As the Christian movement nears the end of its second millennium, it faces a crisis that could not have been anticipated at the close of the first thousand years or, indeed, by most of our own great-grandparents. Since the most conspicuous dimensions of the waning of Christendom have to do with material decline (the decline in church membership and active attendance of Sunday services, the decline in financial and physical prosperity, the decline of influence in high places), such analyses as there are usually belabor the obvious: something drastic is happening to the churches! "Throughout most of its long history, Christianity has not required of its adherents that they should think the faith. The historical accident of its political and cultural establishment 15 centuries ago ensured that a thinking faith would be purely optional for members of the church. "But thought-less faith, which has always been a contradiction in terms, is today a stage on the road to the extinction, not only of Christianity itself, but of whatever the architects of our civilization meant by 'Humanity.' Only a thinking faith can survive. Only thinking faith can help the world survive! "- from the Preface

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fortress Press
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 1991
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0800625455
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0800625450
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.65 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.05 x 1.24 x 9.02 inches

General History of Religion, History of Religions, Christian Theology

 

About the Author
Douglas John Hall is an emeritus professor of theology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. Among the most widely read theologians in North America, Hall has written many popular and acclaimed works, including Lighten Our Darkness (1976), God and Human Suffering (1987), and Why Christian? (1998), as well as a full-scale trilogy in systematic theology: Thinking the Faith (1991), Professing the Faith (1996), and Confessing the Faith (1998), all from Fortress Press.