Issues Facing Christians Today, 4th ed.
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Terrorism. Same-Sex marriage. Debt cancellation. The AIDS pandemic. These are just some of the critical contemporary issues addressed in this book. Issues Facing Christians Today helps thinking Christians sift through and respond to a sweeping array of complex and pressing topics. Thoroughly revised and updated by Roy McCloughry and fully endorsed by John Stott, this fourth edition continues a two-decades-plus legacy of bringing important current issues under the lens of biblically informed thinking. Combining a keen global awareness with a gift for penetrating analysis, the authors examine such vital topics as pluralism and Christian witness, cohabitation, environmentalism and ecological stewardship, war and peace, abortion and euthanasia . . . and much more. An entirely new chapter on bio-engineering has been contributed by professor John Wyatt of University College London. Including a study guide, Issues Facing Christians Today is essential reading for Christians who wish to engage our culture with insight, passion, and faith, knowing that the gospel is as relevant and deeply needed today as at any time in history. As the culture wars continue, this book will remain a critical contribution, helping to define Christian social and ethical thinking in the years ahead.
Key Features
- Examines a variety of cultural and social issues from a Christian standpoint
- Features updated and revised content, as well as a new chapter on bio-engineering
- Includes a study guide with questions for further reflection and discussion
Contents
- Part One: Contextual Issues
- Our Changing World: Is Christian Involvement Necessary?
- Our Complex World: Is Christian Thinking Distinctive?
- Our Plural World: Is Christian Witness Influential?
- Part Two: Global Issues
- War and Peace
- Caring for Creation
- Living with Global Poverty
- Human Rights
- Part Three: Social Issues
- The World of Work
- Business Relationships
- Celebrating Ethnic Diversity
- Simplicity, Generosity and Contentment
- Part Four: Personal Issues
- Women, Men and God
- Marriage, Cohabitation and Divorce
- Abortion and Euthanasia
- The New Biotechnology (by Professor John Wyatt)
- Same-Sex Relationships
- Conclusion
- A Call for Christian Leadership
- Study Guide (compiled by Matthew Smith)
Top Highlights
“The reason for the biblical prohibitions is the same reason why modern loving homosexual partnerships must also be condemned, namely that they are incompatible with God’s created order. And since that order (heterosexual monogamy) was established by creation, not culture, its validity is both permanent and universal. There can be no ‘liberation’ from God’s created norms; true liberation is found only in accepting them.” (Pages 459–460)
“True gay liberation (like all authentic liberation) is not freedom from God’s revealed purpose in order to construct our own morality; it is rather freedom from our self-willed rebellion in order to love and obey him.” (Page 469)
“Quality of love is not the only yardstick by which to measure what is good or right.” (Page 467)
“since human beings may not claim as a ‘right’ what God has not given them.” (Page 469)
“Politics is the art of living together in a community” (Page 34)
Product Details
- Title: Issues Facing Christians Today
- Author: John Stott
- Editor: Roy McCloughry
- Edition: 4th
- Publisher: Zondervan
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 528
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Christianity
About John Stott
John R.W. Stott (1921–2011) has been known worldwide as a preacher, evangelist, and communicator of Scripture. For many years he served as rector of All Souls Church in London, where he carried out an effective urban pastoral ministry. A leader among evangelicals in Britain and the United States and around the world, Stott was a principal framer of the landmark Lausanne Covenant (1974). His many books have sold millions of copies around the world and in dozens of languages.
About Roy McCloughry
Roy McCloughry is a writer, lecturer, and researcher on Christian approaches to social issues. He has written a number of books including Living in the Presence of the Future and is chairman of Third Way magazine and a vice president of the Shaftesbury Society. He lectures in ethics and social theology at St John’s College, Nottingham.