New Challenges For Christians

Theologians are involved in a wide variety of public committees concerned with ethical issues arising from modern science, and are still holding their own against critics such as Richard Dawkins. It is important that a wide range of people are aware of how to be responsibly involved in these discussions, and to avoid the knee-jerk reactions of fundamentalists.

The Challenge of Islam to Christians is David Pawson's most important - and most controversial - prophetic message to date. Moral decline and erosion of a sense of ultimate truth has created a spiritual vacuum in the United Kingdom. David Pawson believes Islam is far better equipped than the Church to move into that gap and it will not be long before it becomes the country's dominant religion. Based on the audio and video recordings on which he first announced his message, this book unpacks and explains the background behind Pawson's claims, and - crucially - sets out a positive blueprint for the Church's response. Christians must rediscover and demonstrate to society the three qualities that make Christianity unique: Reality, Relationship and Righteousness.

Christian communities are deeply rooted in the Middle East, starting their witness since the first centuries of Christianity. The last hundred years of Middle East Christianity’s history went through a series of profound crises. Displacement by war, genocide and occupation leading to loss, emigration and exile seem to be the main experience of Christianity in the modern Middle East. Against this background of displacement, Christians have sought to resettle and build anew when allowed. They have been able to make significant cultural, political and economic contribution to Middle Eastern societies. In the last thirty years they are again facing ominous threat of extinction. Entering the new millennium, they are confronted with major difficulties and transformations in world politics. From 2011 Christians particularly in Syria and Iraq, have been suffering death and destruction in the hands of extremist Islamist groups. The volume is a fresh approach to the study of the Christian communities in the Middle East examining their relation to state, identity and politics. It questions main presuppositions and perceptions regarding Christianity in the Middle East, casts new light on the living Christian communities in the region and reflects on their future role. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: THE “CANARY IN THE MINE” OR THE FATE OF CHRISTIANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST - Sotiris Roussos ARMENIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST: LOSING THE PAST IN THE FUTURE? - Hratch Tchilingirian ONTOLOGICAL SECURITY THEORY: CHRISTIAN ‘EXISTENTIAL ANXIETY’ IN EGYPT AND LEBANON - Zakia Aqra, Stavros Drakoularakos & Charitini Petrodaskalaki MIDDLE EASTERN CHRISTIANITY IN SYRIA AND IRAQ: AT THE EPICENTRE OF THE RISE OF THE ISLAMIC STATE - Stavros Drakoularakos TURKISH POLICIES VIS-À-VIS CHRISTIANS: FROM EXCLUSION TO INCLUSION TO EXCLUSION AGAIN - Nikos Christofis THE GREEK/PALESTINIAN DIVIDE WITHIN THE JERUSALEM ORTHODOX CHURCH: THE INSTITUTIONAL ASPECT - Konstantinos Papastathis THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE STATE: THE MIDDLE EAST CONNECTION - Ilias Tasopoulos CHRISTIAN RIGHT AND US MIDDLE EAST POLICY: FOREIGN POLICY IN THE SERVICE OF GOD’S WILL - Marina Eleftheriadou CHRISTIANITY IN THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST: CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE CHALLENGES - Anthony O’Mahony

Winner of the Christianity Today Book of the Year Award (1995) “The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind.” So begins this award-winning intellectual history and critique of the evangelical movement by one of evangelicalism’s most respected historians. Unsparing in his indictment, Mark Noll asks why the largest single group of religious Americans—who enjoy increasing wealth, status, and political influence—have contributed so little to rigorous intellectual scholarship. While nourishing believers in the simple truths of the gospel, why have so many evangelicals failed to sustain a serious intellectual life and abandoned the universities, the arts, and other realms of “high” culture? Over twenty-five years since its original publication, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind has turned out to be prescient and perennially relevant. In a new preface, Noll lays out his ongoing personal frustrations with this situation, and in a new afterword he assesses the state of the scandal—showing how white evangelicals’ embrace of Trumpism, their deepening distrust of science, and their frequent forays into conspiratorial thinking have coexisted with surprisingly robust scholarship from many with strong evangelical connections.

In recent years the Christian faith has been challenged by skeptics, including the New Atheists, who claim that belief in God is simply not reasonable. Here prominent Christian philosopher C. Stephen Evans offers a fresh, contemporary, and nuanced response. He makes the case for belief in a personal God through an exploration of natural "signs," which open our minds to theistic possibilities and foster belief in the Christian revelation. Evans then discusses why God's self-revelation is both authoritative and authentic. This sophisticated yet accessible book provides a clear account of the evidence for Christian faith, concluding that it still makes sense to believe.

**Winner of the 2017 CSPA Book of the Year Award in Devotionals** Getting to Know Jesus is the perfect devotional for the person who knows some but wants to know much more about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This award winning book is designed follow the life of Jesus Christ chronologically based on the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The origins of this book were a series of podcasts that author Eric Kampmann and Dr. Chuck Davis, Senior Pastor at Stanwich Church, recorded over the course of one full year. For this book, Kampmann used the content of the podcasts to build a commentary on the passage that provides a deeper look into the accounts of Jesus' life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. In addition to the book, Kampmann has provided an index that lists 31 bible or individual studies. The studies include an in depth look at the Sermon on the Mount, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Raising Lazarus, the Seven Words of the Cross, the High Priestly Prayer, and much more.

In this volume, on the basis of three consultations which took place in Seoul and Geneva (2016, 2017, 2018), theologians from Yonsei University's College of Theology in Seoul, South Korea, and from the Theological Faculty at the University of Geneva reflect together on three of the main challenges facing Christian theology today. First, questions related to religious pluralism and multiple religious belonging are addressed. Second, the `promise' of an enhanced human being through technology and other means is discussed. Third, the reality of the threat humanity represents to our ecosystem is considered. Each of these themes is examined from a Korean as well as from a Western European perspective, for Christian theology, in our day, can no longer afford to remain limited to its own geographical context.

Inspired by the person and writings of C.S. Lewis, this book examines pertinent and pressing issues in living the Christian faith today. Experts in their fields share their insights and conclusions.