Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times
Overview
Logos Bookstores’ 2015 Best Book in Christianity and Culture
Honorable Mention, 2014 Best Book of the Year from Byron Borger, Hearts and Minds Bookstore
We live in dark times. Christians wonder: Are the best days of the Christian faith behind us? Has modernity made Christian thought irrelevant and impotent? Is society beyond all hope of redemption and renewal?
In Renaissance, Os Guinness declares no. Throughout history, the Christian faith has transformed entire cultures and civilizations, building cathedrals and universities, proclaiming God’s goodness, beauty and truth through art and literature, science and medicine. The Christian faith may similarly change the world again today. The church can be revived to become a renewing power in our society—if we answer the call to a new Christian renaissance that challenges darkness with the hope of Christian faith.
In this hopeful appeal for cultural transformation, Guinness shares opportunities for Christians, on both local and global levels, to win back the West and to contribute constructively to the human future. Hearkening back to similar pivotal points in history, Guinness encourages Christians in the quest for societal change. Each chapter closes with thought-provoking discussion questions and a brief, heart-felt prayer that challenges and motivates us to take action in our lives today.
Key Features
- Addresses the need for renewal and restoration in the Christian church
- Examines trends in global Christianity
- Calls for the people of God to return to the ways of God
Contents
- Our Augustinian Moment
- Grand Global Tasks
- Unnecessary, Unlikely, Undeniable
- The Secret of Cultural Power
- The Dynamics of the Kingdom
- Our Golden Age Is Ahead
Praise for the Print Edition
For decades Os Guinness has been one of the most nuanced, realistic, yet hopeful voices calling Christians to engagement with culture. This latest volume from him should not be missed by anyone. Os summarizes some of the most helpful recent discussions, updates many of his own lifelong challenges to the church and provides many fresh insights. Highly recommended.
—Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York City
Renaissance balances realism about our precarious cultural situation with a hope grounded in the continuing sovereignty of God and his promises.
—Christianity Today, October 2014
Drawing on his years of perceptive cultural analysis and his wide understanding of history, Os Guinness issues a penetrating call to the Christian church to take up the battle against the deep inroads of secularization by refusing to be conformed to the spirit of the age. This book encourages us to learn from the past and avoid repeating its mistakes, to be aware of the oft-forgotten influence of Christianity on Western culture and to engage more deeply with the truths of Scripture. It rightly argues for a return to God, not to an era, and sees our only hope in a return to the confidence in God and his power that characterized the early Christians, whose lives were defined by their fundamental credo: ‘Jesus Christ is Lord.’
—J. C. Lennox, professor of mathematics, University of Oxford, fellow in mathematics and philosophy of science, Green Templeton College
Product Details
- Title: Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times
- Author: Os Guinness
- Publisher: IVP
- Publication Date: 2014
- Pages: 192
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Christianity and Culture