Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church

by Michael Horton, William Willimon (Foreword by)

Overview

Michael Horton (PhD, University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He hosts The White Horse Inn radio broadcast and is editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is the author/editor of more than fifteen books, including Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Too Good to Be True, Introducing Covenant Theology, and A Better Way.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441202031
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	784,568
File size:	567 KB

About the Author

Michael Horton (PhD, University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He hosts The White Horse Inn radio broadcast and is editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is the author/editor of more than fifteen books, including Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Too Good to Be True, Introducing Covenant Theology, and A Better Way.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Liberating a Captive Church 9

Acknowledgments 13

1 Christless Christianity: The American Captivity of the Church 15

2 Naming Our Captivity: Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism 29

3 Smooth Talking and Christless Christianity 65

4 How We Turn Good News into Good Advice 101

5 Your Own Personal Jesus 159

6 Delivering Christ: The Message and the Medium 189

7 A Call to the Resistance 237

Notes 261

Editorial Reviews

In another screed on what's wrong with American Christianity, theology professor Horton, of Westminster Seminary California, bemoans the slide of the American Christian church into what he, and others, call a moralistic, therapeutic deism. Drawing on studies, surveys and anecdotal evidence, Horton reaches the oft-repeated conclusion that American Christianity is self-centered rather than Christ-centered, Jesus is a life coach rather than a redeemer, and salvation is focused on therapeutic well-being. He rants against the purveyors of this watered-down Christianity-Robert Schuller, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer-but saves his most savage attack for megachurch preacher Joel Osteen, whom Horton depicts as a snake-oil salesman teaching that God is a personal shopper ready to deliver happiness and prosperity if only individuals let God know their needs. Horton reveals his lack of theological depth when he argues that ancient Gnostics saw God as no different from humans. Yet Gnosticism's entire point is this difference. Horton regrettably offers no recommendation for the reformation of American Christianity beyond a simplistic call to let the church be defined by the Gospel rather than the laws of the market. (Nov.)

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