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Foreword by Marcello Pera Written by Joseph Ratzinger shortly before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures looks at the growing conflict of cultures evident in the Western world. The West faces a deadly contradiction of its own making, he contends. Terrorism is on the rise. Technological advances of the West, employed by people who have cut themselves off from the moral wisdom of the past, threaten to abolish man (as C.S. Lewis put it)whether through genetic manipulation or physical annihilation. In short, the West is at war-with itself. Its scientific outlook has brought material progress. The Enlightenment's appeal to reason has achieved a measure of freedom. But contrary to what many people suppose, both of these accomplishments depend on Judeo-Christian foundations, including the moral worldview that created Western culture. More than anything else, argues Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI, the important contributions of the West are threatened today by an exaggerated scientific outlook and by moral relativism-what Benedict XVI calls "the dictatorship of relativism"-in the name of freedom. Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures is no mere tirade against the moral decline of the West. Razinger challenges the West to return to its roots by finding a place for God in modern culture. He argues that both Christian culture and the Enlightenment formed the West, and that both hold the keys to human life and freedom as well as to domination and destruction. Ratzinger challenges non-believer and believer alike. "Both parties," he writes, "must reflect on their own selves and be ready to accept correction." He challenges secularized, unbelieving people to open themselves to God as the ground of true rationality and freedom. He calls on believers to "make God credible in this world by means of the enlightened faith they live." Topics include: Reflections on the Cultures in Conflict Today The Significance and Limits of Today's Rationalistic Culture The Permanent Significance of the Christian Faith Why We Must Not Give Up the Fight The Law of the Jungle, the Rule of Law We Must Use Our Eyes! Faith and Everyday Life Can Agnosticism Be a Solution? The Natural Knowledge of God "Supernatural" Faith and Its Origins
Nearly two decades ago Hank Hanegraaff’s award-winning Christianity in Crisis alerted the world to the dangers of a cultic movement within Christianity that threatened to undermine the very foundation of biblical faith. But in the 21st century, there are new dangers—new teachers who threaten to do more damage than the last. These are not obscure teachers that Hanegraaff unmasks. We know their names. We have seen their faces, sat in their churches, and heard them shamelessly preach and promote the false pretexts of a give-to-get gospel. They are virtual rock stars who command the attention of presidential candidates and media moguls. Through make-believe miracles, urban legends, counterfeit Christs, and twisted theological reasoning, they peddle an occult brand of metaphysics that continues to shipwreck the faith of millions around the globe: “God cannot do anything in this earthly realm unless we give Him permission.” “Keep saying it—‘I have equality with God’—talk yourself into it.” “Being poor is a sin.” “The Jews were not rejecting Jesus as Messiah; it was Jesus who was refusing to be the Messiah to the Jews!” “You create your own world the same way God creates His. He speaks, and things happen; you speak, and they happen.” Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century exposes darkness to light, pointing us back to a Christianity centered in Christ. From the Preface: “Having lost the ability to think biblically, postmodern Christians are being transformed from cultural change agents and initiators into cultural conformists and imitators. Pop culture beckons, and postmodern Christians have taken the bait. As a result, the biblical model of faith has given way to an increasingly bizarre array of fads and formulas.”
"Beautifully researched, accessibly presented. I highly recommend American Crisis." Douglas Kruger author of Poverty Proof and Political Correctness Does More Harm Than Good All Americans know we are in a state of cultural crisis, but how did we get to this point? It has been said, if we seek an actual legal date for the fall of Judeo-Christian culture in America, it would be June 26, 2015, the day the Supreme Court ruled that homosexual marriage was a constitutionally protected right. But according to William D. Howard, the destruction of our country started well before that when states began changing laws and incorporating changes that had lasting repercussions on the culture as a whole. In American Crisis: The Collapse of Christian Culture, Howard takes an in-depth look at civilizations in the past, provides insights on our current culture, and warns of a future that can mean only the destruction of everything we hold dear. But this book is not without hope. Howard uses God's Word to show Christians how we can counter the social and political norms and fight for our country's moral, political, and social outlook. As our moral high ground is being chipped away one corner at a time, we need to take up the call to action and fight against the powers that seek our demise.
Catholic pamphlet.
Peter Kreeft examines the true nature of the "culture war" today, identifies the real enemies facing the church and maps out a strategy for battle.
In René Girard and Secular Modernity: Christ, Culture, and Crisis, Scott Cowdell provides the first systematic interpretation of René Girard’s controversial approach to secular modernity. Cowdell identifies the scope, development, and implications of Girard’s thought, the centrality of Christ in Girard's thinking, and, in particular, Girard's distinctive take on the uniqueness and finality of Christ in terms of his impact on Western culture. In Girard’s singular vision, according to Cowdell, secular modernity has emerged thanks to the Bible’s exposure of the cathartic violence that is at the root of religious prohibitions, myths, and rituals. In the literature, the psychology, and most recently the military history of modernity, Girard discerns a consistent slide into an apocalypse that challenges modern ideas of romanticism, individualism, and progressivism. In the first three chapters, Cowdell examines the three elements of Girard’s basic intellectual vision (mimesis, sacrifice, biblical hermeneutics) and brings this vision to a constructive interpretation of “secularization” and “modernity,” as these terms are understood in the broadest sense today. Chapter 4 focuses on modern institutions, chiefly the nation state and the market, that function to restrain the outbreak of violence. And finally, Cowdell discusses the apocalyptic dimension of Girard's theory in relation to modern warfare and terrorism. Here, Cowdell engages with the most recent writings of Girard (particularly his Battling to the End) and applies them to further conversations in cultural theology, political science, and philosophy. Cowdell takes up and extends Girard’s own warning concerning an alternative to a future apocalypse: “What sort of conversion must humans undergo, before it is too late?”
This is a critical time in our nation's history. The moral and spiritual influences of the past are disintegrating, and there are insidious forces at work that are literally hell-bent on destroying anything good and decent that remains in our society and culture. As a result, America has become increasingly immoral, chaotic and dysfunctional to an extent unimaginable just a few years ago.This book is an analysis of the origins, the manifestations and the consequences of America's culture war - and what Christians can and should do in response. Although written primarily to Christians, this book is certainly applicable to all Americans who value our past and are concerned about the spiritual, social, cultural and political condition of our nation.The purpose of "American Crisis" is (1) to reveal and analyze the great spiritual, moral and cultural challenges facing America today; (2) to explore the historical and philosophical origins of America's culture war; (3) to expose the serious consequences of the erosion of Christian influences in our society and culture; and (4) to challenge Christians to become better informed and more actively engaged in the great issues of our time so as to fulfill our calling to be a source of Love, Light, Hope and Truth in the midst of a society and culture that is rapidly disintegrating and descending into spiritual darkness. As the theologian R. C. Sproul has written, "I doubt if there has been a period in all of Christian history when so many Christians are so ineffectual in shaping the culture in which they live as is true right now in the United States." What is desperately needed today is a new Christian consciousness and a wholistic understanding of discipleship. The question is: Will Christians rise up and meet the challenges of our day, or will we meekly submit and go with the flow? Will we exhibit the faith and courage necessary to confront the insidious forces corrupting every aspect of our society and culture, or are we so acculturated, so compromised and so caught up in the values, the priorities and the agenda of this world as to have little time, energy and resources left for the things that truly matter? That, stated succinctly, is the essential message of this book.