Christianity in the Twentieth Century


Book Description

"[This book] charts the transformation of one of the world's great religions during an age marked by world wars, genocide, nationalism, decolonization, and powerful ideological currents, many of them hostile to Christianity"--Amazon.com.




Soldiers of God in a Secular World


Book Description

A revelatory account of the nouvelle thŽologie, a clerical movement that revitalized the Catholic ChurchÕs role in twentieth-century French political life. Secularism has been a cornerstone of French political culture since 1905, when the republic formalized the separation of church and state. At times the barrier of secularism has seemed impenetrable, stifling religious actors wishing to take part in political life. Yet in other instances, secularism has actually nurtured movements of the faithful. Soldiers of God in a Secular World explores one such case, that of the nouvelle thŽologie, or new theology. Developed in the interwar years by Jesuits and Dominicans, the nouvelle thŽologie reimagined the ChurchÕs relationship to public life, encouraging political activism, engaging with secular philosophy, and inspiring doctrinal changes adopted by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Nouveaux thŽologiens charted a path between the old alliance of throne and altar and secularismÕs demand for the privatization of religion. Envisioning a Church in but not of the public sphere, Catholic thinkers drew on theological principles to intervene in political questions while claiming to remain at armÕs length from politics proper. Sarah Shortall argues that this Òcounter-politicsÓ was central to the mission of the nouveaux thŽologiens: by recoding political statements in the ostensibly apolitical language of doctrine, priests were able to enter into debates over fascism and communism, democracy and human rights, colonialism and nuclear war. This approach found its highest expression during the Second World War, when the nouveaux thŽologiens led the spiritual resistance against Nazism. Claiming a powerful public voice, they collectively forged a new role for the Church amid the momentous political shifts of the twentieth century.










The Church at the End of the 20th Century


Book Description

A book that outlines the dangers facing the modern church, and urges Christians to be aware of the hidden battles. (Christian Living)




Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians


Book Description

A succinct account of Catholic theology from 1900-2007, exploring the sometimes turbulent life, work and legacy of the 20th century's most important Catholic theologians.




Christian Thought in the Twenty-First Century


Book Description

Description: In this volume some of the outstanding Christian scholars of our day reflect on how their minds have changed, how their academic fields have changed over the course of their careers, and the pressing issues that Christian scholars will need to address in the twenty-first century. This volume offers an accessible portrait of key trends in the world of Christian scholarship today. Christian Thought in the Twenty-First Century features scholars from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, and Switzerland. The contributors represent a wide variety of academic backgrounds--from biblical studies to theology, to religious studies, to history, English literature, philosophy, law, and ethics. This book offers a personal glimpse of Christian scholars in a self-reflective mode, capturing their honest reflections on the changing state of the academy and on changes in their own minds and outlooks. The breadth and depth of insight afforded by these contributions provide rich soil for a reader's own reflections, and an agenda that will occupy Christian thinkers well into the twenty-first century. Endorsements: "I heard many of the lecturers whose essays appear in this book when they were guests of the Chair of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary. Now they reappear to reflect personally on how their minds and academic fields have changed over the course of their careers. They tackle key issues in their disciplines needing future attention and present their views as authentic humans, not only as respected academics." --Wayne Holst University of Calgary and St. David's United Church, Calgary About the Contributor(s): Douglas H. Shantz is Professor of Christian Thought at the University of Calgary. His recent books are Between Sardis and Philadelphia (2008), and A New Introduction to German Pietism (2012). Tinu Ruparell is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary. He is coeditor, with Ian S. Markham, of Encountering Religion (2000). His current work centers on idealism in Ramanuja and Leibniz as well as on science and religion.







Evangelical Catholicism


Book Description

The Catholic Church is on the threshold of a bold new era in its two-thousand year history. As the curtain comes down on the Church defined by the 16th-century Counter-Reformation, the curtain is rising on the Evangelical Catholicism of the third millennium: a way of being Catholic that comes from over a century of Catholic reform; a mission-centered renewal honed by the Second Vatican Council and given compelling expression by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. The Gospel-centered Evangelical Catholicism of the future will send all the people of the Church into mission territory every day -- a territory increasingly defined in the West by spiritual boredom and aggressive secularism. Confronting both these cultural challenges and the shadows cast by recent Catholic history, Evangelical Catholicism unapologetically proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the truth of the world. It also molds disciples who witness to faith, hope, and love by the quality of their lives and the nobility of their aspirations. Thus the Catholicism of the 21st century and beyond will be a culture-forming counterculture, offering all men and women of good will a deeply humane alternative to the soul-stifling self-absorption of postmodernity. Drawing on thirty years of experience throughout the Catholic world, from its humblest parishes to its highest levels of authority, George Weigel proposes a deepening of faith-based and mission-driven Catholic reform that touches every facet of Catholic life -- from the episcopate and the papacy to the priesthood and the consecrated life; from the renewal of the lay vocation in the world to the redefinition of the Church's engagement with public life; from the liturgy to the Church's intellectual life. Lay Catholics and clergy alike should welcome the challenge of this unique moment in the Church's history, Weigel urges. Mediocrity is not an option, and all Catholics, no matter what their station in life, are called to live the evangelical vocation into which they were baptized: without compromise, but with the joy, courage, and confidence that comes from living this side of the Resurrection.




Survey of 20th-Century Revival Movements in North America, A


Book Description

The twentieth century has witnessed periodic revivals comparable to the awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. And yet, many of the places and players of these reawakenings have been overlooked or neglected by the chroniclers of North American church history. A Survey of 20th-Century Revival Movements in North America attempts to set the record straight. It offers a concise and useful survey of the major currents of revival that have swept over this continent since the turn of the century. As the final decade of this century approaches it is appropriate that historian Richard Riss chart the course of twentieth-century revival on this continent and record the people, places, and events that have shaped the modern American church. Names like William J. Seymour or Maria B. Woodworth-Etter; places like Azusa Street or North Battleford, Saskatchewan; and events like the forest Home Briefing Conference or the Latter Rain Revival might not be as familiar as Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, or the Jesus movement, but each has played a significant role in keeping the streams of revival flowing. The impact of these often lesser-known figures and events is tremendous. For example, William J. Seymour was a key figure in early Pentecostalism, which has become one of the most rapidly growing segments of modern Christianity. Also, college awakenings at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, North Park College, and Wheaton College in late 1949 and early 1950 received nationwide press coverage and sparked college revivals throughout the country. A decade later, in 1960, Dennis Bennett's experience of the Holy Spirit in Van Nuys, California, would mark the beginning of a tremendous outpouring of the Spirit, and for many, came to represent the start of the charismatic renewal movement.