In December’s Quadrant James Franklin asked “Is Jensenism compatible with Christianity?” and claimed of Sydney Anglicans that they “fear the gospels, for the gospel message is inconvenient”. This brand of “narrow” “Bible-based” Christianity pits Paul against Jesus, he says; engages in selective reading of the Bible; and creates “an inwardlooking and recent sect.”.

This article evaluates the usefulness of `authenticity' for a theological analysis of selfhood. In his Ethics of Authenticity, Charles Taylor makes a case for the retrieval of authenticity which seems to invite a theological account of the self, one he stops short of offering. Taylor's argument is expounded, and a preliminary critique is offered. The theological possibility invited by Taylor is then examined by means of a reading of John 4:1—34. With John we conclude that while authenticity may begin and (...) frame such a discussion, knowledge of the truth of the self is given by divine revelation. (shrink)