Book excerpt: This title was first published in 2002.Christian Language in the Secular City offers a series of meditations by the internationally renowned sociologist, David Martin. Martin presents a distinctive angle of vision on key issues of Christian faith, dividing the book into three clear sections: the Liturgical Year; the Christian agenda, including prophecy, justification, sacred places and spaces, wisdom, providence, peace and war, angelic and demonic; and Emergent Occasions such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 900th anniversary of Winchester Cathedral, commemoration of poets and of martyrs, and more. With its uniquely lyrical presentation, David Martin's book transposes central issues of theology and Christian faith into a new key. This work complements David Martin's theoretical book focusing on Christian Language and its Mutations, published in Ashgate's Religion and Theology in Interdisciplinary Perspective series. David Martin is Honorary Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Lancaster University, and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics, UK. He is the author of some two dozen books, including Divinity in a Grain of Bread, and many landmark titles in the sociology of religion.