Jesus the Heretic

Conrad Noel

The commonwealth of God’s dreams and our desires was some day really to come to us all here, and we must be impatient to bring it to pass. If we waited complacently until we departed this life, it was unlikely that we should be fit to inherit it hereafter, and especially unlikely if we were comfortably off, and not extremely uncomfortable and impatient about the misfortune of the workers for which our class was largely responsible.

I am not very knowledgeable of church history, but reading Jesus the Heretic has inspired me to learn much more. Noel discusses many aspects of the early church (basically everything from the very beginning when Peter was still alive to the split of the Reformation), and in doing so he raises many questions about the changes the church has gone through and the current state it is in. While he is very optimistic, he points his finger at many a damning characteristic. For example he briefly discusses the change in the church's attitude towards interest--something which is difficult for modern day Christians to discuss, seeing as our economy functions off of this concept. Originally and for a long time after that, the church viewed taking interest on a loan as mortal sin. Noel posits that the only reason the church changed its view was out of selfishness. Not something many of us would want to hear.
He also gives quite a bit of space to the idea of socialism (as it existed in the 1930s) and how he feels it to be particularly compatible with Christianity. I have some issues with how he argues, but there is a certain urgency in his argument especially with concern to the poor and poverty. He has a defensible, if radical (by our standards) view on what the Kingdom of God truly means and how we as Christians enact it right now.
There is a large portion of the book, somewhere in the middle, that is devoted to issues specifically pertinent to his pre-WWII world. But these chapters still hold interest for current issues since he philosophizes quite a bit about things like pacifism and programs for peace. And I will warn, some of his ideas sound wacky: he has a slightly different view of the Soviet Union than we who have seen it fall apart and been influenced heavily by such books as The Gulag Archipelago, and Noel also submits an idea for "air mines" which will make you laugh. But I don't feel that these moments of what might be called foolishness are any more serious than our own inability to predict the future. Give Noel some grace for still being human, he's a good deal more human than many of the philosophers and theorists we have today.
In Jesus the Heretic there is also much to do with relations between the Anglican and Catholic churches and some talk of how to resolve their differences and once more unite the churches. Noel's optimism and enthusiasm for Christian unity is something that will rub off on you. He says, "The divisions of Christendom cause great scandal to the world, and the reunion of the Church is urgent" but he is under no illusions about faults of Roman Catholicism--particularly when it concerns the power of the pope and what he sees as too-much-Romanism in the Catholic church. He will give you some moments for pause in thinking of Roman Catholic tradition.
But my favorite thought from the book was this; speaking of the Kingdom of God, Noel says, "It is to be sought not only beyond death but upon this earth, and its essential property is social righteousness." We haven't any excuse to be sitting around waiting for the Second Coming, we're supposed to be doing everything humanly possible to prepare this place and maybe more.