Contents

Acknowledgements   7   Preface 11   Introduction 13         Part 1 Unnecessary illusions         i. Believe or perish 18 ii. Whither thou goest 25 iii. The crux of the matter 35 iv. Thomas and me 42         Part 2 Skeletons         i. A problem of gender 54 ii. Dark Ages revisited 72 iii. The Old Testament burden 81 iv. Coming down to earth 89         Part 3 Missives         i. The trouble with Atlantis   96 ii. Atlantis revisited 101 iii. Atlantis revisited 2 107 iv. Seventh day wonder 113 v. Day after the sixth 122 vi. Apocalypse 132         Part 4 Missions         i Case for Christ – appealed 136 ii. Gospel according to Gibson 154 iii. What lurks beneath 158         Part 5 Laity: a long time passing         i. Rise and fall out 178 ii. The wake-up call that failed 207         Part 6 Laity on the move         i. The missing link? 232 ii. Putting heads together 252         Prequel     The age of youth 267   Appendix of names 275   Select bibliography 279   Index 290   References 294