Introduction to Christianity Book

Introduction for the Teacher     xiv
Note to Students     xix
Biblical and Historical Background for Christianity     1
God as Revealed in the Bible     3
Revelation and Religious Experience     3
The Bible     5
Spirituality Immanence and Transcendence: The Paradox of God     7
God as Creator     8
God as Provident     10
Controversy Creating the Creator: Inspiration at Work     11
The Story of Abraham     12
The Story of Moses     13
The People of the Covenant     14
Concept Contracts with God: Covenant Theology     15
People King David     16
The People in Exile     17
Conclusion     18
Focal Points for Discussion     18
The Context for and Life of Jesus     19
Jewish Interpretation of the Exile     19
Hellenization and the Jews     20
Jewish Hopes for a Kingdom of God     22
Concept Living on the Edge of Time: Apocalypticism     23
The Jews Divided     24
The Sadducees     24
The Pharisees     24
People The Prophets and Messiahs of the First Century     25
The Essenes     25
The Zealots     26
Ordinary Jews     26
Summary of the Context     26
The Life of Jesus     27
The Account of Jesus in the New Testament     28
The Gospels     28
Controversy What Books are Authentic? The Formation of the New Testament     29
The Epistles     30
The Book of Revelation     31
Jesus and Jewish Expectation     31
Spirituality Experiencing God: From Moses to Philo     33
Conclusion     34
Focal Points for Discussion     35
The Emergence of the Christian Church     36
The Experience of the Apostles     36
Internal Conflicts in the Early Church     38
Universality of the Gospel     38
Authority and Doctrine     40
People Women in the Early Church     41
Law and Freedom in the Spirit     42
External Conflicts of the Early Community     43
The Jewish Context and Religious Identity     43
Controversy Salvation Through Knowledge: Gnosticism     45
The Greek Context and Philosophical Identity     45
Concept The Divinity of Jesus     46
The Roman Context and Political Identity     47
Spirituality Experience of the Holy Spirit: Inspiration and Renewal     49
Conclusion     50
Focal Points for Discussion     51
Historical Roots of Christian Diversity: From Constantine to Modern Times     53
Orthodox Christianity and Roman Catholicism: From the Fourth to the Fourteenth Centuries     55
Points of Correspondence     56
Tradition as a Religious Authority     56
Models of Sanctity     57
Concept Monasticism and the Resistance to Culture     58
The Power of Rome as an Idea: Two Christian Models     60
Constantinople as the New Rome: The Greek Orthodox System     61
The West as Roman Catholic: The Rise of the Papacy     63
The East-West Schism and Contemporary Relations     65
Controversy How Can Christ be Both Divine and Human?     67
Liturgy and Doctrine in the Two Churches     67
Icons and Divinization: The Orthodox Perspective     68
Survival and Salvation: The Roman Perspective     69
Spirituality Contemplating the Hidden God     70
Medieval Christianity in the West     71
People Thomas Aquinas     73
Conclusion     77
Focal Points for Discussion     78
Aspects of the Reformation     79
The Historical Situation     80
Spirituality Imitation of Christ     82
Religious Reform Before Luther     82
Reforms of Wycliffe and Hus     83
Conciliarism     84
Humanism and the Renaissance     85
People Erasmus: Faithful Humanist     87
The Protestant Reformation     88
The Lutheran Reformation     88
The Reformed Tradition     91
Concept Making Saints Out of Sinners: Justification     93
The Tudor Reformation     95
The Radical Reformation     96
The Catholic Reformation     98
Controversy Soldiers of the Catholic Reformation: The Jesuits     99
Conclusion     100
Focal Points for Discussion     100
The Reformation Continues: Christianity in the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries     101
Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Christianity: Increasing Diversity     102
Roman Catholicism     102
Lutheranism     102
Radical Reformation     103
The Reformed Tradition in the Context of the Puritan Reformation     103
Summary of Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century Christianity     106
The Eighteenth Century: Resettlement and Reformation     106
The Scientific Revolution     106
The Enlightenment and the Beginnings of Deism     107
Controversy Science and Religion: The Trial of Galileo     108
Pietism and the Emergence of New Christian Churches     109
Spirituality Searching for Sanctification     110
The American Context     111
People The Genius of the Great Awakening: Jonathan Edwards     112
The Great Awakening     113
Concept Deism and the American Revolution     114
Deism in America     115
Growing Denominationalism     115
Conclusion     117
Focal Points for Discussion     118
Christianity in the Modern World: Context and Creativity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries     119
Christianity and Modernity     123
Secularization: The New Philosophy and Politics     124
Controversy Creationism: Christianity and Science     126
Challenges to Secularization     127
Spirituality God in a Scientific Age     128
Roman Catholicism and Modernity     129
People Unorthodox Humanitarian: Albert Schweitzer      130
Protestantism and Modernity     131
Pietism and American Evangelicalism     132
The Oxford Movement     133
The Biblical Movement     134
Christianity and Social Concern     135
Concept The Modern Economy: Christians and the Rights of Workers     136
Conclusion     138
Focal Points for Discussion     138
Modern American Christianity     139
The Nineteenth Century: American Religious Diversity     139
American Evangelicalism     140
Liberal Protestantism     141
Communitarian Groups     141
Concept Political Christianity: The Double Legacy of Reinhold Niebuhr     142
Millennialist Groups     143
People Ellen Gould White: Prophet and Sabbatarian     145
New American Religions     146
Americanization and the Churches     148
Growth and Division Within Christian Churches     150
Spirituality Religion at Home and at Work: Jesus the Friend and Businessman     151
Summary of Nineteenth-Century Christianity     154
The Twentieth Century Previewed     154
Fundamentalism Versus Liberalism: The Battle of the Century     155
Controversy Politicized Preaching: The Stirring Vision of Aimee Semple Mcpherson     156
Conclusion     159
Focal Points for Discussion     159
Worldwide Christianity: Missions, Ecumenism, and Globalization     161
Understanding the Missionary Impulse     161
A Jesuit in China     163
The New World     164
Protestant Missionaries in the Nineteenth Century     165
Modern Missionaries and Liberation Theology     167
Concept Mission in Reverse     168
People Modern Missionaries in Danger: Four Women in el Salvador     170
Globalization and the Rise of World Christianity     171
The Ecumenical Movement     172
The Rise of Christianity in the Southern Hemisphere     174
Spirituality Our Lady of Guadalupe     176
Transnational Connections and New Conflicts     177
Controversy Word of Faith: Holy Spirit or Holy Fraud?     178
Conclusion     180
Focal Points for Discussion     180
Contemporary Christian Life     183
Christians and the World     185
Withdrawn Communities     186
Physical Withdrawal: Monastic Communities     187
Cultural Withdrawal: The Amish     187
Concept An Alternative to Vengeance: The Amish School Shooting     188
Psychological Withdrawal: Millennialist Christians     189
Spirituality The Fear and Reassurance of Judgment     190
Summary of Withdrawn Communities     190
Dominating Postures     192
Political Domination     192
People Jim Wallis: Left-Wing Evangelical Politics     194
Financial Domination     195
Summary of Dominating Postures     197
Controversy Gender Divisions and Promise Keepers     198
Questions Raised by the Postures of Withdrawal and Domination     199
In What Sense Is Christianity Political?     199
What Is the Church?     200
What Is the Christian Vision of Jesus?     200
Conclusion     201
Focal Points for Discussion     201
Christians and Their Culture     202
The Posture of Adaptation     203
Concept A Matter of Inclusion: Cesar Chavez and Mexican American Catholicism     204
The Posture of Nonconformity     205
Relationship of the Two Postures to Vital Issues     205
Controversy Iconoclastic Antiwar Protests     206
Problems of War and Peace     206
Problems of Poverty and Lifestyle      208
Problems of Racism     210
People Martin Luther King Jr.: Nonconformity and Social Change     212
Questions Raised by the Postures of Nonconformity and Adaptation     214
In What Sense Is Christianity Political?     214
What Is the Church?     215
Spirituality Redefining the Boundaries of Faith     216
How Should the Bible Be Interpreted?     216
Conclusion     217
Focal Points for Discussion     218
Contemporary Christianity     219
Liberal and Conservative Christianity     220
Liberal Christianity     220
Spirituality Prayer: Something Understood     223
Conservative Christianity     223
Contemporary Issues     225
Controversy Jesus in the Culture Wars     226
The Women's Movement and Questions of Ministry     227
Concept God-Talk: Language About God     228
Media Technology and the Nature of the Church     229
Homosexuality and the Authority of Scripture     232
People Eboo Patel: Deliberate Engagement with Difference     235
Conclusion     235
Focal Points for Discussion     236
The Order of the Books in the Old Testament      237
Synopsis of the Books of the Old and New Testaments     239
Early Christian Writers     245
Ecumenical Councils     249
Creeds and Confessions     253
A Summary of Structural Arrangements     256
Ecumenism and the World Council of Churches     260
Glossary     262
Index     276