Download or read book Hipster Christianity written by Brett McCracken and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Insider twentysomething Christian journalist Brett McCracken has grown up in the evangelical Christian subculture and observed the recent shift away from the "stained glass and steeples" old guard of traditional Christianity to a more unorthodox, stylized 21st-century church. This change raises a big issue for the church in our postmodern world: the question of cool. The question is whether or not Christianity can be, should be, or is, in fact, cool. This probing book is about an emerging category of Christians McCracken calls "Christian hipsters"--the unlikely fusion of the American obsessions with worldly "cool" and otherworldly religion--an analysis of what they're about, why they exist, and what it all means for Christianity and the church's relevancy and hipness in today's youth-oriented culture.

Download or read book To Change the World written by James Davison Hunter and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The call to make the world a better place is inherent in the Christian belief and practice. But why have efforts to change the world by Christians so often failed or gone tragically awry? And how might Christians in the 21st century live in ways that have integrity with their traditions and are more truly transformative? In To Change the World, James Davison Hunter offers persuasive--and provocative--answers to these questions. Hunter begins with a penetrating appraisal of the most popular models of world-changing among Christians today, highlighting the ways they are inherently flawed and therefore incapable of generating the change to which they aspire. Because change implies power, all Christian eventually embrace strategies of political engagement. Hunter offers a trenchant critique of the political theologies of the Christian Right and Left and the Neo-Anabaptists, taking on many respected leaders, from Charles Colson to Jim Wallis and Stanley Hauerwas. Hunter argues that all too often these political theologies worsen the very problems they are designed to solve. What is really needed is a different paradigm of Christian engagement with the world, one that Hunter calls "faithful presence"--an ideal of Christian practice that is not only individual but institutional; a model that plays out not only in all relationships but in our work and all spheres of social life. He offers real-life examples, large and small, of what can be accomplished through the practice of "faithful presence." Such practices will be more fruitful, Hunter argues, more exemplary, and more deeply transfiguring than any more overtly ambitious attempts can ever be. Written with keen insight, deep faith, and profound historical grasp, To Change the World will forever change the way Christians view and talk about their role in the modern world.

Download or read book The Unsaved Christian written by Dean Inserra and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What to do when they say they’re Christian but don’t know Jesus Whether it’s the Christmas and Easter Christians or the faithful church attenders whose hearts are cold toward the Lord, we’ve all encountered cultural Christians. They’d check the Christian box on a survey, they’re fine with church, but the truth is, they’re far from God. So how do we bring Jesus to this overlooked mission field? The Unsaved Christian equips you to confront cultural Christianity with honesty, compassion, and grace, whether you’re doing it from the pulpit or the pews. This practical guide will: show you how to recognize cultural Christianity teach you how to overcome the barriers that get in the way give you easy-to-understand advice about VBS, holiday services, reaching “good people,” and more! If you’ve ever felt stuck or unsure how to minister to someone who identifies as Christian but still needs Jesus, this book is for you.

Download or read book Rebranding Christianity written by Jeff Jones and published by . This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity is known for a lot of things these days. Labeled as intolerant or hateful, the true heart of the Christian faith has been buried underneath an onslaught of bad attention and bad press. We've failed our brand. In John 13, Jesus gave us the brand--radical love. Christians are known for many things today but love is not one of them. In Rebranding Christianity, Pastor Jeff Jones and professional marketer Mike Hogan combine their experience to provide a fresh new perspective on the Christian faith, how it has strayed from its true intention, and how to reclaim it. Interwoven with case studies of the most trusted and hated brands, Jones and Hogan break down how brands lose the trust of their audience and once lost, how that trust can be regained. It's time for Christianity to return to its true intention. It's time for a rebrand.-- (7/13/2023 12:00:00 AM)

Download or read book Another Gospel written by Alisa Childers and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This may be the most influential book you will read this year.” —Lee Strobel, bestselling author of The Case for Miracles A Movement Seeks to Redefine Christianity. Some Think that It Is a Much-Needed Progressive Reformation. Others Believe that It Is an Attack on Historic Christianity. Alisa Childers never thought she would question her Christian faith. She was raised in a Christian home, where she had seen her mom and dad feed the hungry, clothe the homeless, and love the outcast. She had witnessed God at work and then had dedicated her own life to leading worship, as part of the popular Christian band ZOEgirl. All that was deeply challenged when she met a progressive pastor, who called himself a hopeful agnostic. Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith. After everything she had ever believed about God, Jesus, and the Bible had been picked apart, she found herself at the brink of despair . . . until God rescued her, helping her to rebuild her faith, one solid brick at a time. In a culture of endless questions, you need solid answers. If you or someone you love has encountered the ideas of progressive Christianity and aren’t sure how to respond, Alisa’s journey will show you how to determine—and rest in—what’s unmistakably true.

Download or read book God Rock Inc written by Andrew Mall and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popular music in the twenty-first century is increasingly divided into niche markets. How do fans, musicians, and music industry executives define their markets’ boundaries? What happens when musicians cross those boundaries? What can Christian music teach us about commercial popular music? In God Rock, Inc., Andrew Mall considers the aesthetic, commercial, ethical, and social boundaries of Christian popular music, from the late 1960s, when it emerged, through the 2010s. Drawing on ethnographic research, historical archives, interviews with music industry executives, and critical analyses of recordings, concerts, and music festival performances, Mall explores the tensions that have shaped this evolving market and frames broader questions about commerce, ethics, resistance, and crossover in music that defines itself as outside the mainstream.

Download or read book Sharpening the Focus of the Church written by Gene A. Getz and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2024-10-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A timeless classic for solid grounding and renewal. Is your church adrift? Many churches are struggling to stay focused—to stay on point and hold fast to gospel essentials. Competing voices threaten to divide rather than unite and grow the church. In Sharpening the Focus of the Church, Dr. Gene Getz has written a classic, insightful, biblical treatise on church renewal. Getz focuses on New Testament principles as applied to the unique needs of contemporary culture and roots readers in the perspective of the history of the church. Discover how to sharpen your church’s focus through the lenses of Scripture, church history, and present-day needs. As you embark on this in-depth study of New Testament teaching, you will experience the power of the Word and the power of the Spirit transforming your church from the inside out. You’ll find positive, biblical solutions to the problems facing the church today, with practical advice for finding solutions to contemporary questions.

Download or read book The Problem of Pleasure written by Dominic Erdozain and published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd. This book was released on 2010 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book combines intellectual, cultural and social history to address a major area of encounter between Christianity and British culture: the world of leisure.

Download or read book I Kissed Dating Goodbye written by Joshua Harris and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 2012-01-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Joshua Harris's first book, written when he was only 21, turned the Christian singles scene upside down...and people are still talking. More than 800,000 copies later, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, with its inspiring call to sincere love, real purity, and purposeful singleness, remains the benchmark for books on Christian dating. Now, for the first time since its release, the national #1 bestseller has been expanded with new content and updated for new readers. Honest and practical, it challenges cultural assumptions about relationships and provides solid, biblical alternatives to society's norm.Clear, stylish typeset, with user-friendly links to referenced Scripture.

Download or read book The Evangelicals You Don t Know written by Tom Krattenmaker, USA Today contributing columnist; author of The Evangelicals You Don't Know and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2013-04-26 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So you have a problem with evangelical Christians? The Evangelicals You Don’t Know introduces readers to Christian innovators embodying stereotype-busting, boundary-breaking inclusiveness, with each chapter offering insight for how we all, regardless of our own faith persuasion, can become part of this broadening new pursuit of the common good.

Download or read book Selling Spirituality written by Jeremy R. Carrette and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Selling Spirituality shows how spirituality today functions as a powerful commodity in the global marketplace, promising to soothe away the ills of modern life whilst functioning as a silent form of economic, cultural and political restraint.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism written by Andrew Atherstone and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2024-01-18 with total page 737 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This authoritative volume offers the fullest account to date of Christian fundamentalism, its origins in the nineteenth century, and its development up to the present day. It looks at the movement in global terms and through a number of key subjects and debates in which it is actively engaged.

Download or read book Negotiating Identity written by Susie Scott and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-10-12 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Identity is never just an individual matter; it is intricately shaped by our experiences of social life. Taking a Symbolic Interactionist approach, and drawing on Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, Susie Scott explores the micro-social processes of interaction through which identities are created, maintained, challenged and reinvented. With a focus on empirical studies as illustrations, classic sociological theory is applied to contemporary examples. Each chapter focuses on a key dimension of how identities are negotiated in the drama of everyday life, from politeness and face-saving rituals to secrecy, lies and deception. Goffman’s ideas are explored in relation to self-presentation, role-making, group interaction and public behaviour, while language and discourse are shown to help people to give credible identity performances and to frame social situations. The book reveals how social selves change over the life course through stigma, labelling and deviant careers, and how life in a total institution can radically transform its members' identities. Through all of these processes, self and society are shown to be intertwined. This insightful approach will appeal to students taking a range of courses in the sociology of the self, identity, interaction and everyday life

Download or read book Christianity and the Alt Right written by Damon T. Berry and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2021-07-14 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Christianity and the Alt-Right: Exploring the Relationship looks back at the 2016 presidential election and the support President Trump enjoyed among white Evangelicals. This cutting-edge volume offers insights into the role of race and racism in shaping both the Trump candidacy and presidency and the ways in which xenophobia, racism, and religion intersect within the Alt-Right and Evangelical cultures in the age of Trump. This book aims to examine the specific role that Christianity plays within the Alt-Right itself. Of special concern is the development of what is called “pro-white Christianity” and an ethic of religious tolerance between members of the Alt-Right who are Pagan or atheist and those who are Christian, whilst also exploring the reaction from Christian communities to the phenomenon of the Alt-Right. Looking at the larger relationship between American Christians, especially white Evangelicals, and the Alt-Right as well as the current American political context, the place of Christianity within the Alt-Right itself, and responses from Christian communities to the Alt-Right, this is a must-read for those interested in religion in America, religion and politics, evangelicalism, and religion and race.

Download or read book Repackaging Christianity written by Andrew Atherstone and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2022-07-21 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Alpha is of major significance for understanding the place of religious faith in the modern world, but that story has never been told - until now. Since its launch in 1993, the Alpha movement has evolved from 'supper party evangelism' in the Kensington suburbs into a global brand of Christian outreach. Today, over a million people attend Alpha every year, but the history of its rise to popularity has never been documented. What caused such spiritual renewal in an age of scepticism? And what propelled Alpha into a phenomenon that is recognised across the globe? Alpha is far more than an introductory course to Christianity. At the core of its brand identity is a 'repackaging' of the Christian message for contemporary audiences. Innovation and cultural adaptability are built into Alpha's DNA, one of the chief reasons for its longevity and influence. Nimbly utilising the multimedia and digital revolutions, it has contextualised into cultures and languages across the planet. And led by charismatic, savvy individuals, it has attracted people from across the social spectrum, making waves in national media. Andrew Atherstone leaves no stone unturned as he presents this fascinating history. With exclusive access to original archives, Atherstone recounts the miraculous stories of HTB's early years, the first full account of Nicky Gumbel's conversion, and the strategic decisions that launched Alpha onto the global stage of Christian influence. With sharp historical analysis, Andrew Atherstone uncovers the story of Christian resurgence in our contemporary age.

Download or read book Networking the Black Church written by Erika D. Gault and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2022-01-18 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a timely portrait of young Black Christians and how digital technology is transforming the Black Church They stand at the forefront of the Black Lives Matter movement, push the boundaries of the Black Church through online expression of Christian hip hop, and redefine what it means to be young, Black, and Christian in America. Young Black adults represent the future of African American religiosity, yet little is known regarding their religious lives beyond the Black Church. Networking the Black Church explores how deeply embedded digital technology is in the lives of young Black Christians, offering a first-of-its-kind digital-hip hop ethnography. Erika D. Gault argues that a new religious ethos has emerged among young adult Blacks in America. To understand Black Christianity today it is not enough to look at the traditional Black Church. The Black Church is itself being changed by what she calls digital Black Christians. The volume examines the ways in which Christian hip hop artists who have adopted Black-preaching-inspired spoken word performances create alternate kinds of Christian communities both inside and outside the walls of traditional Black churches. Framed around interviews with prominent Black Christian hip hop artists, it explores the multiple ways that digital Black Christians construct religious identity and meaning through video-sharing and social media. In the process, these digital Black Christians are changing Black churches as institutions, transforming modes of religious activism, inventing new communication practices around evangelism and Christian identity, and streamlining the accessibility of Black Church cultural practices in popular culture. Erika D. Gault provides a fascinating portrait of young Black faith, illuminating how the relationship between religion and digital media is changing the lived experiences of a new generation of Black Christians.

Download or read book Defying ISIS written by Rev. Johnnie Moore and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2015-03-13 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Has the Christian Holocaust Begun? A Christian genocide at the hands of Islamic extremists is unfolding in the Middle East. Entire Christian populations have been eliminated, and the ultimate aim of ISIS and the Islamic State is to eradicate the world of Christianity. They are well on their way. Thousands of Christians arrive in refugee camps daily as tents can be seen for miles across the countryside of Jordan, N. Iraq and Lebanon.