The 1978 Reith Lectures have already proved themselves to be remarkable. It was remarkable in the first place that a clergyman should have been invited to give the lectures at all (they are published as Christianity and the World Order, by Edward Norman, OUP, 105 pp., £1·50). It was remarkable that, whilst telling his listeners that the West is becoming increasingly secular, Norman should nonetheless have devoted them almost entirely to an internal critique of the churches. And it was remarkable that he should have provoked over twice as much personal correspondence from the public as did John Robinson at the time of Honest to God. In the circumstances it may seem less remarkable that a number of distinguished academics have already brought out a powerful critique of the lectures (published as Christian Faith and Political Hopes: A Reply to E. R. Norman, edited by Haddon Willmer, Epworth, 155 pp., £1·75).