The church steadily weakens; the state, filling the void, steadily strengthens. Unbelief runs rampant; faith withers. The morality of the barnyard triumphs; decency and honour vanish in the mists. What lies behind the dominance of secular degradation, our cultural sickness unto death? Could it be the individualist mind-set infecting the church? In this sprightly work, the 19th century Swiss statesman Frédéric de Rougemont explores just this issue, right at the point of origin. His conclusion: revivalist movements spread individualism into the church, which went from there to society at large. In turn, this led to the radical separation of church and state and the consequent triumph of unbelief in and through the state. Rougemont’s exposé leads us right to the present day. He reminds us that through the church’s negligence, this miserable condition was allowed to arise. This means that that through the church’s faithfulness, it can be overcome. If only she would be faithful to her calling to the nations. This book is required reading for Christians who wish to understand the imperatives of the Christian life and the task of the church in modern society.

The church steadily weakens; the state, filling the void, steadily strengthens. Unbelief runs rampant; faith withers. The morality of the barnyard triumphs; decency and honour vanish in the mists. What lies behind the dominance of secular degradation, our cultural sickness unto death? Could it be the individualist mind-set infecting the church? In this sprightly work, the 19th century Swiss statesman Frederic de Rougemont explores just this issue, right at the point of origin. His conclusion: revivalist movements spread individualism into the church, which went from there to society at large. In turn, this led to the radical separation of church and state and the consequent triumph of unbelief in and through the state. Rougemont's expose leads us right to the present day. He reminds us that through the church's negligence, this miserable condition was allowed to arise. This means that that through the church's faithfulness, it can be overcome. If only she would be faithful to her calling to the nations. This book is required reading for Christians who wish to understand the imperatives of the Christian life and the task of the church in modern society.

Parallels of Power: An Introduction to Some Individualists of Church and State is a 21-chapter text that covers the leading persons in Church and State in their respective periods of history. In the early days of the Church the Christian fathers worked inside the framework of the Roman Empire and used its organization as the basis for the spreading Christian churches. By the 17th century then, the relations between Church and State had turned full circle, from the early days of struggle between them for supremacy, the Church had become the main support of the National State. Each chapter discusses the life story, influence, and the struggles of the leading religious figures, both in Church and State. Professional historians will find this book rewarding.

Abortion. Physician-assisted suicide. Same-sex marriages. Embryonic stem-cell research. Poverty. Crime. What is a faithful Christian response? The God of the Bible is unquestionably a God of justice. Yet Christians have had their differences as to how human government and the church should bring about a just social order. Although Christians share many deep and significant theological convictions, differences that threaten to divide them have often surrounded the matter of how the church collectively and Christians individually ought to engage the public square. What is the mission of the church? What is the purpose of human government? How ought they to be related to each other? How should social injustice be redressed? The five noted contributors to this volume answer these questions from within their distinctive Christian theological traditions, as well as responding to the other four positions. Through the presentations and ensuing dialogue we come to see more clearly what the differences are, where their positions overlap and why they diverge. The contributors and the positions taken include Clarke E. Cochran: A Catholic Perspective Derek H. Davis: A Classical Separation Perspective Ronald J. Sider: An Anabaptist Perspective Corwin F. Smidt: A Principled Pluralist Perspective J. Philip Wogaman: A Social Justice Perspective This book will be instructive for anyone seeking to grasp the major Christian alternatives and desiring to pursue a faithful corporate and individual response to the social issues that face us.

G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Nietzsche are often considered the philosophical antipodes of the nineteenth century. In Infinite Autonomy, Jeffrey Church draws on the thinking of both Hegel and Nietzsche to assess the modern Western defense of individuality—to consider whether we were right to reject the ancient model of community above the individual. The theoretical and practical implications of this project are important, because the proper defense of the individual allows for the survival of modern liberal institutions in the face of non-Western critics who value communal goals at the expense of individual rights. By drawing from Hegelian and Nietzschean ideas of autonomy, Church finds a third way for the individual—what he calls the “historical individual,” which goes beyond the disagreements of the ancients and the moderns while nonetheless incorporating their distinctive contributions.

Sacro-Egoism: The Rise of Religious Individualism in the West discusses the relationship between secularization, participation in religious practices and belief, and the emergence of radical individualized expressions of faith in the West. Using McMinnville, Oregon, as a case study, it presents the data collected and analyzed from several churches, denominations, and spiritual settings in that unassuming town, and compares it to the results of Heelas and Woodhead's "Spiritual Revolution" project, arriving at a provocative conclusion. Rather than abandoning Christianity for alternative spirituality practices, McMinnville citizens still feel strongly about their Christian faith, taking their spiritual walk to a more personal level than ever before in church history. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative research, along with personal stories of faith and exploration from McMinnville residents themselves, Sacro-Egoism: The Rise of Religious Individualism in the West tells a story of radical individualists who have become the highest religious authority in their lives--even over the church, the Bible, and traditional Christian society.