In Faith Maps a theologian of great flair and originality ‘translates’ the voices of several leading thinkers into a series of reflections on faith and contemporary life and culture. The result is both a delightful introduction to theology and religion for students and general readers and a thought-provoking improvisation on familiar themes that will delight specialists. Gallagher devotes a separate chapter to each of ten writers who have explored the credibility of religious faith, beginning with John Henry Newman and ending with Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, due to visit the UK later this year. But, he writes, ‘I do not simply report on what they say. I offer a brief summary of their ideas but I also “translate” their vision into a more contemporary and less specialist idiom. What would they say today? Or, what do they inspire in me? As in music, they are variations on a theme with considerable freedom to go beyond their explicit statements.’
