European culture and western capitalism or imperialism
is a passing phase. To say that no other religion has the
same potentialities as a world-wide faith for everyman is
neither to denigrate the God-given truth in Buddhism,
Islam and the rest, nor to say that at this stage Christianity
as generally practised and understood in the west presents
much more than a caricature of its purpose.

Perhaps the best corrective to hasty judgment is to
measure these two thousand years against the untold
millions of years of man's development. Organised
Christianity is still in its infancy, as is the mind of man as
he seeks to grapple with truths that could only come to
him by revelation. The half has not yet been told and the
full implications for human thought and action of the
coming of God in Christ have as yet been only dimly
grasped by most of us.

It is as a contribution to a deeper understanding of the
mystery that surrounds us that this series is offered. The
early volumes deal, as is only right, with fundamental
issues--the historical impact of Christianity upon man-
kind based upon its Jewish origins and establishing itself
in the wider world; the essence of the Christian faith and
the character of Christian behaviour. Later volumes in
the series will deal with various aspects of Christian
thought and practice in relation to human life in all its
variety and with its perennial problems.

The intention is to build up over the years a library
which under the general title of "Knowing Christianity"
will provide for thinking laymen a solid but non-technical
presentation of what the Christian religion is and what it
has to say in this atomic age.

The writers invited to contribute to this series are not
only experts in their own fields but are all men who are
deeply concerned that the gulf should be bridged between
the specialised studies of the theologian and the untheo-

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