Download or read book What Happened to Christian Canada written by Mark A. Noll and published by Regent College Publishing. This book was released on 2007 with total page 1 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 15, 1959, Georges Vanier, Canada's Governor-General soon-to-be, began his acceptance speech with the following invocation: "Mr. Prime Minister, my first words are a prayer. May Almighty God in his infinite wisdom and mercy bless the sacred mission which has been entrusted to me by Her Majesty the Queen and help me to fulfill it in all humility. In exchange for his strength, I offer him my weakness." Fifty-six years later, on September 27, 2005, Michaëlle Jean became Canada's 27th Governor-General. In her acceptance speech, by contrast, Jean referred to how Canadian history "speaks powerfully about the freedom to invent a new world," and made no reference to the deity. What happened to the Canadian religious conscience, as illustrated by the speeches of these two luminaries, in the approximately fifty years between then and now? Why might have church and synagogue attendance fallen from 67 percent after World War II to less than 20 percent in 2000? In What Happened to Christian Canada?, renowned church historian Mark Noll investigates these and other related questions, and makes timely observations about one of the more prominent sociological shifts in modern North American history.
Download or read book Leaving Christianity written by Stuart Macdonald and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Canadians were once church-goers. During the post-war boom of the 1950s, Canadian churches were vibrant institutions, with attendance rates even higher than in the United States, but the following decade witnessed emptying pews. What happened? In Leaving Christianity Brian Clarke and Stuart Macdonald quantitatively map the nature and extent of Canadians’ disengagement with organized religion and assess the implications for Canadian society and its religious institutions. Drawing on a wide array of national and denominational statistics, they illustrate how the exodus that began with disaffected baby boomers and their parents has become so widespread that religiously unaffiliated Canadians are now the new majority. While the old mainstream Protestant churches have been the hardest hit, the Roman Catholic Church has also experienced a significant decline in numbers, especially in Quebec. Canada’s civil society has historically depended on church members for support, and a massive drift away from churches has profound implications for its future. Leaving Christianity documents the true extent of the decline, the timing of it, and the reasons for this major cultural shift.
Download or read book The Decline of Established Christianity in the Western World written by Paul Silas Peterson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-22 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While Church attendance in the West is often cited as being in decline, it is argued that this applies primarily to the older established forms of Christianity. Other expressions of the faith are, in fact, stable or even growing. This volume provides multidisciplinary interpretations of and responses to one of the most complicated and controversial issues regarding the global transformation of Christianity today: the decline of "established Christianity" in the Western world. It also addresses the future of Christianity in the West after the decline. Drawing upon historical research, sociology, religious studies, philosophy and theology, an international panel of contributors provide new theoretical frameworks for understanding this decline and offer creative suggestions for responding to it. "Established Christianity" is conceptualized as historically, culturally, socially and politically embedded religion (with or without official established status). This is a dynamic volume that gives fresh perspective on one of the great social changes taking place in the West today. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of religious sociology, history and anthropology, as well as theologians.
Download or read book The United Church of Canada written by Don Schweitzer and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its inception in the early 1900s, The United Church of Canada set out to become the national church of Canada. This book recounts and analyzes the history of the church of Canada’s largest Protestant denomination and its engagement with issues of social and private morality, evangelistic campaigns, and its response to the restructuring of religion in the 1960s. A chronological history is followed by chapters on the United Church’s worship, theology, understanding of ministry, relationships with the Canadian Jewish community, Israel, and Palestinians, changing mission goals in relation to First Nations peoples, and changing social imaginary. The result is an original, accessible, and engaging account of The United Church of Canada’s pilgrimage that will be useful for students, historians, and general readers. From this account there emerges a complex portrait of the United Church as a distinctly Canadian Protestant church shaped by both its Christian faith and its engagement with the changing society of which it is a part.
Download or read book The Armageddon Factor written by Marci McDonald and published by Vintage Canada. This book was released on 2011-04-13 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her new book, award-winning journalist Marci McDonald draws back the curtain on the mysterious world of the right-wing Christian nationalist movement in Canada and its many ties to the Conservative government of Stephen Harper. To most Canadians, the politics of the United States — where fundamentalist Christians wield tremendous power and culture wars split the country — seem too foreign to ever happen here. But The Armageddon Factor shows that the Canadian Christian right — infuriated by the legalization of same-sex marriage and the increasing secularization of society — has been steadily and stealthily building organizations, alliances and contacts that have put them close to the levers of power and put the government of Canada in their debt. Determined to outlaw homosexuality and abortion, and to restore Canada to what they see as its divinely determined destiny to be a nation ruled by Christian laws and precepts, this group of true believers has moved the country far closer to the American mix of politics and religion than most Canadians would ever believe. McDonald’s book explores how a web of evangelical far-right Christians have built think-tanks and foundations that play a prominent role in determining policy for the Conservative government of Canada. She shows how Biblical belief has allowed Christians to put dozens of MPs in office and to build a power base across the country, across cultures and even across religions. “What drives that growing Christian nationalist movement is its adherents’ conviction that the end times foretold in the book of Revelation are at hand,” writes McDonald. “Braced for an impending apocalypse, they feel impelled to ensure that Canada assumes a unique, scripturally ordained role in the final days before the Second Coming — and little else.” The Armageddon Factor shows how the religious right’s influence on the Harper government has led to hugely important but little-known changes in everything from foreign policy and the makeup of the courts to funding for scientific research and social welfare programs like daycare. And the book also shows that the religious influence is here to stay, regardless of which party ends up in government. For those who thought the religious right in Canada was confined to rural areas and the west, this book is an eye-opener, outlining to what extent the corridors of power in Ottawa are now populated by true believers. For anyone who assumed that the American religious right stopped at the border, The Armageddon Factor explains how US money and evangelists have infiltrated Canadian politics. This book should be essential reading for Canadians of every religious belief or political stripe. Indeed, The Armageddon Factor should persuade every Canadian that, with the growth of such a movement, the future direction of the country is at stake.
Download or read book Blessed written by Kate Bowler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gospels -- Faith -- Wealth -- Health -- Victory -- American blessing -- Megachurch table -- Naming names.
Download or read book Pentecostalism Secularism and Post Christendom written by Bradley Truman Noel and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2015-12-14 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "If only we were a Christian country again!" Christians, particularly those in the West, often lament their loss of influence in modern politics and culture. It seems that everywhere one turns, Christendom in the West is dealt another blow, with Christian reactions ranging from withdrawal and entrenchment, to cries of persecution and talks of organized resistance. Pentecostalism, Secularism, and Post Christendom seeks to address these concerns via an examination of Classical North American Pentecostalism as it wrestles with the very real challenges posed by the increasing post-Christian ethos of Western culture. In addition to providing a number of concrete steps, Pentecostals may take in their efforts to better understand and connect with modern culture, this work will argue that counter-intuitively, the death of Christendom (if properly addressed), may in fact herald the arrival of the Church's finest hour.
Download or read book Research Handbook on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Law and Religion written by Russell Sandberg and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2019 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following 9/11, increased attention has been given to the place of religion in the public sphere. Across the world, Law and Religion has developed as a sub-discipline and scholars have grappled with the meaning and effect of legal texts upon religion. The questions they ask, however, cannot be answered by reference to Law alone therefore their work has increasingly drawn upon work from other disciplines. This Research Handbook assists by providing introductory but provocative essays from experts on a range of concepts, perspectives and theories from other disciplines, which can be used to further Law and Religion scholarship.
Download or read book Christianity written by Jason Byassee and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2023-06-20 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is God changing the face of the church in North America today? The secularization thesis makes it appear that churches are inevitably declining in membership and influence. Too often, however, this assumption of decline is based on only watching the denominations that were “church plants of Western Christendom” in North America. Christianity: An Asian Religion in Vancouver focuses on the context of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and notes through a mixed-methods study including interviews and participant observation that many churches in Vancouver with predominantly Asian composition are growing both in size and influence. What might we learn about God’s transforming power by looking to Asia rather than Europe to predict the future of Christian witness in the Pacific Northwest of North America?
Download or read book The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions Volume IV written by Jehu J. Hanciles and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-07 with total page 470 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The five-volume Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions series is governed by a motif of migration ('out-of-England'). It first traces organized church traditions that arose in England as Dissenters distanced themselves from a state church defined by diocesan episcopacy, the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and royal supremacy, but then follows those traditions as they spread beyond England-and also traces newer traditions that emerged downstream in other parts of the world from earlier forms of Dissent. Secondly, it does the same for the doctrines, church practices, stances toward state and society, attitudes toward Scripture, and characteristic patterns of organization that also originated in earlier English Dissent, but that have often defined a trajectory of influence independent ecclesiastical organizations. Volume IV examines the globalization of dissenting traditions in the twentieth century. During this period, Protestant Dissent achieved not only its widest geographical reach but also the greatest genealogical distance from its point of origin. Covering Africa, Asia, the Middle East, America, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific, this collection provides detailed examination of Protestant Dissent as a globalizing movement. Contributors probe the radical shifts and complex reconstruction that took place as dissenting traditions encountered diverse cultures and took root in a multitude of contexts, many of which were experiencing major historical change at the same time. This authoritative overview unambiguously reveals that 'Dissent' was transformed as it travelled.
Download or read book The Uncomfortable Pew written by Bruce Douville and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Uncomfortable Pew Bruce Douville explores the relationship between Christianity and the New Left in English Canada from 1959 to 1975. Focusing primarily on Toronto, he examines the impact that left-wing student radicalism had on Canada's largest Christian denominations, and the role that Christianity played in shaping Canada’s New Left. Based on extensive archival research and oral interviews, this study reconstructs the social and intellectual worlds of young radicals who saw themselves as part of both the church and the revolution. Douville looks at major communities of faith and action, including the Student Christian Movement, Kairos, and the Latin American Working Group, and explains what made these and other groups effective incubators for left-wing student activism. He also sheds light on Canada's Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United churches and the ways that progressive older Christians engaged with radical youth and the issues that concerned them, including the Vietnam War, anti-imperialism around the globe, women’s liberation, and gay liberation. Challenging the idea that the New Left was atheistic and secular, The Uncomfortable Pew reveals that many young activists began their careers in student Christian organizations, and these religious and social movements deeply influenced each other. While the era was one of crisis and decline for leading Canadian churches, Douville shows how Christianity retained an important measure of influence during a period of radical social change.
Download or read book Training Disciplined Soldiers for Christ written by Tim W. Callaway and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A retrospective look at Alberta's Prairie Bible Institute and the influence of American fundamentalism on the school's teachings.
Download or read book Who s Minding the Story written by Jeff Seaton and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-07-19 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who’s Minding the Story? examines the trajectory of the United Church of Canada since its heyday in the mid-1960s. Jeff Seaton argues that the denomination accepted the criticisms leveled at it by proponents of secular theology in the 1960s and made sweeping changes to its practices, its presentation of the Christian story, and its engagement with the world. Seaton argues that these “adjustments,” which continue to exert strong influence in the denomination today—as witnessed in the approaches of influential contemporary United Church leaders John Pentland and Gretta Vosper—have seriously weakened the United Church’s Christian identity and contributed to its decline. Engaging the work of Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor in his magisterial volume A Secular Age, Seaton questions the assumptions that undergird secular theology. The book concludes with an invitation to the United Church to make a course correction by reengaging with the Christian tradition while maintaining its commitment to social justice, in a formulation Seaton names “progressive orthodoxy.”
Download or read book Daylight Atheism written by Adam Lee and published by . This book was released on 2012-08-09 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Adam Lee's writing has made him one of the most widely-read atheist bloggers - and rightfully so. This effort should secure him a place amongst atheism's most informative and relatable authors."--J.T. Eberhard, blogger at Freethought Blogs, campus organizing coordinator for the Secular Student AllianceTo a believer, atheism can seem dark, cold, and frightening. Adam Lee opens the shutters and lets the sunlight in. Daylight Atheism speaks clearly and passionately of the joy of living a reality-based existence guided by respect for each human person. Highly recommended. --Mary Johnson, author of An Unquenchable Thirst: A MemoirDaylight Atheism sums up the freethinking beliefs held by Adam Lee, known for his popular blog of the same name.Says Adam Lee: "Even without gods, existence is overflowing with possibility. This life offers so much transcendent beauty, so many deep and beckoning mysteries, and so many opportunities for happiness that there's no reason to ever be a nihilist. . . atheism is nothing less than a resounding affirmation of this life."
Download or read book God and Government written by Cornelis Van Dam and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-12-05 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ours is a time of rapid cultural change with new economic challenges. People look to their governments for leadership and solutions. But what can and should government do to meet the difficulties that beset a nation? What can citizens expect from their elected representatives? What is reasonable? And what should citizens do? What are their responsibilities? This book addresses such fundamental issues through the eyes of Scripture and against the backdrop of North America's dual heritage of Christianity and humanism. Government, politics, and the Bible do not seem like a good mix. But as this book aims to show, the Bible has much wisdom to teach us about the place and role of government and its citizens. Biblical principles work because God knows how his world and his servant governments are supposed to function. After all, he ordained the governing authorities, and the principles enunciated in his Word are timeless and remain practical. This book introduces fundamental biblical principles that apply to government and politics. The intent is to inform and to motivate the reader to get involved where possible in the political processes of the day. Our legislators need the input and help from their knowledgable Christian constituents.
Download or read book A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada written by Mark A. Noll and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 922 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A best-selling text thoroughly updated, including new chapters on the last 30 years "An excellent study that will help historians appreciate the importance of Christianity in the history of the United States and Canada." – The Journal of American History “Scholars and general readers alike will gain unique insights into the multifaceted character of Christianity in its New World environment. Nothing short of brilliant.” – Harry S. Stout, Yale University “A new standard for textbooks on the history of North American Christianity.” – James Turner, University of Notre Dame Mark Noll’s A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada has been firmly established as the standard text on the Christian experience in North America. Now Noll has thoroughly revised, updated, and expanded his classic text to incorporate new materials and important themes, events, leaders, and changes of the last thirty years. Once again readers will benefit from his insights on the United States and Canada in this superb narrative survey of Christian churches, institutions, and cultural engagements from the colonial period through 2018.
Download or read book Pentecostal Preaching and Ministry in Multicultural and Post Christian Canada written by Steven M. Studebaker and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-11-07 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past forty years, Canada has become an increasingly secular, multicultural, and religiously plural society. Indeed, the church in Canada, and Pentecostals in particular, face a challenging context for responding to the call to bear witness to Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Like the disciples on the day of Pentecost, however, we need the Holy Spirit to come upon us and liberate us from our post-Christian pessimism. We need the Holy Spirit to enable us to proclaim the gospel to the nations, people that are no longer at the ends of the earth, but making their home in Canada. This book engages this new context, and considers and proposes ways that pentecostal Christians and churches can respond to the challenges of the increasingly post-Christian, multicultural, secular, and religiously plural context of Canadian society.
