InterestedParticipant
05-20-2009, 01:09 PM
Heroes of faith must return to their origins as subversive individuals
who refuse to play along with society's expectations.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KVNMHGGAL._SL500_.jpg
Excerpts from reviewers ...
That what is deemed Christianity today is, in fact, a rejection of the revelation of
Jesus Christ is unarguable, and Ellul does well in describing exactly how distant
what Kierkegaard called "Christendom" is from its origins. I am especially impressed
by his point that the contradictions to be found in the Bible that critics are so quick to
identify and condemn are the essence of revelation. But I'll let Ellul make his own point:
"We have to realize that everything in the Bible is contradictory. Yet there is revelation
only as the contradictions are held together. God the Wholly Other is incarnate in a man.
He is still the Wholly Other. And we have to understand -- I repeat this because it is
essential -- that the truth is made up of the actual contradictions. Each aspect
of the truth is true only because it is linked to its radical opposite."
"Ellul ably holds to the essential core of Christian teaching while showing how the church
throughout history has consistently been led away from truly living out the gospel -- whether
by outside forces or by the weight of its own success, the church has continually done exactly
the opposite of what the New Testament writers tell us to do. This book is fairly easy to read,
and is very straightforward: Ellul takes us through some of the most important missteps in
church history and shows how the good news of Grace and Freedom was forced to the side,
even with the best of intentions. Ellul challenges us to find a new way of living out the Gospel,
without either conforming ourselves to our present age or rejecting the essential elements of
Christian doctrine. If the church is to have any effect, he says, we must return to our
origins as a group of subversive individuals who refuse to play along with society's expectations.
Only by being subversive ourselves (as all the heroes of faith have been), can we return Christianity
to its place as bearer of good news to a world which needs to hear it."
Read all reviews ...
librarything.com (http://www.librarything.com/work/185201/reviews)
betterworldbooks.com (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/The-Subversion-of-Christianity-id-0802800491.aspx)
Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Subversion-Christianity-Jacques-Ellul/dp/0802800491/)
who refuse to play along with society's expectations.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KVNMHGGAL._SL500_.jpg
Excerpts from reviewers ...
That what is deemed Christianity today is, in fact, a rejection of the revelation of
Jesus Christ is unarguable, and Ellul does well in describing exactly how distant
what Kierkegaard called "Christendom" is from its origins. I am especially impressed
by his point that the contradictions to be found in the Bible that critics are so quick to
identify and condemn are the essence of revelation. But I'll let Ellul make his own point:
"We have to realize that everything in the Bible is contradictory. Yet there is revelation
only as the contradictions are held together. God the Wholly Other is incarnate in a man.
He is still the Wholly Other. And we have to understand -- I repeat this because it is
essential -- that the truth is made up of the actual contradictions. Each aspect
of the truth is true only because it is linked to its radical opposite."
"Ellul ably holds to the essential core of Christian teaching while showing how the church
throughout history has consistently been led away from truly living out the gospel -- whether
by outside forces or by the weight of its own success, the church has continually done exactly
the opposite of what the New Testament writers tell us to do. This book is fairly easy to read,
and is very straightforward: Ellul takes us through some of the most important missteps in
church history and shows how the good news of Grace and Freedom was forced to the side,
even with the best of intentions. Ellul challenges us to find a new way of living out the Gospel,
without either conforming ourselves to our present age or rejecting the essential elements of
Christian doctrine. If the church is to have any effect, he says, we must return to our
origins as a group of subversive individuals who refuse to play along with society's expectations.
Only by being subversive ourselves (as all the heroes of faith have been), can we return Christianity
to its place as bearer of good news to a world which needs to hear it."
Read all reviews ...
librarything.com (http://www.librarything.com/work/185201/reviews)
betterworldbooks.com (http://www.betterworldbooks.com/The-Subversion-of-Christianity-id-0802800491.aspx)
Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Subversion-Christianity-Jacques-Ellul/dp/0802800491/)