Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton

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(Hardcover)

  • Pub. Date: November 2008
  • 272pp
  • Sales Rank: 37,281

Reader Rating: (5 ratings)

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    Product Details

    • Pub. Date: November 2008
    • Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
    • Format: Hardcover, 272pp
    • Sales Rank: 37,281

    Synopsis

    Invoking Martin Luther's treatise On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Michael Horton fears that the church in America has also been willingly taken captive. The captors are American culture and ideals: consumerism, pragmatism, self-sufficiency, individualism, positive thinking, personal prosperity, and nationalism. Though these are antithetical to the gospel, we have often made them part and parcel with it.

    Horton argues that while we haven't yet arrived at Christless Christianity, we are well on our way. Though we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation. Here is a must-read for anyone concerned about the state and future of Christianity and the church in America.

    Publishers Weekly

    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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    Biography

    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.

    Customer Reviews

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    • Ratings: 5Reviews: 2

    Desperately Neededby Mike_in_Seattle

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    February 26, 2009: I would encourage you to ignore the 'editorial' review. Michael Horton has clearly argued convincingly for the premise he makes regarding the problems in the American Church today. He has also touched on a concern I have had for a number of years while also showing me where my theology has fallen short of the truth of the gospel.

    Medicine is seldom pleasant tasting but usually necessary for a return to health.

    Mike Horton has diagnosed the problem in contemporary Christianity and provided surprisingly good neby Anonymous

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    February 05, 2009: '