How Christians Can Succeed Today
Reclaiming the genius of the early church
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'A grace filled, God filled book of truth and wonder and the glorious mystical experience of faith.' Stan Grant
'Inspiring and engrossing' Richard Glover
'A trustworthy and encouraging blueprint for Christians everywhere' Anthony Fisher
The first Christians confronted a cultural environment vastly more hostile than today's. They had no powerful backers, very little money and numbered no more than a few hundred. Yet they revolutionised the ancient world and spread their movement far and wide.
There is a deep, pervasive crisis of meaning and purpose across all Western societies today. Greg Sheridan encourages us to listen to the voices of the early Christians and emulate their commitment, integrity, resilience and smarts. He shows how early Christians built communities, met persecution with courage and grace, dispensed universal mercy during plagues, pioneered equality for women, and redefined the nature and purpose of the human experience, always with Jesus Christ at the centre of their lives.
He also charts the journeys of modern Christians who live by those same values today: Leila and Danny Abdallah, who met great suffering with great forgiveness, young people making a radical commitment to faith, country pastors, and Christians inspired to welcome and help the homeless. He profiles cultural leaders who communicate Christianity with great effect, including Marilynne Robinson, Jordan Peterson, Bishop Robert Barron, Pastor Mark Varughese, former US Vice President Mike Pence and Dallas Jenkins, the creator of The Chosen television series.
It's a powerful and inspiring message of what living Jesus-centric lives, seeing God in every human being, and finding access to the transcendent can mean for ordinary people. It could once again transform our fractious, polarised world.
'This book is deeply encouraging for Christians, and perhaps thought-provoking for secularists.' Sydney Morning Herald
'A wonderful mix of historical observation, social commentary and moving interviews' Michael Bird
'A clarion call to return to the raw, revolutionary faith of the early church' Russell Evans
1. New Pagans, Old Pagans, something worse? Or something better?
2. Paul's transformative missions
3. Corinth, Christian sexual revolution, the centrality of women
4. Plagues, persecutions
5. Slaves, money, children, scripture, death and resurrection
6. Writers, leaders, martyrs, intellectuals - and Augustine, first and greatest modern
Part 2 Contemporary 'Early' Christians
7. To forgive - Leila and Danny Abdallah, Jess Echeverry
8. The Kingdom - Bishop Robert Barron, Pastor Mark Varughese, Jordan Peterson
9. Counter-Cultural Lives
10. In dialogue with Light - Marilynne Robinson
11. Can Jesus' love survive politics? - Mike Pence
12. Connecting God in classical education, Niall Ferguson finds belief
Epilogue: What is to be done?