Christianity In Crisis The 21st Century

Nearly two decades ago Hank Hanegraaff’s award-winning Christianity in Crisis alerted the world to the dangers of a cultic movement within Christianity that threatened to undermine the very foundation of biblical faith. But in the 21st century, there are new dangers—new teachers who threaten to do more damage than the last. These are not obscure teachers that Hanegraaff unmasks. We know their names. We have seen their faces, sat in their churches, and heard them shamelessly preach and promote the false pretexts of a give-to-get gospel. They are virtual rock stars who command the attention of presidential candidates and media moguls. Through make-believe miracles, urban legends, counterfeit Christs, and twisted theological reasoning, they peddle an occult brand of metaphysics that continues to shipwreck the faith of millions around the globe: “God cannot do anything in this earthly realm unless we give Him permission.” “Keep saying it—‘I have equality with God’—talk yourself into it.” “Being poor is a sin.” “The Jews were not rejecting Jesus as Messiah; it was Jesus who was refusing to be the Messiah to the Jews!” “You create your own world the same way God creates His. He speaks, and things happen; you speak, and they happen.” Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century exposes darkness to light, pointing us back to a Christianity centered in Christ. From the Preface: “Having lost the ability to think biblically, postmodern Christians are being transformed from cultural change agents and initiators into cultural conformists and imitators. Pop culture beckons, and postmodern Christians have taken the bait. As a result, the biblical model of faith has given way to an increasingly bizarre array of fads and formulas.”

“A book which left an indelible imprint on my thinking.” — Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Republication in this form is a forceful intervention in contemporary debates in American religion and politics. — Commonweal Many of the societal concerns and questions of 1907, e.g., his alarm over iner-city poverty, societal injustice, crime, and ineffectual government, are just as relevant today. — Library Journal “Skillfully fashioned and perfectly timed, [Rauschenbusch’s] book was a supercharger for a movement . . . and set a new standard for political theology. Rightly viewed from the beginning as the greatest statement of the social gospel movement.” — Christian Century In a 100th-anniversary edition, Paul Raushenbush, the author’s great-grandson, has reprinted the text with essays by Cornel West, the Rev. Jim Wallis and others to prove that one can be a dedicated Christian and a social reformer at the same time. — The New York Times Book Review Rightly viewed from the beginning as the greatest statement of the social gospel movement . . . and set a new standard for political theology. — Christian Century

The 100th Anniversary Edition of the Classic That Changed the American Church Forever Published at the beginning of the twentieth century, Christianity and the Social Crisis is the epoch-making book that dramatically expanded the church’s vision of how it could transform the world. The 100th anniversary edition updates this classic with new essays by leading preachers and theologians.

This book is awake-up callfor the twenty-first century church. Milt compares today's church with the first century church model. He believes the church has been weighed in the balance and found wanting, especillay in the areas of personal evangelism and discipleship.He draws on his forty-eight years of bible study, his ministerial experience, and his keen analytical skills to assess what's wrong with the churchand gives suggestions on what can be done to fix it. When Milt speaks of the church he is referring, not to an organization, but to an organism,the body of Christ, made up of all true followers of Christ, irregardless of their denominational affiliation.Bible texts are from either the KJV or the NKJV bibles. Much scripture is quoted in this book. This is iinten- tional."Thus sayeth the Lord " is what gives any Christian work its sanction and authority.If God said it. I believe it. And that settles it.

Foreword by Marcello Pera Written by Joseph Ratzinger shortly before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures looks at the growing conflict of cultures evident in the Western world. The West faces a deadly contradiction of its own making, he contends. Terrorism is on the rise. Technological advances of the West, employed by people who have cut themselves off from the moral wisdom of the past, threaten to abolish man (as C.S. Lewis put it)whether through genetic manipulation or physical annihilation. In short, the West is at war-with itself. Its scientific outlook has brought material progress. The Enlightenment's appeal to reason has achieved a measure of freedom. But contrary to what many people suppose, both of these accomplishments depend on Judeo-Christian foundations, including the moral worldview that created Western culture. More than anything else, argues Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, the important contributions of the West are threatened today by an exaggerated scientific outlook and by moral relativism-what Benedict XVI calls "the dictatorship of relativism"-in the name of freedom. Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures is no mere tirade against the moral decline of the West. Razinger challenges the West to return to its roots by finding a place for God in modern culture. He argues that both Christian culture and the Enlightenment formed the West, and that both hold the keys to human life and freedom as well as to domination and destruction. Ratzinger challenges non-believer and believer alike. "Both parties," he writes, "must reflect on their own selves and be ready to accept correction." He challenges secularized, unbelieving people to open themselves to God as the ground of true rationality and freedom. He calls on believers to "make God credible in this world by means of the enlightened faith they live." Topics include: Reflections on the Cultures in Conflict Today The Significance and Limits of Today's Rationalistic Culture The Permanent Significance of the Christian Faith Why We Must Not Give Up the Fight The Law of the Jungle, the Rule of Law We Must Use Our Eyes! Faith and Everyday Life Can Agnosticism Be a Solution? The Natural Knowledge of God "Supernatural" Faith and Its Origins

In spite of the debate about secularization or de-secularization, the existential-bodily need for religion is basically the same as always. What have been changed are the horizons within which religions are interpreted and the relationships within which religions are integrated. This book explores how religions continue to challenge secular democracy and science, and how religions are themselves being challenged by secular values and practices. All traditions - whether religious or secular - experience a struggle over authority, and this struggle seems to intensify with globalization, as it has brought people around the world in closer contact with each other. In this book internationally leading scholars from sociology, law, political science, religious studies, theology and the religion and science debate, take stock of the current interdisciplinary research on religion and open new perspectives at the cutting edge of the debate on religion in the 21st century.