In Good Christianity, Andrew Hammond presents a clear, wise and thoughtful explanation of the Christian faith for those who feel an urge to explore it in greater depth.
This book has been written for you if you have ever sensed that richer meaning, beauty and purpose just might be waiting to be discovered in Christianity: perhaps a feeling you have picked up from something you read, a visit to a church, or a conversation with a Christian you know, and you want to investigate it on your own terms.
Assuming no prior knowledge, Hammond writes warm and intelligent introductions to Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the Gospel, the Church, ethics, and death and beyond. He also suggests a beginners’ reading path through the Bible.
Good Christianity is not a shiny, over-packaged selling of the faith like that offered by some churches and courses. It makes an honest distinction between Good Christianity – the beauty, compassion and transformation to be found therein – and Bad Christianity – where the Church has excluded and exploited.
Andrew Hammond was ordained in 2007, after nearly twenty years working in classical music: first as an opera singer then in artistic administration. He has worked in three parishes, in St Paul’s Cathedral and—for almost ten years—as Chaplain at King’s then St John’s Colleges in Cambridge. That time with students, as well as his experience on TikTok under the account @DetoxingChristianity, has given him a rare amount of experience of talking about Christianity to those with little, or no, or awful experience of it.