Table of Contents
Preface xiii
1 Inside the Evangelical World 1
The Beginnings 3
On Selling the Church 7
Church Is a Business 7
The End of Christendom 11
The Emergents' Adventure 14
Doctrine Goes 14
Emergents Emerge 17
A New Evangelical Chapter 20
Reformation Then and Now 22
Differences 22
Similarities 27
Church and Gospel 32
2 Truth 34
Our Modernized World 38
Craft 38
Community 39
Family 40
The Changing World Inside 43
We Live Alone 43
Postmodern Selves 45
What Is Truth? 47
Christian Truth 51
Biblical Baseline 51
Biblical Heartbeat 54
Truth Engagement 59
A Better Way Forward 62
3 God 67
Thinking Biblically 68
Evil 71
Sin 73
The Culture's Answer 76
Emptiness 77
Postmoderns Emerge 78
Nothing Makes Sense 81
God Dies, We Die 84
Reinvented Selves 85
Being Private 87
The Inside God 89
What Does Nearness Mean? 90
Misunderstanding God's Nearness 92
The Outside God 94
God Above 94
God as Holy 95
And So …? 96
There Is a Law 97
There Is Sin 97
There Is a Cross 98
There Is Conquest 99
Knowing God 100
4 Self 104
In Pursuit of the Self 105
The Nation Signs On 107
Virtues to Values 112
Virtues 112
Values 115
Character to Personality 116
Personality Emerges 116
Self-Marketing 117
The Commerce of Images 119
The Fallout 120
Nature to Self 122
Nature 122
Nature Dies 123
Self Emerges 125
Rights 126
Loss 129
Guilt to Shame 131
Shame 131
Guilt 132
Healing Ourselves 133
A Different Universe 134
Rapture 135
Reconciliation 137
It's Not Just about Me 138
About the Salt 139
Where We Stand 141
5 Christ 144
Christian and Pagan Paths 145
From Below 148
The Facts 148
The Church's Failure 149
The New but Old Spirituality 151
Secular but Spiritual 155
How Spiritualities Work 156
Nature 157
Sin 160
Speaking 160
From Above 161
Christ's Descent 162
A New Age Dawns 163
In Christ Alone 167
Does This Preach? 171
Christ's Rule Now 173
6 Church 177
Trouble in the House 179
Middling Standards 179
Be Appealing! 181
Losing the Church 182
Discovering the Church Again 185
Visible and Invisible 185
What Is Hidden 187
Forget Rethinking the Church 189
Distance and Impact 190
Marks of Authenticity 193
Word of God 193
Sufficient 193
Doctrine 195
Preaching 197
Sacraments 201
Discipline 203
Who Builds the Church? 208
God Is Sovereign 210
We Are Captive 210
Means of Growth 211
Let God Be God over the Church 212
Index 214
