An Encapsulated View of the Best from Christian Publishers

XII
✩✩✩
✩✩
✩
✩
XI
✩
✩
X
XIChristian Visit us at:

B
✩✩✩
✩✩✩

ook www.ChristianBookSummaries.com

S
ummaries Volume 1 . Issue 21

COUNCIL OF REFERENCE

Dr. Richard Averbeck

POSTMODERN
Dr. Bill Bright

Dr. Paul Cedar

Mr. Dave Coleman

PILGRIMS
First Century Passion for the
Dr. Larry Crabb 21st Century Church
Mr. Roger Cross

Rev. Samuel Farina

A Quick Focus
Dr. Kenneth O. Gangel
The Book's Purpose
Rev. Lud Golz
Explain how the Internet is
impacting the Church
Dr. Howard G. Hendricks
Show that postmodern culture
Mr. Olan Hendrix
is image-driven
Dr. David Jeremiah
Address the tension that exists by Leonard Sweet
Rev. Knute Larson Broadman & Holman Publishers
between tradition and modern
Nashville
Dr. John C. Maxwell innovation
conventions and traditions within Judaism
Dr. Bruce McNicol
Explore why postmodernists during His earthly ministry. He broke the rules
Mr. Dean Merrill are rejecting religion of the religious establishment by healing on
the Sabbath, eating with untouchables, speak-
Mrs. Elisa Morgan
Urge the Church to provide ing to women, touching lepers, and virtually
Dr. Ray Ortlund a haven where people can crossing every social boundary of the day.
practice authentic relation- If the 21st century Church desires to make
Dr. Luis Palau
ships a difference, it must do likewise. CB
Dr. Gilbert A. Peterson S
Rev. Wes Roberts The Book's Message Six Main Points

VI
Mr. Jim Warren Postmodern pilgrims must strive
to keep the past and the future in per- “Kissing the Culture” ............................ 2
Dr. Rick Warren petual conversation~so every gener-
ation will find a fresh, relevant expres- Postmodernists Are Interactive ............. 3
sion of the Gospel that is based on Postmodern Culture Is Image-Driven ..... 4
God's unchanging principles.
Publishers
Postmodernists Are Connected by Choice 5
David A. Martin The old structures of the Church
John S. Martin, III
must evolve to reach this new gener- Breaking the Rules~Just As Jesus Did ... 6
Editor ation; doing the same things the same
Michael J. Chiapperino way will not suffice. Christians must A Participative Ministry Philosophy ...... 6
remember that Jesus overturned many
 2
“The institutional
Church in the next 20 years will
continue more and more to look like“ KISSING”
the pink Cadillac with the huge tail
Not only did Jesus "kiss" his
disciples by breathing new life into
them, He was also a person who
touched others~to Jesus, touch was

THE
fins," says one author. If it does not a primary carrier of spiritual truths.
take pains to reach out to a changing
culture, the Church will simply be- Today, researchers are recog-
come a symbol of a bygone era. nizing the importance of touch.
Touch, for example, is a powerful

CULTURE
If Christians truly desire to make stimulant to infant growth and
a difference in their culture, they child development. Researchers
must first realize who they are~and are learning that if babies aren't
the Church needs to grasp what it is touched, they will die. If a child
as well. hasn't learned to hug and kiss by
the age of two, it is an indication
Is the Church paralyzed as it There were two great "kisses" in that one of two things has hap-
faces the challenges of the 21st cen- the history of Christianity. The first pened: neurological damage or
tury? Why is it more prone to send was when God breathed into a human autism. Marasmus is the term given
this postmodern culture hate mail the breath of life: God "kissed" Adam to the wasting away of infants who
than love letters? Why does the and breathed life into him. The sec- are not given sufficient touch. El-
Church struggle so to teach this ond was when Jesus breathed into derly people and those with physi-
culture that God is love? the disciples new life in the Holy cal impairments also benefit from
Spirit; to early Christians, the kiss touching.
The Church is sitting on the symbolized the transmission and
greatest news that was ever transmit- power of the Holy Spirit. Our modern culture, however,
ted: Jesus loves each person uncon- is becoming increasingly touch-
ditionally. The task before it is to In the first century, it was unthink- free. Even churches are conducting
penetrate this culture and "kiss it" able to greet a person without kissing workshops to warn childcare work-
with this message. or touching. The "holy kiss" was an ers about the risks of touching
insider sign and seal. youngsters. The results are inevi-
"Kissing the culture" means en- table: The more touch-starved
gaging in a sacramental function~ New Testament scholar William people become, the more touch
one that was common in the early Klassen believes the "holy kiss" began crimes will be committed.
church. The earliest liturgies in the as a practice that expressed the close-
first century referred to kissing as a ness of people from a wide variety of Alarmingly, one recent study
sacred and sacramental sign of love. backgrounds. As these early Chris- revealed that American parents
tians recognized their unity in Christ, touch their children only an aver-
their kisses transcended class distinc- age of about two times per hour.
“In Christianity, tions and gender as well as religious, The same research showed that
national, and ethnic divisions. French parents touch their kids
the kiss had an six times per hour.
almost sacramental "Kiss is not simply a cute metaphor.
function from the start. Nor is kiss defined here as an erot- The Church of Jesus Christ
‘Greet one another with ic exercise. Many cultures are un- must be a touching Church. Chris-
familiar with mouth-to-mouth, tianity is a contact culture, a tactile
a holy kiss,’ Paul says, religion. In fact, biblical spirituality
mucous membrane kissing, also
making it almost into known as the 'labial kiss.' It is not is a contact sport. Christians cannot
a liturgical observance a universal cultural phenomenon, reject touching; the healing pro-
(I Corinthians 13:20).” and is totally unknown in some cess requires touch. For Jesus to
Asian countries." be a savior of souls, He must first
be a toucher of hearts.
Offering a holy kiss was a way of
According to St. Ambrose, "A symbolizing to rich and poor, men There is a new word in the
kiss conveys the force of love, and and women, clean and unclean, that 1999 edition of the Encarta World
where there is no love, no faith, no they were loved by Jesus Christ. English Dictionary: preloved. It
affection, what sweetness can there These kisses showed that they were comes from Australia and New
be in kisses?" learning from His example. Zealand and refers to a second-hand
item. More figuratively, however,
it refers to embracing and caring
for an item in such a way that
 3
its condition proves the care with and blind boy who plays a pinball We are changing from a repre-
which the original owner treated it . machine. In the song, "Christmas," sentative culture, which was based
his father talks about his son, who on the desire of people to have deci-
Let's put Jesus' principle of "no doesn't know what Christmas is. sions made for them, to a partici-
untouchables" and "preloved" to the His father sings that Tommy "doesn't patory culture, where people want
test. Can we, as a Church, touch, kiss, know what day it is. He doesn't to make their own decisions and
or prelove our culture~especially know who Jesus was or what pray- have multiple choices available.
those who seem untouchable? Can ing is...Tommy, can you hear me?
we figuratively "kiss" people like How can he be saved?" In the old system, people wanted
Dennis Rodman, Marilyn Manson, and needed to be controlled and to
and Howard Stern? Can the Church Tommy then responds: "See me, have someone else make decisions
reach out to them? feel me, touch me, heal me!" There for them. They viewed the task of a
is a culture out there saying the same leader as one who would administer
The first rock opera, "Tommy," thing to us. Can we touch them? guidance and regulations. Under
tells the story about a deaf, dumb, CB this view, people would only do
S things for which they were reward-
ed. Furthermore, people could not
be trusted to use their personal free-
dom in the service of society or an

POSTMODERNISTS organization.

In the new system, however,

people want to make their own de-

ARE INTERACTIVE
With the advent of the Internet, our time in
cisions and have multiple choices.
They view leadership as embold-
ening and individuals as empowered
to lead.
history is coming to be called the "age of participation," or the "horizontal
society." Everything that was once fixed has become fluid. Postmodernists “The Internet
are perceiving, interacting and comprehending the world not only as observ-
ers, but as participants as well. has put the
participation back
Far from producing a nation of couch potatoes, the Internet is push- into participatory
ing people toward more active and interactive behaviors. "Connexity Kids"
and "Net Gens" are the terms used to describe our youngest generations. government. The
Interactivity seems hardwired into the brains of this generation. Mouse Web popped the
potatoes or click potatoes do not become couch potatoes~they become cork, and there’s no
karaoke mike-holders, scuba divers, inline skaters, mountain bikers, and stopping it now.”
wind surfers.
The value of multi-media interaction
“The notion that that Christians seem to miss is that the People will make sacrifices for
the electronic culture more digital our culture becomes, the the good of the whole. Human sys-
produces ‘couch potatoes’ more participatory it becomes. tems are self-organizing, and people
has pockmarked the mind Postmodernists exhibit three levels can be trusted to invest of their re-
of the church for too long. of engagement with media: fascination, sources and time wisely.
The truth is just the exploration, and integration. Postmod-
ernists have to explore and investigate As a result of this new thinking,
opposite. Electronic culture
on on their own, then integrate their find- masses of people are moving from
pushes postmoderns passivity to interactivity, using the
ings into their experiences.
toward more active and Internet as their point of connection.
interactive behaviors.” "Postmodern people take cues not
from those 'above' them, but from This is impacting every aspect
others 'around' them. There are no of our culture, including education,
more bosses, only clients. In this radical democracy, vertical authorities entertainment, medicine, music,
like priests and professors have been replaced by peers throughout the economics, and books. In the book
world who share common interests." industry, for example, publishers
are introducing nonlinear approaches
Postmodernists are not going to simply transmit the tradition or culture to the presentation of text. This in-
they've been given~they will be unlikely to even take it unless they can volves placing interactive design
transform and customize it.
continued on page 4

CALL TOLL-FREE 1-877-560-9900 TO ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

POSTMODERNISTS ARE INTERACTIVE
4
continued from page 3

components and small pull quotes

in the text. The book "asks" for
call in and vote on whether or not
to bring Boone back on the air~the
POSTMODERN
reader involvement as the reader
works through the material. No
longer is the reader just a passive
calls were overwhelmingly in favor of
Boone. What happened that evening
was applauded by Christianity Today CULTURE IS
recipient of information.

Television producers are discov-

ering the importance of interactivity
when it observed that this method
of reconciling differences gives us a
"glimpse of what Christian television
might look like if its purveyors were
IMAGE-DRIVEN
The modern world
in their programming. There is more willing to engage and grapple
hardly a new TV show on the air constructively with the world outside was once word-based, but no more.
today that does not have some in- insulated church walls." Images drive people and influence

Postm
teractivity built in. Videogames, of opinions and attitudes. In fact, images
course, offer the ultimate in inter- As interactivity relates to preaching, are the closest thing the world has to
activity. something as simple as monitoring a universal language. We must under-
audience reaction can help a pastor stand that cultures are symbol systems~
Weddings are becoming inter- better communicate. Whatever tech- intricate, interwoven webs of metaphors,
active as well. The trend is moving nique is used, there should be an in- symbols, and stories. The Church, how-
away from relying only on profes- teractive segue at least every eight ever, seems to have lost the understand-
sional photographers to capture minutes in order to keep interest. ing that pictures and stories are power-
images at weddings; more and more ful ways of conveying truths. Today,
couples are placing disposable In short, the Church must consider churches too frequently rely on creedal
cameras at each table and inviting the importance of interactivity in its expressions and laws rather than on
guests to take the pictures. efforts to reach the world. the kind of parables taught by
Jesus.
In the field of medicine, a revo- We must begin to use meta-
lution is taking place that involves phors in our teaching if we are
growing patient power. According “The body of Christ

Pilgr
to reach the postmodern person.
to Dr. Lynn Hartman with the Mayo is a participative The metaphor lodges truth in
Clinic, "Patients have shown over community. Not just in a person's imagination. Humans
the past decade that they want to the eucharist is everyone think in images, not words; this
become active participants in their is why it is so important to use
care. ...They're on the Internet; a ‘participant,’ a part of images in worship and in
they're doing their own research. the action not apart preaching.
...Most patients today want a more from it. There are no
interactive style, so that they can Visual language (metaphor
be part of the decision." more ‘professional evangelism and metaphor
clergy’ and pew-sitting preaching) is no longer optional
The Internet is changing the laity. There are only for the Church. We are print-
way advertisers are marketing their saturated, but technology is
products to consumers who shop ministers who look to creating a whole new visual
online. Interactive ads engender leaders to mobilize and culture.
up to 89 percent viewer participa- release ministry through
tion and boost sales by 21 percent.
them. All ‘participants’ “Propositions are lost on
are full partners.” postmodern ears; but
Religion is being impacted by metaphor they will hear,
the Internet. As an example, after images they will see and
Pat Boone appeared in a heavy-metal understand. Image
outfit with Alice Cooper on the dictionaries are replacing
American Music Awards show, the CB word dictionaries,
Trinity Broadcasting Network can- S and image banks are
celed his show and asked him to becoming as valuable
appear before a panel to justify his as money banks.”
actions. At the end of the broadcast,
Paul Crouch asked the audience to
We must understand that metaphors
Published by Christian Book Summaries, Inc., 850 Morrison Road, Gahanna, are causes, more than consequences,
Ohio 43230, July 2000. Published monthly. Subscription $59.95 in the
United States; $64.95 in Canada; and, by airmail, $79.95 in all other countries.
of our reasoning. Icon-parables alter
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Christian Book Summaries, our perception of what is. Icon-parable
1550 Lewis Center Rd., Suite G, Lewis Center, OH 43035-9925
 5
storytelling helps us make decisions energized audiences" to act out in real willingly or unwillingly~must
we need to make or reverse decisions life the violence they had viewed on become partners with parents in
we have already made. the screen. reducing the levels of bloodshed
and violence in films and video-
Postmodern culture is a double- What life lessons are children games.
ring culture and metaphors are them- learning from films or videogames?
selves a double ring. Philosopher Max The evidence linking "GI" to "GO" The ultimate solution to
Black calls them [metaphors] "two ("Garbage In" to "Garbage Out") vio- post-modern culture's mental
ideas in one phrase." This comes from lence in society is compelling. Parents and moral pollution, of course,
the shaping influence of postmodern must keep bad images away from chil- is to fill hearts and minds with
thought of chaos theory and complex- dren. But Hollywood must do its part the redeeming news of the Gospel.
ity sciences, which look at an entire aswell. Hollywood is the image factory CB
system, rather than dissect the parts. for the world. The producers~either S
In searching for likenesses and similar-

modern
ities, complexity thinking invites
metaphorical thinking and linking.

“We are the offspring of

our outlook. Thoughts are
POSTMODERNISTS ARE
literal ‘things.’ Especially
when they take the form
of images, thoughts are
missiles you hurl from
CONNECTED BY CHOICE
The two most popular It must put the "salve" in
your head that can help terms on the Internet are connection salvation. The Church must rein-
or hurt others. Change and community. These have now been vent the concept of connection
combined into the term "connexity," and connectedness to fit the post-
your thoughts and you
to describe both. The Web is becoming modern context. Preachers must
change your life and the less of an information source and more be online with preaching, teach-
lives of those around you.” of a social medium; it is becoming the ing, and healing outreaches.
new town square of the global village. It must deal with the complex

rims
Paradoxically, those who have pursued art of simple living. Churches
While it is important for the individualism are being driven to a
Church to use metaphors or images must decentralize and yet remain
hunger for connectedness, for com- complex. Churches can begin by
in its preaching, there are also "bad" munities of choice, not of blood or
images and "bad words" in the world. decentralizing worship in cell
nationality. groups. Churches must also
Negative images can harm children.
Although we Christians strive to keep have a global vision. They must
pornography out of the hands of our “The new cyberfriends be on the Web to reach untold
children, we often fail to shield them and connections one finds millions of unchurched indivi-
from violence. We need to be consis- in E-life will only stir up the duals.
tent in keeping harmful images out hunger for face-to-face Churches must be "well stor-
of their minds. community. The more wired ied." Storytelling must become
to the world our electronic a central part of the message
Cognitive theorists say that we cottages (castles?) become, the to the lost. We live in a storied
have at least 60,000 thoughts a day~ more the church will need to world and human cognition is
that is one thought every 1.44 seconds. be places that can form based on storytelling, or as one
These thoughts may be good or bad, researcher has put it, stories are
authentic community where
true or false, pure or impure. Unless "the fundamental instrument
we subject our thoughts to Christ, we individuals can be free to be
themselves. The words of thought." Multi-media pre-
will be subjugated by them. sentations should be utilized
St. Augustine addressed to in churches to reach the post-
What does violence do to our God ring anew in postmodern modernist.
minds or to the minds of children? ears: ‘Where I am most
Filmmaker Samuel Peckinpah once inwardly myself, there You The Church should get mov-
thought that his violent films would were far more than I.’ ” ing. In other words, the Church
be cathartic and that these films must be active in transforming
would force society to reduce the the world. Social transformation
levels of real violence in the culture; Relationship issues stand at the must be the result of Church in-
he eventually realized he was wrong. heart of the postmodern culture. In volvement in the postmodern
Movies like The Wild Bunch had the order to reach the postmodern indivi- culture. C
opposite effect from what he had in- dual, the Church must upgrade in SB
tended. These movies "excited and four areas of ministry:
VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.CHRISTIANBOOKSUMMARIES.COM
 6
A
BREAKING THE RULES~ PARTICIPATIVE
JUST AS JESUS DID MINISTRY
Two members of the
Gallup Organization surveyed more
than 80,000 managers in 400 com-
“Jesus broke the
rules of philosophy:
PHILOSOPHY
panies and wrote a book, First, Break at a time when truth The 21st century
All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Church must be Experiencial, Parti-
Managers Do Differently. They noted was found in cipative, Image-based, and Com-
that: tradition and munal (EPIC) in order to become
custom, Jesus found and remain relevant. Unfortunately,
Fred Smith broke the rule that the Old Church is trapped in a
only the Post Office could deliver truth in monocular outlook about the world
mail and founded Federal Express. relationships and and God. The New World Church
people.” sees, with both eyes, a world that
Steve Jobs broke the rule that exists and extends beyond itself~
computers couldn't be designed a world that is, nevertheless, a
for home use and founded Apple. creation of itself.
Anita Roddick said that cosmetics The Church needs to break free
weren't about glamour and fantasy, of tradition and think in new ways; Three schools of thought and
but about health and well-being. it must break the rules to reach the culture comprise this EPIC method-
She founded The Body Shop. new Internet generation. ology:
Howard Schultz broke the rules Postmodern hermeneutics
about coffee and founded Star- Christendom is divided into the The hard sciences
bucks. Old World Churches and the New Cognition research
World Churches. These Churches
Jesus of Nazareth, however, was move at different speeds, prize dif-
the greatest of rule breakers. During ferent values, measure success dif-
ferently, and think differently. While
Postmodern
His life, He:
the Old thinks in terms of big and Hermeneutics
Broke the rules of religion by small, the New thinks in terms of fast In previous times, modernists
healing on the Sabbath, eating and slow. were trained to use a critical method
unclean food, and failing to fast to analyze the world. The modernist
when He was supposed to. The Old World Church is book- used cold logic and hard facts to
centric, while the New World Church view the world or discover truth.
Broke the rules of philosophy at is Web-centric. The Old refuses to The postmodernist uses "partici-
the time when "truth" was found change its culture to become more pant-observation" (versus arms-
in tradition and custom. He found accessible. It wants to live a separated length analysis) as the primary
truth in relationships and people. lifestyle. Old Churches profoundly means of determining truth. The
misunderstand the world in which analytical approach is typically sus-
Broke the rules of society: He ate we are living. They fear change and pect, often viewed in the same way
with untouchables, talked to wo- the unknown, particularly the Internet. that polls, surveys, and government
men, touched lepers, welcomed data are viewed: all can be manipu-
children into the Kingdom, and The New World Church, how- lated to achieve the intended result.
blessed the poor. ever, wants to live a sanctified lifestyle
Broke the rules of propriety: He in the world~not separated from it. Postmodern theorists are chart-
was accused of eating and drink- It is reverent about the Gospel mes- ing new courses as they uncover
ing too much. sage, but it is agnostic about the med- fresh ways to discover truth. Their
ium. The New centralizes complexity techniques tend to be relational,
Broke the rules of sin and death. and decentralizes simplicity. The New experiential, image-based and cele-
He broke the ruling powers of also understands that the age of print bratory/communal, as opposed to
the grave and made rebirth pos- is over and uses the Web to communi- empirical and objective. Objectivity
sible for all. cate to its modern audience. cannot be the sole goal in the pur-
CB continued on page 7
S
 7
A PARTICIPATIVE MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY
continued from page 6
"scientific method" and showing God moved to act by the pleas of
suit of truth. Love can be as much how the old scientific method in his friends."
a mode of knowledge as the old pursuit of truth was not sound. The
scientific method's detachment. implications of this new method
for the Church is monumental.
Cognition
There is an imbalance today Theories
between the values people attach These new methods are coming A third set of influences pushing
to modern scientific modes of out of the study of physics. Particle the Church toward an EPIC model
thought and the cognitive capacities physicist Edwin Schrodinger, for is the postmodern critique of the
we use in our spiritual and exper- example, states the new scientific modern mindset, especially the
iential life as ways of "knowing" paradigm: The world has not been emergence of a new interdisciplinary
the truth; truth can be known in given to us twice~once in spiritual matrix dedicated to the study of
more than one way. For example, or psychological terms and once in the mind called "cognitive sciences."
there is more than one way to "know" material terms. The world has been
a flower. One can know the flower given once. The distinction between Historian John Lukas calls "the
by critiquing it or experimenting subjectivity and objectivity has been mental intrusion into the structure
with it and tearing it apart to ana- useful, but specious. of events" the most important fact
lyze its components. The other way~ of our time. The field of cognitive
more biblical and more eastern~is Both Albert Einstein and Karl sciences involves neuroscience,
to experience it. It is to enter in Popper have stressed that scientific psychology, linguistics, genetics,
rather than stand back from it, and advances do not come through the computer science, anthropology
to enjoy its beauty. Knowledge by logic of induction, but through and philosophy.
dissection takes things apart; know- imaginative leaps of faith. A "para-
ledge by dance (gestures, smell, digm shift" is an act of faith that While some theologians lament
taste, touch) puts them together. creates new facts and new realities. the loss of modernity's fixed foun-
dations and grounded reference
“The cultural imbalance Values and faith commitments points, others are encouraged by
become rational parts of the this development. We must learn
is huge between the values scholar's search for truth. Post- how to live and move in an interde-
attached to modern modern intellectual integrity im- pendent, relational mindset, shifting
‘scientific’ modes of plies not methodological atheism, our perspectives from control to
but the belief in the participant- flow, from abstract and disembodied
thought, which has often observer. Every scientist plays reason to embodied and imaginative
been the only game in both object and subject, resident reason, and from representation to
town, and the cognitive and tourist, participant and ob- participation.
capacities of our spiritual server.
and experimental life to As physicist Fred Alan Wolf Every
‘know’ the truth and to has observed of quantum physics:
be set free by it .” "The universe does not exist scientist plays
independent of the thought of
the observer" and "You will see both the object
We must realize that God cre-
it when you believe it." We both
participate in and observe our uni-
and subject,
ated our minds, even giving us di- verse. resident
vine capacities. God enabled us to
perceive reality, as well as to create This view is also held by philo- and tourist,
new realities. We are both observer sopher Nancey Murphy who has
and participant at the same time. written, "...changes in philosophical participant
As this relates to the Church, a wor- approaches in understanding cau-
sation, and changes in science itself,
and observer.
shipper can be both active and re-
flective, participating and observing. have in effect removed the major
obstacles to belief in God's contin-
uing action in the world. At the
Hard Sciences same time, these changes free us Barbara McClintock, for exam-
One of the most difficult issues to pray expectantly. As a father is ple, is a geneticist who won the
of life is the nature of truth. Here moved to act by the pleas of his Nobel Prize in 1983 for her lifetime
science itself is pioneering a new children, Jesus tells us, so too is
continued on page 8

CALL TOLL-FREE 1-877-560-9900 TO ORDER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

A PARTICIPATIVE MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY
8
continued from page 7

work on the genetics of corn. She We both observe the world and

XII
stian

✩
✩✩
Chriook

XII
✩✩
✩
dissented from the modern way of worship the God who created every-

✩✩

XII
✩
X

✩
XIXI
knowing and suspended the boun- thing in it. At the same time we parti-
B
✩
✩✩
✩ ✩
✩✩
✩✩ ✩✩
✩✩

daries between subject and object. cipate in creating God's world by

She decided to let the experiment tell creatively imaging God's ongoing ummaries
S
her what to do. She developed a "feel- creation as drivers of social change.
ing for the organism" she was study- God has so structured the universe
ing. For her, truth was as much hear- that we get to participate in His on- Volume 1, Number 21
ing~listening to the material~as it was going creation, as drivers of social Publishers
seeing~looking at the hypothesis. change. David A. Martin
John S. Martin, III
EPIC worship The concept of the
does not need to In this new way observer-participant Editor
shelve our Enlight- of knowing, in worship does not Michael J. Chiapperino
enment inheritance give up critical meth-
of rational, linear freedom and ods, but rather places
Christian Book Summaries is published
by Christian Book Summaries, Inc., 850
worship. Nor do we relationship do them within a larger Morrison Road, Gahanna, Ohio 43230.
need to embrace anti- not cancel each matrix of reality. In U.S. Copyright C 2000 by Christian
rationalism and de- the paradoxical har- Book Summaries, Inc. All rights reserved.
monize reason, logic other out; they mony of objective Reproduction in any form without the
and rules of evidence. and subjective truth, copyright owner's written permission is
interpenetrate prohibited.
We do not need to a way of knowing
embrace the idea that one another and emerges. It is charac- The mission of Christian Book Summaries
the mind constructs help create one terized by partnership is to enhance the ministry of thinking
the world on its own in knowledge, not Christians by providing thorough and
terms. We do need another. mastery of know- readable summaries of noteworthy books
to admit the prob- ledge. from Christian publishers.
lems inherent in absolutist thinking The opinions expressed are those
without giving up the belief in abso- While EPIC can be classified as of the original writers and are not
lutes. There is no longer "absolute postmodern, it is still in the biblical necessarily those of Christian Book
space" or "absolute time," but this tradition. In this, the postmodern Summaries or its Council of Reference.
doesn't mean we should adopt anar- takes us "back to the future." For Customer Service: Annual subscription
chy or relativism. Jesus, "truth" was not propositions, rate is $59.95 U.S. for 30 issues. Address
or the property of sentences. Truth new subscription requests, change of
In the world of Cheshire-cat abso- is what is revealed through our parti- address notices, questions about billing
lutes, one absolute remains: Jesus, cipation and interaction with Him, or missed issues to:
the Way, the Truth and the Life. others, and the world. Christian Book Summaries
CB Subscription Services
In EPIC epistemology, one does S 1550 Lewis Center Rd, Suite G
not negate objectivism with subjec- Lewis Center, OH 43035-9925
tivism. In EPIC epistemology, ration- To order a subscription, call toll-free
ality is expanded to include experience. 1-877-560-9900.
The author: Leonard Sweet is the author
and editor of the publications Sweet's Soul-
Cafe and Homeilectics. Dean of the Theo-

Coming Next Month: logical School at Drew University in Madi-

son, New Jersey, Sweet is the author of Soul-
Tsunami, Quantum Spirituality, Faithquakes
and Strong and Broken Places. He is also
the founder and owner of Sweet's Bay and
THE THE SPIRIT JESUS AMONG Soul Cafe and Mountain Store in Thomas,
West Virginia.
DISCONNECTED OF REVIVAL: OTHER GODS Post-Modern Pilgrims by Leonard I. Sweet
Discovering the Wisdom
GENERATION of Jonathan Edwards
by Ravi Zacharias
(Word)
C 2000 by Leonard Sweet. Summarized by
permission of the publisher, Broadman &
by Josh McDowall by Archie Parrish Holman Publishers, 127 Ninth Avenue North,
(Word) Nashville, Tennessee 37234. 224 pages. $19.99.
and R.C. Sproul ISBN 0-8054-2137-8. Available at your fav-
(Crossway) orite bookstore, at any online bookseller (such
as Amazon.com or Parable.com) or by visit-
ing Broadman & Holman Publishers on the
web at www.Broadmanholman.com