By Paul Johnson
Weidenfeld & Nicholson
216 pages £14.99
ISBN 0 297 81764 7
Paul Johnson is one of my favourite writers. He is a leading historian and frequent newspaper columnist. Modern Times, his history of the 20th century, is a stimulating, fascinating, brilliant and profound analysis of our century, showing us exactly where we are and how we got here. If you have never read it, stop right here, go straight to your nearest bookstore, buy, read and ponder.
He is also a deeply committed Roman Catholic. Thus when The Quest for God - A Personal Pilgrimage dropped through my letterbox from EN I fell upon it with enthusiasm. Initially I thought that my expectations might be met, that we might have here a worthy successor to C.S. Lewis' classic Mere Christianity, a well-written and incisive argument for basic Christian beliefs by one who has plenty of 'street cred' in the academic and secular world. Those expectations were to be cruelly dashed.
