The place of religion in society has changed profoundly in the last few centuries, particularly in the West. In what will be a defining book for our time, Taylor takes up the question of what these changes mean, and what, precisely, happens when a society becomes one in which faith is only one human possibility among others.
A central question in Christian ethics is the relationship between the moral principles we should follow within the Christian community and the ethics followed in the secular societies in which we live. Our dilemma is that we have received a revelation of God’s moral will in the Bible and in creation which must shape the identity of believers over against unbelieving cultures, while our neighbors follow the ethics of other world views which concern us deeply. Remember the Holocaust, where the ethics of a secular ideology wreaked destruction in an entire society. How should we, as Christians whom God has called to a distinct identity, participate in the moral considerations that will shape our cultures and communicate some of our convictions in a way that brings moral light into our worlds? Johnson offers the insight gained by 20 years of teaching ethics in secular universities in Europe and North America. First he addresses questions of sex, marriage, and family; then questions of work and economics; and finally theological and philosophical foundations.
Many lay people in the Christian churches have not been kept up to date with the latest scholarship about their faith._ Many have left the churches because a faith expressed in ancient mythological language and images no longer seems credible in our postmodern, secular, scientific world. God, Ethics and the Secular Society not only re-examines Christian faith in terms of the best contemporary scholarship, and its relationship to modern scientific knowledge, but shows how one can re-interpret the faith without losing its essential and original meaning. It suggests that the critical question is not what we believe, but how we should live, and it sets out a new form for the life of the church, if it is to survive into the future. Consequently Gunson hopes that many people of good will, who have no interest in religion, may also want to join this ethical community, to help nurture and prosecute the ethical life in a desperately needy world.
This book analyzes the moral confusion of contemporary society, relating rival conceptions of morality with a wide variety of views about the nature and predicament of man. Mitchell argues that many secular thinkers possess a traditional "Christian" conscience which they find hard to defend in terms of an entirely secular world-view, but which is more in line with a Christian understanding of man.
World of Theology Series Thomas K. Johnson: The First Step in Missions Training: How our Neighbors are Wrestling with God's General Revelation Thomas K. Johnson: Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures David Parker: Discerning the Obedience of Faith: A Short Histo- ry of the World Evangelical Alliance Theological Commission Thomas Schirrmacher (Ed.): William Carey: Theologian - Lin- guist - Social Reformer Thomas Schirrmacher: Advocate of Love - Martin Bucer as Theologian and Pastor Thomas Schirrmacher: Culture of Shame / Culture of Guilt Thomas Schirrmacher: The Koran and the Bible Thomas Schirrmacher (ed.): The Humanisation of Slavery in the Old Testament Jim Harries: New Foundations for Appreciating Africa: Beyond Religious and Secular Deceptions Thomas Schirrmacher: Missio Dei - God's Missional Nature Thomas Schirrmacher: Biblical Foundations for 21st Century World Mission
In this masterful analysis of the religious and political dilemmas at the end of the modern age, world-renowned theologian J rgen Moltmann assays the vaulting dreams and colossal failures of our time. He asks how we came to this point, and he argues strenuously for Christian discipleship and public theology that take sides. In both critical and creative ways he advances the specific relevance of Christian messianic hope to today's thorniest political, economic, and ecological questions-including human rights, environmental rights, globalization, market capitalism, fundamentalisms, and Jewish-Christian relations-and the deeper values contested therein.In a world reeling between utopia and disaster, Moltmann here passionately and provacatively shows how Christian discipleship, through engagement and solidarity, can blaze a redemptive path.
After 2000 years of ascendency the Christian Churches are in terminal decline.This book is a brilliant summary of what most Christians (and their clergy) don't know about Christian faith, yet ought to know, before it is too late.The best contemporary Biblical scholarship clearly shows that Jesus of Nazareth had a very different understanding of his life and mission from that of his disciples and of the institution that followed. As Jesus (rather than his disciples) is at the heart of Christian faith, then since he did not believe that he was Son of God and Saviour, the disciples and the church must be wrong.For the church then, it's time for a rethink. This book tells you how.