEEN

Yeovil,

Somerset