10 Commandments Of Progressive Christianity
$7.99
A cautionary look at ten dangerously appealing half-truths.
In 1923, J. Gresham Machen, then a professor at Princeton Seminary, wrote his classic text, Christianity and Liberalism. The book was a response to the rise of liberalism in the mainline denominations of his own day. Machen argued that the liberal understanding of Christianity was, in fact, not just a variant version of the faith, nor did it represent simply a different denominational perspective, but was an entirely different religion. Put simply, liberal Christianity is not Christianity.
What is remarkable about Machen’s book is how prescient it was. His description of liberal Christianity–a moralistic, therapeutic version of the faith that values questions over answers and being “good” over being “right”–is still around today in basically the same form. For this reason alone the book should be required reading, certainly for all seminary students, pastors, and Christian leaders.
Although its modern advocates present liberal Christianity as something new and revolutionary, it is nothing of the sort. It may have new names (e.g., “emerging” or “progressive” Christianity), but it is simply a rehash of the same well-worn system that has been around for generations.
The abiding presence of liberal Christianity struck me not long ago when I came across a daily devotional from Richard Rohr that listed ten principles he thinks modern Christianity needs to embody. These ten principles are actually drawn from Philip Gulley’s book, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus. In that devotional series, ironically titled “Returning to Essentials,” Rohr sets forth the ten principles as a kind of confessional statement of modern liberalism (while at the same time pretending to deplore confessional statements). They are, in effect, a Ten Commandments for progressive Christianity.
Indeed, these ten sound like they were gathered not so much on the mountaintop as in the university classroom. They are less about God revealing his desires and more about man expressing his own–less Moses, more Oprah.
But take note: each of these commandments is partially true. Indeed, that is what makes this list, and progressive Christianity as a whole, so challenging. It is a master class in half-truths that sound appealing on the surface until you dig down deeper and really explore their foundations and implications. Benjamin Franklin was right when he quipped, “Half the truth is often a
Out of stock
SKU (ISBN): 9781949253214
ISBN10: 194925321X
Michael Kruger
Binding: Trade Paper
Published: November 2019
Cruciform Quick
Publisher: Cruciform Press
Print On Demand Product
Related products
-
Biblical Womanhood (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Fully revised and updated edition with new study – Women and their children
Everywhere women face choices – home or career, money or relationships, ‘secure’ marriage or ‘free’ singleness, using your looks to get on or ignoring your looks and getting ignored, competing with the boys or retreating into the sisterhood ghetto, the ‘progress’ of feminism or the ‘nostalgia’ of motherhood and apple-pie, women bishops or tea-ladies and baby-sitters?
Our culture has plenty to say on all these issues. But a Christian woman, seeking to live for her Lord, will first of all want to find out God’s design, purposes and promises for women.
And here’s the book to help. Sarah Collins (nee Young), in this set of nine Bible studies, aims to answer questions such as
– What does the Bible say about the ‘big issues’ facing women today?
– How should this affect my own life?
– How can I be helped to live like this in a society with a very different agenda?
– Some things will be controversial in our culture, even in some of our churches.This course doesn’t set out to be politically correct but faithful to Scripture.
Suitable for groups or individuals, this guide covers all the major Bible teaching specific to women. Set within the big picture of God’s redemption of sinners through Jesus Christ, the heart-felt aim is that 21st century women will be enabled to live obediently and joyfully for Christ, as women after his own heart.
Read moreOut of stock
-
1 Corinthians 10-16 (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99What can turn a struggling church around? What can help a church which has sold out to the culture; which is riven by division; which is dominated by me-first materialism; and which is uncertain about the gospel itself?
“Be on your guard”, wrote one church planter to just such a church. “Stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
“Do everything in love.”So wrote the apostle Paul to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 16
v 13-14). This was a congregation which seemed to have lost its way. But Paul did not give up on them. He encouraged them to love their church.And, in the second half of his first letter to them, he showed them how to do this-how to love each other as Christ had loved them.
This was the love that could turn the Corinthian church around. And this is the love that all our local churches need. These eight studies in 1 Corinthians 10 – 16 will enable, motivate and challenge you to “do everything in love”, individually and collectively.
Read moreOut of stock
-
Garden The Curtain And The Cross
$16.99This beautifully illustrated hardback book takes children on a journey from the garden of Eden to God’s prefect new creation.
Retelling the Easter story through a Bible overview, children will discover that ‘because of our sin, we can’t go in’ but because of Jesus’ victory on the cross, an even better garden awaits us…
Read moreOut of stock
-
Luke 12-24 : The Kingdom Is Opened (Student/Study Guide)
$9.99Mike McKinley takes us along the path to the cross, and through the cross, in a way that is fresh and compelling for both experienced and new readers of Luke’s Gospel.
These eight looking at the second half of Luke’s Gospel can be used individually or in small groups. This Good Book Guide features close attention to the text, a focus on real-life application and questions that really open up discussion. Plus a comprehensive guide for leaders in the back.
Use alone or together with the accompanying expository guide, Luke 12-24 For You, also by Mike McKinley.
Read moreOut of stock
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.