
There a plenty of smart and thoughtful and serious lay Christians fully capable of reading these (and that's whom I am specifically targeting here); but the pop-Christian books are so appealing and, thus, are most often relevantly appealing because they affirm our comfortable niché in our world and in modernity (again, offensive, but no apologies) . . . but, still, here is one I have added to that list of should-must-ought to reads: The Church and Its Vocation: Lesslie Newbigin's Ecclesiology by Michael W. Goheen.
☛ ". . . Western culture is the most dangerous foe the church has ever faced in its long history. 'The church is awakening slowly to the fact that modernity is the most powerful enemy it has faced in its two thousand year history' . . . The long association of Western culture with the Christian faith appears to make it immune to the critique of the gospel." |
☛ "Western culture has deep Christian roots, but has rejected the gospel as public doctrine, relegating it to the sphere of private opinion. It has developed many powerful defenses against the gospel that make it difficult to mount a missionary encounter." |
☛ "There is no challenge to the idolatry of modernity–only capitulation." |
☛ "Newbigin believes the Western church has become what the early church refused to be." |
Any (lay-people) up to the challenge?
Okay, you pastors, too?