SOURCE: “Born Again,” in New Statesman & Society, February 23, 1990, p. 44.

In the following review, Kennedy cites Hare's Racing Demon as original for its focus on the search for vocation in a vacuous England.

Jesus is back. Thanks to the wholesale revival of evangelical Christianity in recent years Jesus has been re-established in the public consciousness as one serious dude: a Messiah who offered believers the ultimate deal—a sense of spiritual purpose in temporal life, followed by the guarantee of eternal life in the world hereafter. And as most born again Christians readily admit, the most beguiling aspect of their spiritual rebirth was the fact that it offered them such a profound sense of certainty. The certainty of having a saviour in whom they could place responsibility for the course of their lives. The certainty of having His unconditional love. And, of course, the certainty of being afforded non-stop...