Synopses & Reviews
The Western church is currently awash in a sea of renewal movements - so much so that she is in danger of drowning. Across the church's many denominations and great theological divisions there is a persistent quest for change, reflected in repeated calls for "revival," "reform," revitalization," and "restoration." We now have so much literature on the topic that one is hard-pressed to keep up with it, let alone evaluate it critically.In The Logic of Renewal William Abraham helps church leaders and members get their bearings in the renewal debate by analyzing the most salient proposals for church renewal that have surfaced over the last fifty years. In successive chapters he pairs outspoken figures who (in all but one chapter) represent strongly contrasting convictions - James T. Draper and Dennis Bennett, Lesslie Newbigin and John Shelby Spong, Rosemary Radford Ruether and Cardinal Ratzinger, Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Romero, Alexander Schmemann and Gilbert Bilezikian, Don Cupitt and Edward Norman, C. Peter Wagner and R. R. Reno. Abraham gives special attention to the theological assumptions of each proposal, highlights its overall strengths and weaknesses, and develops his own proposals for church renewal through interaction with those under review.Articulate, bracing, and constructive, The Logic of Renewal will redefine the way Christians think about church life.WILLIAM J. ABRAHAM is Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. His other books include The Logic of Evangelism and The Coming Great Revival.
Synopsis
"The Logic of Renewal offers a bracing, accurate, and careful analysis of proposals for the renewal of the Church that have surfaced over the last fifty years. Given that the contemporary church is awash in a sea of renewal movements, the time is long past when church leaders and members can simply sit back and let events take their course. The initial aim is to help church leaders and members get their bearings in the debate about renewal. The final aim is to find a positive way into the future. The method used is straightforward and accessible. The reader is first given a means of mapping the terrain of renewal: proposals invariably lay out a description, a diagnosis, and a prescription. Proposals for the renewal of the Church are then located on the terrain in such a way as to highlight their crucial strengths and weaknesses. Special attention is given to the theological assumptions below the surface of theories of renewal. The examples used are drawn from every corner of the Church and are presented in a lively, engaging fashion; the major options from Neo-Pentecostalism to Eastern Orthodoxy are outlined and examined; even the rejection of renewal is articulated and evaluated. In the conclusion the author lays out his own suggestions for the long-haul renewal of the Church in the West.
About the Author
William J. Abraham is Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesley Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.