The Anabaptist Network is working in partnership with Paternoster to produce over the next few years a major series of books on the meaning and significance of the end of Christendom in western culture.
Many Christians have focused on the challenges and opportunities of the perceived shift from modernity to postmodernity in recent years, but fewer have appreciated the seismic shifts that have taken place with the disintegration of a nominally Christian society. Although the term 'post-Christendom' is used more often now, it is generally not used with great precision and is frequently confused with postmodernity.
On Thursday 9 October 2008 Michael Frost, co-author (with Alan Hirsch) of The Shaping of Things to Come and author of Exiles: living missionally in a post-Christian culture, will be speaking at a day conference in Oxford. This event is hosted jointly by Urban Expression (www.urbanexpression.org.uk) and the Incarnate Network (www.incarnate-network.eu).
The theme of the day is incarnational mission and this may be of interest to readers of books in the 'After Christendom' series. . Michael has reflected in his writings on the implications of the end of Christendom for church and mission. We are looking forward to his input and to the distinctive Australian perspective he brings.
In July 2008 the fourth book in the 'After Christendom' series will be published - Youth Work after Christendom by Nigel & Jo Pimlott.
The Anabaptist Network will be co-sponsoring a launch event with Frontier Youth Trust and the Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry on Tuesday 8 July, hosted by Anthony Collins Solicitors at 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES
If you are free to join us for the launch event, you would be very welcome. The cost is £17.50, but this includes a copy of the book, lunch and refreshments. To book a place, send your contact details and a cheque made payable to 'FYT' to Jo Fitzsimmons, Frontier Youth Trust, Unit 208b, The Big Peg, 120 Vyse Street, Birmingham B18 6NF.
Dr. John Colwell, a tutor at Spurgeon's College, has written an article (originally published in the Baptist Ministers' Journal) in defence of Christendom.
We are grateful to John for permission to publish this here and we welcome comments and responses: In Defence of Christendom
This thoughtful, challenging and accessible book makes an excellent addition to the growing literature exploring issues of faith and discipleship from the perspective of post-Christendom. Indeed, the title is explicit in its recognition of the perspective from which it is written. Craig Carter not only quotes with appreciation from Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World, but his book would fit very well into the Anabaptist Network’s ‘After Christendom’ series.
Carter, an associate professor in Toronto, offers here a trenchant critique of one of the most influential texts on social ethics in the 20th century, H Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture (published in 1951). Acknowledging the popularity and longevity of this book in academic and more popular circles, Carter nevertheless argues that Niebuhr’s approach is fundamentally flawed by the assumed but unacknowledged Christendom framework that pervades his work.
developed by Stuart Murray Williams
Note: You can find a downloadable version of this guide at the bottom of this page.
Introduction
Since Post-Christendom was published by Paternoster in March 2004 to launch the ‘After Christendom’ series of books, a number of people have suggested to me that a study guide would be useful to help them work their way through the many issues the book addresses.
The Post Christendom discussion forums are now available. Apologies to anyone who tried to access them earlier and was not able to.