Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

If you're a long term follower of UK Christian music you'll recognise the name Laurie Mellor as a one time musical associate of Ishmael and the founder of a short lived by groundbreaking record label Ghettout Records (see Cross Rhythms' piece on the 'Shots In The Dark' album). Here Laurie offers his thoughts on what he sees as England's Spiritual Crisis (to quote the subhead). Mellor's examination of English heritage and current malaise is long on evidence and observation but sadly short any solutions to the problems. Apparently that'll be covered in the sequel. Instead we get Mellor picking apart the decline of the country and linking it to the general abandonment of God over the last century. The cultural shift of the '60s only served to accelerate the decline and now we're in a mess. There are attempts at identifying the national characteristics of the English, a rapid gallop through modern history. Mellor is keen on pen portraits and lists! There are lists of 20th century alternative philosophies to Christianity, lists of philanthropic Victorians and lists of modern day prophets. There's even a whole chapter devoted to Bono who he met a few times in the early '80s. He's also very keen on quoting lyrics from Bob Dylan. He's not very keen on what he terms "Ghetto Christianity", a hobby horse he's been riding for about 30 years, where the church stay within their walls and don't affect wider society. Nobody is going to argue with that and though he hints in a very slim final chapter of possible ways to restore England to a stronger spiritual state, it's left to the reader to come up with their own response to the issues. The paradox is that although Mellor is critical of the church, he indicates that it is this same church that holds the key in the future. Ultimately this is a very readable book if you can cope with its tendency to bounce around a bit. The factors that have caused England's spiritual crisis are examined but you'll have to wait for the sequel for a solid response to the problem.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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