The Dangers of Christian Practice

Challenging the central place that practices have recently held in Christian theology, Lauren Winner explores the damages these practices have inflicted over the centuries Sometimes, beloved and treasured Christian practices go horrifyingly wrong, extending violence rather than promoting its healing. In this bracing book, Lauren Winner provocatively challenges the assumption that the church possesses a set of immaculate practices that will definitionally train Christians in virtue and that cant be answerable to their histories. Is there, for instance, an account of prayer that has anything useful to say about a slaveowning womans praying for her slaves obedience? Is there a robustly theological account of the Eucharist that connects the Eucharists goods to the sacraments central role in medieval Christian murder of Jews? Arguing that practices are deformed in ways that are characteristic of and intrinsic to the practices themselves, Winner proposes that the register in which Christians might best think about the Eucharist, prayer, and baptism is that of damaged gift. Christians go on with these practices because, though blighted by sin, they remain gifts from God.