Rutland Walker & Jason Montoya Discussing A Secret History of Christianity by Mark Vernon

Written by Jason Montoya. Posted in Christian Faith.

Discussing A Secret History of Christianity by Mark Vernon With Rutland Walker

Welcome to another book discussion episode of the Grow Your Life Podcast. In this conversation, my friend and client Rutland Walker (founder of UnionUp) discuss A Secret History of Christianity by Mark Vernon (affiliate link).

I was originally drawn to the book after hearing the author in a conversation from this Unbelievable podcast (hosted by Justin Brierley) episode where they discussed the inkling (a group including CS Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Owen Barfield) and their faith perspectives. The Subtitle of the book, 'Jesus, the Last Inkling, and the Evolution of Consciousness' struck a nerve of curiosity that's been with me for many years.

The main argument of the book is that many modern religious Christians have come to misunderstand the message of Christ and our path forward is to embrace the centrality of religious experience. The book also explores original, withdrawal, and reciprocal participation as an evolution of our consciousness and engagement with God. Regardless of what degree we acknowledge it, Jesus has had a profound impact on our world and this book tracks how he was preceded and what impact his life on earth made for the two millennia that followed.

Below the following book summary, you can listen or watch my discussion with Rut.

Official Book Description

Christianity is in crisis in the West. The Inkling friend of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, Owen Barfield, analyzed why. He developed an account of our spiritual predicament that is radical and illuminating.

Barfield realized that the human experience of life shifts fundamentally over periods of cultural time. Our perception of nature, the cosmos, and the divine changes dramatically across history.

Mark Vernon uses this startling insight to tell the inner story of 3000 years of Christianity, beginning from the earliest Biblical times. Drawing, too, on the latest scholarship and spiritual questions of our day, he presents a gripping account of how Christianity constellated a new perception of what it is to be human. For 1500 years, this sense of things informed many lives, though it fell into crisis with the Reformation, scientific revolution, and Enlightenment.

But the story does not stop there. Barfield realized that there is meaning in the disenchantment and alienation experienced by many people today. It is part of a process that is remaking our sense of participation in the life of nature, the cosmos, and the divine. It's a new stage in the evolution of human consciousness.