Post-Christendom

Post-Christendom
Author: Stuart Murray
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018-01-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532617976

Western societies are experiencing a series of disorientating culture shifts. Uncertain where we are heading, observers use “post” words to signal that familiar landmarks are disappearing, but we cannot yet discern the shape of what is emerging. One of the most significant shifts, “post-Christendom,” raises many questions about the mission and role of the church in this strange new world. What does it mean to be one of many minorities in a culture that the church no longer dominates? How do followers of Jesus engage in mission from the margins? What do we bring with us as precious resources from the fading Christendom era, and what do we lay down as baggage that will weigh us down on our journey into post-Christendom? Post-Christendom identifies the challenges and opportunities of this unsettling but exciting time. Stuart Murray presents an overview of the formation and development of the Christendom system, examines the legacies this has left, and highlights the questions that the Christian community needs to consider in this period of cultural transition.

Rethinking Christ and Culture

Rethinking Christ and Culture
Author: Craig A. Carter
Publisher: Brazos Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2007-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 144120122X

In 1951, theologian H. Richard Niebuhr published Christ and Culture, a hugely influential book that set the agenda for the church and cultural engagement for the next several decades. But Niebuhr's model was devised in and for a predominantly Christian cultural setting. How do we best understand the church and its writers in a world that is less and less Christian? Craig Carter critiques Niebuhr's still pervasive models and proposes a typology better suited to mission after Christendom.

Evangelism after Christendom

Evangelism after Christendom
Author: Bryan Stone
Publisher: Brazos Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2007-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1441201548

Most people think of evangelism as something an individual does--one person talking to one or more other people about the gospel. Bryan Stone, however, argues that evangelism is the duty and call of the entire church as a body of witness. Evangelism after Christendom explores what it means to understand and put to work evangelism as a rich practice of the church, grounding evangelism in the stories of Israel, Jesus, and the Apostles. This thorough treatment is marked by an astute sensitivity to the ways in which Christian evangelism has in the past been practiced violently, intentionally or unintentionally. Pointing to exemplars both Protestant and Catholic, Stone shows pastors, professors, and students how evangelism can work nonviolently.

Politics after Christendom

Politics after Christendom
Author: David VanDrunen
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2020-04-21
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310108853

For more than a millennium, beginning in the early Middle Ages, most Western Christians lived in societies that sought to be comprehensively Christian--ecclesiastically, economically, legally, and politically. That is to say, most Western Christians lived in Christendom. But in a gradual process beginning a few hundred years ago, Christendom weakened and finally crumbled. Today, most Christians in the world live in pluralistic political communities. And Christians themselves have very different opinions about what to make of the demise of Christendom and how to understand their status and responsibilities in a post-Christendom world. Politics After Christendom argues that Scripture leaves Christians well-equipped for living in a world such as this. Scripture gives no indication that Christians should strive to establish some version of Christendom. Instead, it prepares them to live in societies that are indifferent or hostile to Christianity, societies in which believers must live faithful lives as sojourners and exiles. Politics After Christendom explains what Scripture teaches about political community and about Christians' responsibilities within their own communities. As it pursues this task, Politics After Christendom makes use of several important theological ideas that Christian thinkers have developed over the centuries. These ideas include Augustine's Two-Cities concept, the Reformation Two-Kingdoms category, natural law, and a theology of the biblical covenants. Politics After Christendom brings these ideas together in a distinctive way to present a model for Christian political engagement. In doing so, it interacts with many important thinkers, including older theologians (e.g., Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin), recent secular political theorists (e.g., Rawls, Hayek, and Dworkin), contemporary political-theologians (e.g., Hauerwas, O'Donovan, and Wolterstorff), and contemporary Christian cultural commentators (e.g., MacIntyre, Hunter, and Dreher). Part 1 presents a political theology through a careful study of the biblical story, giving special attention to the covenants God has established with his creation and how these covenants inform a proper view of political community. Part 1 argues that civil governments are legitimate but penultimate, and common but not neutral. It concludes that Christians should understand themselves as sojourners and exiles in their political communities. They ought to pursue justice, peace, and excellence in these communities, but remember that these communities are temporary and thus not confuse them with the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christians' ultimate citizenship is in this new-creation kingdom. Part 2 reflects on how the political theology developed in Part 1 provides Christians with a framework for thinking about perennial issues of political and legal theory. Part 2 does not set out a detailed public policy or promote a particular political ideology. Rather, it suggests how Christians might think about important social issues in a wise and theologically sound way, so that they might be better equipped to respond well to the specific controversies they face today. These issues include race, religious liberty, family, economics, justice, rights, authority, and civil resistance. After considering these matters, Part 2 concludes by reflecting on the classical liberal and conservative traditions, as well as recent challenges to them by nationalist and progressivist movements.

Beyond Tithing

Beyond Tithing
Author: Stuart Murray
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2011-12-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 172523047X

"Tithing is biblical but not Christian." So asserts Dr. Stuart Murray in this radical examination of the contemporary practice of tithing in which the author comes to some surprising conclusions. Stuart Murray clearly explains tithing in the Old Testament and in Christian history, but then probes further, asking penetrating questions such as: "Is tithing Christian?" "Did Jesus tithe?" "Does tithing function as a regressive tax, burdening the poor while the rich get richer?" "Does tithing lead to a legalistic approach that alienates us from Jesus?" The author suspects that a lot of the current lack of interest in the church stems from deep-seated memories of the church as oppressive, uncreative, and money-grabbing. In response we should therefore learn not to calculate percentages but explore creative ways of developing communities of justice and generosity that are good news to the poor. Beyond Tithing will stimulate your thinking and challenge the dominant influence of the practice of tithing as the model for Christian stewardship.

Worship and Mission After Christendom

Worship and Mission After Christendom
Author: Eleanor Kreider
Publisher: Herald Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-01-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780836195545

Today, as Christendom weakens, worship and mission are poised to reunite after centuries of separation. But this requires the church to rethink both “mission” and “worship.” In post-Christendom mission, God is the main actor and God calls all Christians to participate. In post-Christendom worship, the church tells and celebrates the story of God, enabling members to live in hope and attract outsiders to its many tables of hospitality. In this passionate and thoughtful study, Alan Kreider and Eleanor Kreider draw upon missiology, liturgiology, biblical studies, church history, and the vast experience of today’s global Christian church-to say nothing of their long tenure as teachers and writers in contemporary England and the United States. Academically responsible but also practical and accessible, Worship and Mission After Christendom is a much-needed guide for people who take seriously God’s call to be the church in a world where institutional religion is no longer taken for granted.

Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom

Forming Christian Habits in Post-Christendom
Author: James R. Krabill
Publisher: Herald Press (VA)
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780836196023

Alan and Eleanor Kreider have been teaching and writing about mission, community, and worship from an Anabaptist perspective for almost four decades. While most of this ministry took place in the UK and North America, their influence spread to continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and beyond. The contributors to this volume-all affected in some way by the Kreiders' ministry-are a global multivoiced choir. They are younger and older, academics and community workers, new believers and veterans of the faith. They have come together to celebrate the lifelong contribution the Kreiders have made to forming in so many people the Christian habits necessary for living faithfully in a world where the unraveling of Christendom has never been more apparent. 244 pages.

Post-Christendom Studies: Volume 1

Post-Christendom Studies: Volume 1
Author: Steven M. Studebaker
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2018-01-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725250586

Post-Christendom Studies publishes research on the nature of Christian identity and mission in the contexts of post-Christendom. Post-Christendom refers to places, both now and in the past, where Christianity was once a significant cultural presence, though not necessarily the dominant religion. Sometimes "Christendom" refers to the official link between church and state. The term "post-Christendom" is often associated with the rise of secularization, religious pluralism, and multiculturalism in western countries over the past sixty years. Our use of the term is broader than that however. Egypt for example can be considered a post-Christendom context. It was once a leading center of Christianity. "Christendom" moreover does not necessarily mean official public and dominant religion. For example, under Saddam Hussein, Christianity was probably a minority religion, but, for the most part, Christians were left alone. After America deposed Saddam, Christians began to flee because they became a persecuted minority. In that sense, post-Saddam Iraq is an experience of post-Christendom--it is a shift from a cultural context in which Christians have more or less freedom to exercise their faith to one where they are persecuted and/or marginalized for doing so.

Reading the Bible After Christendom

Reading the Bible After Christendom
Author: Pietersen Lloyd
Publisher: Paternoster
Total Pages:
Release: 2011-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1842277650

Pietersen argues that for too long the Old Testament has been the primary source for Christian ethics and the letters of Paul for Christian discipleship. Without disparaging these sources the author suggests that the church in a postmodern, post-Christian society needs to look at Scripture with a different focus. This book seeks to examine what reading the Bible might look like in the current period when the church is no longer central and the Christian story is not well known. 'This is a provocative and refreshing exploration of the possibilities inherent i[1;5Cn reading Scripture from the margins, rather than from within the compromised and rapidly receding structures of Christendom. A worthy addition to the challenging After Christendom series, Lloyd Pietersen's thoughtful work moves the discussion forward in ways that are at times controversial, at other times stretching, but at all times constructive. Highly recommended!' - Brian Harris, Principal, Vose Seminary, Perth Australia