The world is changing so drastically - by the day, by the hour, by the minute - that sometimes you hardly recognize it. You face more and more challenges to your Christian convictions but have less and less support to stand up for your faith. You wonder if it is still possible to be ready to give a defense for what you believe. From the evolution revolution to revolutionary politics, from Western humanism to Eastern mysticism, from feminism to gay rights, An Unchanging Faith in a Changing World will help you understand not only this world but your role in changing it with God'smessage of love, forgiveness, and salvation.
The call to make the world a better place is inherent in the Christian belief and practice. But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the 21st century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative? In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter offers persuasive--and provocative--answers to these questions. Hunter begins with a penetrating appraisal of the most popular models of world-changing among Christians today, highlighting the ways they are inherently flawed and therefore incapable of generating the change to which they aspire. Because change implies power, all Christian eventually embrace strategies of political engagement. Hunter offers a trenchant critique of the political theologies of the Christian Right and Left and the Neo-Anabaptists, taking on many respected leaders, from Charles Colson to Jim Wallis and Stanley Hauerwas. Hunter argues that all too often these political theologies worsen the very problems they are designed to solve. What is really needed is a different paradigm of Christian engagement with the world, one that Hunter calls "faithful presence"--an ideal of Christian practice that is not only individual but institutional; a model that plays out not only in all relationships but in our work and all spheres of social life. He offers real-life examples, large and small, of what can be accomplished through the practice of "faithful presence." Such practices will be more fruitful, Hunter argues, more exemplary, and more deeply transfiguring than any more overtly ambitious attempts can ever be. Written with keen insight, deep faith, and profound historical grasp, To Change the World will forever change the way Christians view and talk about their role in the modern world.
Belief in the Bible as God's authoritative revelation to humanity forms the bedrock of the Christian faith, laying the groundwork for nearly everything in the practice of theology. For the last 150 years or so, this doctrine has been put under the microscope of the modern age, with focused attention-and criticism-falling on three main subject areas: the authority of Scripture, the sufficiency of Scripture, and the interpretation of Scripture. Ancient Word, Changing Worlds tells the story of these developments in the doctrine of Scripture in the modern age, combining in one volume both narrative chapters and chapters devoted to primary source materials. This new genre of historical theology will appeal to general readers, who will be drawn in by the book's prose style, and students, who will benefit from features like timelines, charts, explanations of key terms, and introductions and explanatory notes for the primary source documents.
We can't share something we don't have. We can't bring secular people to God if we don't know Him ourselves. If it's our desire to bring secular people into a relationship with God, we must be willing to share ourselves in deep relationship with them. This book will share with you ways to: We can't share something we don't have. We can't bring secular people to God if we don't know Him ourselves. If it's our desire to bring secular people into a relationship with God, we must be willing to share ourselves in deep relationship with them. This book will share with you ways to:
As Christians, we belong to not only a diverse global Christian family but also a diverse human family. Todd Johnson, a noted expert on global Christianity and world missions trends, and Cindy Wu show how divisions within these families work against our desire to bring about positive change in the world. They provide an overview of global Christian identity, exploring how we can be faithful to our own tradition while engaging Christians across denominations and be better informed as we work with people of other religions. The book utilizes the latest research data on global Christianity and world religions and includes tables, graphs, charts, and end-of-chapter discussion questions.
The only way to change culture is to create culture. Andy Crouch says we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators God designed us to be. In this expanded edition of his award-winning book he unpacks how culture works and gives us tools to partner with God's own making and transforming of culture.
This important collection of essays by a pioneer in the field focuses on the history and culture of a conservative religious tradition whose adherents have fought to preserve their beliefs and practices from the seventeenth century through today. Old Belief had its origins in a protest against liturgical reforms in the Russian Orthodox Church in the mid-1600s and quickly grew into a complex torrent of opposition to the Russian state, the official church, and the social hierarchy. For Old Believers, periods of full religious freedom have been very brief—from 1905 to 1917 and since the fall of the Soviet Union. Crummey examines the ways in which Old Believers defend their core beliefs and practices and adjust their polemical strategies and way of life in response to the changing world. Opening chapters survey the historiography of Old Belief, examine the methodological problems in studying the movement as a Russian example of "popular religion," and outline the first decades of the history. Particular themes of Old Believer history are the focus of the rest of the book, beginning with two sets of case studies of spirituality, culture, and intellectual life. Subsequent chapters analyze the diverse structures of Old Believer communities and their fate in times of persecution. A final essay examines publications of contemporary scholars in Novosibirsk whose work provides glimpses of the life of traditional believers in the Soviet period. Old Believers in a Changing World will appeal to scholars and students of Russian history, to those interested in Eastern Orthodoxy, and to those with an interest in the comparative history of religious movements.
Christianity has changed. Formerly known as the religion of Europe and North America, it is now a religion of the Global South: Asia, Africa, and Latin America. However, Christianity has never been merely a Western phenomenon - it has always been a borderless religion. Indeed, in six of the world's eight cultural blocks, Christianity is the largest faith. With convenient maps, helpful statistics, and concise histories of each of the world's major cultural blocks, The Changing World of Christianity is a dynamic guide for understanding Christianity's new ethos. From Ireland to Papua New Guinea, Argentina to China, South Africa to Russia, this book provides a clear and encyclopedic look at Christianity, the world's largest and most global religion.
Sometimes we get so caught up in the power of Jesus shouting from the cross, "It is finished!" that we forget that Jesus started something too. Uncovering the inner dynamics of Jesus's work with the disciples, veteran church planter Steve Addison reminds us that Christianity is a movement with a unique design for expansion.
