MacCulloch explores a distinctive feature about Western Christianity - skepticism - which has transformed both Western culture and Christianity. He challenges the simplistic notion that faith in Christianity has steadily ebbed away before the relentless advance of science, reason and progress, and shows instead how the tide of faith perversely flows back in. It is during crisis that the Church has rediscovered deep and enduring truths about itself, which may even be a clue to its future.