Review by Dr. Margaret Jones

Embarrassed
Living with a faith that makes
no sense to my friends
Graham Turner

In this memoir Graham Turner is seeking to understand his ambivalence towards the Christianity which is depicted in the structures, language and worship of today’s churches. He fears that the church has become irrelevant to most people and an embarrassment to those who seek to follow Jesus and his message of love.

Turner gives us glimpses into the many occasions in which as both as a young person and later as a professional, he has felt himself to be an impostor. His describes the love of the evangelical Christianity in which he grew as giving him both security and also seeming completely separate from the everyday world in which he lived. As he reflects back on his career, he observes that the church was preparing him for the next world when he needed a faith in which all can live in the “love of the God in whom we live and move and have our being”.

In a light-hearted way, Turner looks back on the many occasions when he has been discomforted by the tension between the apparent certainties of the church he was supposed to represent and the world in which we all live.  He describes his failings in meeting the expectations imposed on him both by others and himself. At the end of his career he has the insight to understand that questions and doubts are part of a mature faith. I enjoyed this honest book and think that he has helped his readers to reflect on their own understanding.

Margaret Jones
Reader Emeritus
St Martin’s, West Acton
London
Easter 2025

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