Kelly’s book seemed to me ideal to one who wanted to be true to their faith, but were having difficulties of some sort and just needed that little push of inspiration.
The introduction should be required reading to all catholics (although he admits he cannot take credit for it). It makes you say, what a great gift my faith is, and I cannot believe I take it for granted sometimes.
The other comments about being a motivational speaker are reasonable. That may not be a bad thing, although perhaps not a good thing either.
I do not understand the comment about “conservatism”. If they mean “orthodoxy”, then I agree, but would add that “conservatism” is a terrible synonym, for many reasons. His sympathy for those who would have doubts about the Church’s stance on women’s ordination, for example, was brilliant in its understatement and its fidelity, in lieu of any secular ideologies. Something to the effect of, Jesus made it a point to go against societal norms during his ministry, and if He didn’t select any women to be apostles (including his Mother, for whom we all know His regard for!), then perhaps we should not be so quick to rationalize wonen’s ordination, was exactly not the approach a secular connservative would take.
One significant weakness I found is that Kelly takes to unconstructive oversimplification sometimes. On a couple of occasions, he talks about “the media” as if it is one unified thing. Of course, it is really thousands of disparate entities, so any generalizations drawn tend to be problematic. Perhaps worse is that he comes perilously close in one scenario of committing a classic heresy, (I believe gnosticm, but I don’t recall), the one that says essentially “body bad, spirit good”. While in the broader picture of the content suggests a reasonable way to interpret what he says in an acceptable way, the danger of the heresy makes me wish he worded that part differently.
All that said, I actually wholeheartedly endorse the book. I have read it three times, and plan on more. It allows for a method for one to take the sturm und drange of theology and apply it in practice.
