An increase in secularization throughout the Western world has resulted in Christian communities finding themselves in a new context: emerging as a minority group. What does this changing landscape mean for existing Christian communities? Are there biblical or historical precedents for this situation? What should we expect in the future? These were the issues taken up by the speakers at the 2016 conference, "The Emerging Christian Minority," sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. Contributors David Novak William T. Cavanaugh Paige Hochschild David Novak Kathryn Schifferdecker Anton Vrame Joseph Small

An increase in secularization throughout the Western world has resulted in Christian communities finding themselves in a new context: emerging as a minority group. What does this changing landscape mean for existing Christian communities? Are there biblical or historical precedents for this situation? What should we expect in the future? These were the issues taken up by the speakers at the 2016 conference, “The Emerging Christian Minority,” sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. Contributors David Novak William T. Cavanaugh Paige Hochschild David Novak Kathryn Schifferdecker Anton Vrame Joseph Small

In 1973, nearly a decade before the height of the Moral Majority, a group of progressive activists assembled in a Chicago YMCA to strategize about how to move the nation in a more evangelical direction through political action. When they emerged, the Washington Post predicted that the new evangelical left could "shake both political and religious life in America." The following decades proved the Post both right and wrong—evangelical participation in the political sphere was intensifying, but in the end it was the religious right, not the left, that built a viable movement and mobilized electorally. How did the evangelical right gain a moral monopoly and why were evangelical progressives, who had shown such promise, left behind? In Moral Minority, the first comprehensive history of the evangelical left, David R. Swartz sets out to answer these questions, charting the rise, decline, and political legacy of this forgotten movement. Though vibrant in the late nineteenth century, progressive evangelicals were in eclipse following religious controversies of the early twentieth century, only to reemerge in the 1960s and 1970s. They stood for antiwar, civil rights, and anticonsumer principles, even as they stressed doctrinal and sexual fidelity. Politically progressive and theologically conservative, the evangelical left was also remarkably diverse, encompassing groups such as Sojourners, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Evangelicals for Social Action, and the Association for Public Justice. Swartz chronicles the efforts of evangelical progressives who expanded the concept of morality from the personal to the social and showed the way—organizationally and through political activism—to what would become the much larger and more influential evangelical right. By the 1980s, although they had witnessed the election of Jimmy Carter, the nation's first born-again president, progressive evangelicals found themselves in the political wilderness, riven by identity politics and alienated by a skeptical Democratic Party and a hostile religious right. In the twenty-first century, evangelicals of nearly all political and denominational persuasions view social engagement as a fundamental responsibility of the faithful. This most dramatic of transformations is an important legacy of the evangelical left.

Jonathan Hill charts the fascinating history of the first 400 years after the death of Christ in the development of Christianity. He shows how and why certain ideas triumphed over others; introduces the key figures, both within the faith and among its opponents, and their intellectual struggles; covers the main battles, often bitterly fought, both of ideas and of weapons; describes the lives of ordinary Christians and their worship and how each influenced the other.

This book examines the development of Indonesian nationalism from the viewpoint of a minority: the urban Christian elite. Placed between the Indonesian nationalist promise of freedom and the (equally Christian) Dutch colonial promise of modernity, their experience of late colonialism was filled with dilemma and ambiguity. Rather than describe dry institutions, this study traces the lives of five politically active Indonesian Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, spanning the late colonial, Japanese occupation and early independence periods: Amir Sjarifoeddin, Bishop Soegijapranata, Kasimo, Moelia and Ratu Langie. For most of them the main problem was not so much the protest against colonialism, but the transition to more modern forms of political community. Their status as a religious minority, and as urban middle class 'migrants' out of their traditional communities, made them more aware that achieving moral consensus was problematic. This book should be of interest to students of Indonesian history, as well as those studying the history of Third World nationalism and the history of Christian missions.

What does the Bible tell us about ethnic diversity? How far do we need to travel to fulfill the Great Commission? Walk out your front door and you'll find our "new Samaria"--a land of immigrants, refugees, and people of countless cultures and backgrounds longing for us to welcome them and to share the good news. Dr. Alejandro Mandes has dedicated his life to helping bridge cultural gaps in the church. He shares his vision for the church "to see, love, reach, and ultimately be the new Samaria in a way that brings true transformation to our churches and communities." A Latino and a native of the US-Mexico borderland, he has traveled around the world to understand cultures, equip thousands of leaders, and befriend influencers within the emerging immigrant church. With the ultimate goal of unity, Embracing the New Samaria will help you to consider new ways to do church that accommodates multiethnicity, community development, and theological diversity. You'll see that Mandes is a teacher who admonishes out of love and trains from a huge, passionate heart. You'll be challenged with thoughtful questions, hear memorable stories, learn key strategies, and make plans to equip those around you to impact your changing community in loving, tangible, and practical ways. It's time for all of us to catch the vision that Mandes presents, to make disciples and love our neighbors, so that we embrace a great community of every tribe, language, and tongue.

During the past century the advance of secularism, the growth of other religious communities and the decline of the churches have combined to reduce the size and influence of the Christian community. Christians are now members of a minority religious community in a plural society. How is this diminished status to be understood in a global and historical context, within the purposes of God? What institutional changes are required? What psychological and emotional adjustments are needed in communities that have a corporate memory of majority status, privilege and influence? What hopes and expectations should be encouraged? What strategies should be adopted? A Vast Minority explores the challenges and opportunities we face. - Publisher