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.
To celebrate the arrival of the fifth book in the ‘After Christendom’ series, Worship and Mission after Christendom by Alan and Eleanor Kreider, the Anabaptist Network has organised two seminars – one in the north of England, one in the south.
Speakers at these events will include authors of books already published and those who are currently writing further titles in the series. These seminars are an opportunity to engage with the authors, discuss issues raised in the earlier books, and have a preview of what is coming soon. There will also be a guest appearance – through the medium of DVD – by Alan and Eleanor Kreider themselves, introducing their new book.
Craig Carter: Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2006
By Stuart Murray williams
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.
We are delighted to announce that the fifth book in the popular 'After Christendom' series - Worship and Mission after Christendom by Alan & Eleanor Kreider - will be published in October 2009. This can be pre-ordered from the Anabaptist Network for £12.99 (including postage) and will be available at that price from bookshops from October. A sample chapter can be found at http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/523.
Jonathan Bartley, author of Faith and Politics after Christendom was featured several times on Michael Portillo’s Christianity: A History on Channel 4 on Sunday 18 January 2009, which looked at the impact of the conversion of Constantine on the development of the church.
Every time he came on the screen during the programme (about a dozen times or so) they flashed up 'Author: Faith and Politics After Christendom'!
You can watch the programme again here (for another 70 days) http://www.channel4.com/video/brandless-catchup.jsp?vodBrand=christianity-a-history
In this section we will publish various articles on the 'After Christendom' theme.
Four books in the 'After Christendom' series have now been published. Two more are nearing completion and are due for publication in 2009 or 2010. Another has been accepted for publication. And we are in conversation with other likely authors.
However, there are some subjects that may not warrant a whole book but are well worth exploring from an 'After Christendom' perspective. We have already had suggestions along these lines. So we intend over the coming months to publish papers, essays and articles on this website and on www.anabaptistnetwork.com
If you have anything that you would like to offer, please let us know and we will be glad to consider this.
The fourth book in the popular 'After Christendom' series was published in July 2008. This means that four are now available:
Post-Christendom by Stuart Murray
Church after Christendom by Stuart Murray
Faith and Politics after Christendom by Jonathan Bartley
Youth Work after Christendom by Jo & Nigel Pimlott
Two more are scheduled for publication in 2009:
Reading the Bible after Christendom by Lloyd Pietersen
Worship and Mission after Christendom by Alan & Eleanor Kreider
Stuart Murray, Jonathan Bartley, Jo & Nigel Pimlott and Lloyd Pietersen are available for 'After Christendom' study days. These can be organised and hosted by churches, colleges or other organisations and customised according to interest. Depending on what topics are required, the appropriate authors are willing to work together as a teaching team for the day.
In July 2008 the fourth book in the 'After Christendom' series was published - Youth Work after Christendom by Nigel & Jo Pimlott.
The Anabaptist Network co-sponsored a well-attended launch event with Frontier Youth Trust and the Midlands Centre for Youth Ministry on Tuesday 8 July, hosted by Anthony Collins Solicitors in Birmingham
When we were planning the series, we expected to commission volumes on worship and mission, faith and politics, using the Bible, church life, discipleship and ethics, and several other topics. Some of these have since been published; others are being written and will be published in the next couple of years. But Youth Work after Christendom was not on our list.
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