Protestant Theology At The Crossroads

In an atmosphere of growing skepticism and discouragement, what hope has theology for the future, and what sources might deliver that hope? In this astute analysis of Protestant theology today, Gerhard Sauter sets himself to help theology answer critical questions and accomplish crucial tasks in order to move forward with hope. Protestant Theology at the Crossroads examines contextual theology, in which particular cultural heritages, race and gender, economic conditions, and the structure of social life inform the teachings of the faith rather than vice versa. How, for example, do we approach the crisis in American self-understanding caused by terrorism? Do changes in European politics alter our theological perceptions? Sauter argues that dogmatics -- properly understood as the process of theological reasoning that supports the life of the church -- can and should be used as the tool to save theology. Dogmatics, he says, can break through pious isolationism and converge with genuine public theology, leading to the church's understanding of its own essence.

Contents Part I: Christianity and Catholicism 1 Modernism and Tradition 2 Various Forms of Modernism 3 The Old Orthodoxy 4 The New Orthodoxy 5 Newman's Theory of Development 6 First Results of New Testament Criticism 7 The Christ of Liberal Protestantism 8 The Christ of Eschatology 9 The Christ of Catholicism 10 The Abiding Value of the Apocalyptic Idea 11 The Truth-Value of Visions 12 The Apocalyptic Vision of Christ 13 The Apocalyptic Vision and the Catholic Church Part II: Christianity and Religion 1 Exclusiveness and Tolerance 2 The Unification of Religion 3 The Science of Religions 4 Character of an Universal Religion 5 The Religion and Personality of Jesus 6 The Church and Its Future

Contents Part I: Christianity and Catholicism 1 Modernism and Tradition 2 Various Forms of Modernism 3 The Old Orthodoxy 4 The New Orthodoxy 5 Newman's Theory of Development 6 First Results of New Testament Criticism 7 The Christ of Liberal Protestantism 8 The Christ of Eschatology 9 The Christ of Catholicism 10 The Abiding Value of the Apocalyptic Idea 11 The Truth-Value of Visions 12 The Apocalyptic Vision of Christ 13 The Apocalyptic Vision and the Catholic Church Part II: Christianity and Religion 1 Exclusiveness and Tolerance 2 The Unification of Religion 3 The Science of Religions 4 Character of an Universal Religion 5 The Religion and Personality of Jesus 6 The Church and Its Future

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The Gospel Coalition Book of the Year Biblical Foundations Award Winner Christianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain. Initially Christianity possessed little social or cultural influence and found itself fighting for its life. While apostolic tradition was emerging as a "rule of faith," factions contested the nature of the gospel, and pagan philosophers found its claims scandalous. And while its pathway was tenuous, Christianity was forming structures of leadership and worship, and a core of apostolic texts was emerging as authoritative. But it was the challenges, obstacles, and transitions faced by Christians in the second century that, in many ways, would determine the future of the church for the next two millennia. It was a time when Christianity stood at a crossroads. Michael Kruger's introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years. Christianity at the Crossroads provides an accessible and informative look at the complex and foundational issues faced by an infant church still trying to determine its identity. The church's response to the issues of heresy and orthodoxy, the development of the canon, and the transmission of the Christian Scriptures not only determined its survival, but determined the kind of church it would be for generations to come.

Excerpt from Christianity at the Cross-Roads Catholic Church; next with the relation of the religion of Christ to religion in general. He finds that the Catholic Church has, on the whole, preserved the message of Christ more faithfully than any other; and he believes that in Chris tianity is to be found the germ of that future universal religion for which we all look. The Church has fulfilled her end, because she has kept for us the Christ of the Gospels; not a modernised Christ, made up to meet the latest requirements, but the Christ who spoke in the categories of His place and time, while His message was for men of all places and all times. And in that message is the seed of future religion - a religion whose need is more and more pressingly apparent a religion for which all humanity is crying, weary of petty divisions and disputes, yearning for a truth that shall be the possession of all. But it is not an entirely new religion that can fulfil this de mand the future must grow from the present as the present has grown from the past. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Facing the uncertainty of their present life and ministry, the American and Canadian churches of mainline Protestantism are, for the most part, responding in one of two ways. Some are simply choosing to ignore the process of their disestablishment. They continue to carry on with their church life as though nothing were happening, as though they were still occupying a place at the center of society. Others, knowing that they are being moved to the periphery of social and political life, are seeking to regain their past power and influence by adopting one or another program of church growth, many of which are being promoted by the newly emerging megachurches of the Christian right. Based upon the history and experience of a particular congregation, Church of the Crossroads in Honolulu, Hawaii, this book suggests a third option for the churches of mainline Protestantism: to embrace their ongoing disestablishment and to see it not as a burden or as something to be either ignored or reversed, but as an opportunity to envision a new way of being in the world.