The Church In Eclipse

The magnitude of the darkness that we see engulfing the world today suggests that something is blocking the light of God’s truth at its earthly source—within the institution of the Christian Church. But what that could that be? That is the question the author tries to answer in The Church in Eclipse.“/p>

Document from the year 2017 in the subject Theology - Miscellaneous, Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, language: English, abstract: On the 31st October 1517 Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses in which he criticised the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church. This date is considered the beginning of the Reformation. While the Protestant Reformers are widely praised for the rediscovery of the biblical gospel, they have come under fire regarding their views on mission. There are church historians and missiologists who argue that the Protestant Reformers were not interested in mission and, in fact, ignored the mission mandate which Christ had given to his Church. However, a closer study of Luther, Calvin, Bucer, and Melanchthon, shows that the critics miss both the Reformers’ commitment to practical mission work and their missiological contributions. The critics seem to overlook the fact that cities, such as Geneva and Wittenberg, in which the Reformers lived, studied and taught, served as hubs of a huge missionary enterprise. Thousands of preachers went out from these centres of the Reformation to spread the gospel all over Europe. Leading Scandinavian theologians, such as Mikael Agricola, Olaus Petri, or Hans Tausen, had all studied under Luther and Melanchthon in Wittenberg before they began their reform work in their home countries. Furthermore, with their re-discovery of the gospel of justification by faith alone, their emphasis on the personal character of faith in Christ, their radical re-interpretation of the priesthood, their recognition of God’s authorship of mission, their reminder that the witness to the gospel takes place in the midst of a spiritual battle, and their insistence that the Bible has to be available in common languages, the Protestant Reformers laid down important principles for the mission work of the church which are still valid today.

People whose day-to-day lives have not been changed through knowing Christ fill the pews of today's churches, says the urbane, astutely provocative F.J. Sheed – a modern-day Jeremiah in a two-piece suit. Likewise, Sheed asserts, church leaders exhibit similar lacks, and neither clergy nor laymen are blind to, nor silent about, the others' weaknesses. Sheed charges that both share a common failure to consider Christ in their scathing criticisms as they propose both radical change and a return to old ways to correct the problems they see. Says Sheed, "I have fallen into a way of reminding the objectors that . . . an administration is necessary if the Church is to function, but Christ is the whole point of that functioning." Writing from the perspective of a half-century preaching career which began on a corner soapbox in London, this man who expressed concern that "people, more than ever, don't find God interesting" shows in this book, that, more than ever, he does. His main question in this book for all of us to answer is "How real is Christ to us, how well do we know him, what strong desire have we to know him better?" Sheed is perhaps more qualified than almost anyone to write about the Christ who has been forgotten in today's world. Few laymen have had such wide and varied contacts within the Christian world and seen the private face of so many of its public men. Sheed had conversed with, and published most of, the leading Christian writers of the twentieth century.

"We live in a World no longer under heaven. At least in most people's minds and imaginations that vision of reality has become little more than a caricature, conjuring up the saints and angels of baroque frescoes. And in the church only a hint remains of the power it once exercised in the hearts of believers". So begins A. J. Conyers in this provocative book, and suggests that the eclipse of heaven has resulted in a shallower view of life and death, in a loss of cultural and individual purpose, and in moral disarray. This is a powerful, persuasive plea to stop blocking heaven from our sight, and so to regain hope, meaning, and richer lives -- in this world and the one to come.

Konig is persuasive and provocative. His biblical and historical approach to systematic theology stays close to the pulse beat of the divine heart which we encounter in the Christ for us, in us, and with us. Eschatology has to do not with the last things but with the person of Christ, who is the first and the last One. With this book Konig has pointed the way forward for a whole new generation of theological studies. This book combines critical dogmatic inquiry with careful exegetical work in the finest of the tradition in biblical theology. The result is a book on eschatology which is irenic in tone, relevant to contemporary issues, and surprising in its simplicity. This book with inspire pastors to preach once again with conviction on the eschatological themes essential to Christian life and faith. It might also put eschatology back once again into the theological curriculum!

Today the language of mission is in disarray. Where do the language and idea of 'mission' come from? Do they truly have precedence in the early centuries of the church? Michael Stroope investigates these questions and shows how the language of mission is a modern phenomenon that shaped a 'grand narrative' of mission. He then offers a way forward. Prologue Acknowledgements Introduction: the enigma of mission Part 1: Justifying mission 1. Partisans and apologists 2. Reading Scripture as mission 3. Presenting history as mission 4. Rhetoric and trope Part 2: Innovating mission 5. Holy conquest 6. Latin occupation 7. Mission vow 8. Ignatian mission Part 3: Revising mission 9. Protestant reception 10. Missionary problems Epilogue: towards pilgrim witness Works cited