Issue 129 Recovery from Modern Amnesia

What's inside

Acid rain and Christian truth

Why do we need to recover from modernity?

Jonathan A. Powers

“He made no new contribution to theology”

Tom Oden’s influential return to orthodox faith.

Christopher A. Hall

“The road to the future runs through the past”

Bob Webber and the “ancient future” of American evangelicalism

Joel Scandrett

Going behind Aquinas

Nouvelle théologie and The Catholic retrieval of mystery

Hans Boersma

Restless and reforming

The Mercersburg Theology presented Reformed Christians with a link to the past—if they chose to use it

D. G. Hart

Modern Amnesia, Did you know?

Modern thinkers who have turned to the early church weren’t the first to do so.

the editors

Letters to the editor, CH 129

Readers respond to Christian History

the readers and our editors

Editor's note: Modern amnesia

An attempt to understand a movement that has sought to combine the best aspects of evangelical and sacramental Christianity, grounded in the Bible and guided by the first few Christian centuries.

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

Fulfilling a longing for the early church

An excerpt from Oden's Ancient Christian Commentary

Thomas C. Oden and Christopher A. Hall

Taking the long view back

Nineteenth- and twentieth-century renewal and cooperation

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

New challenges, ancient solutions

A call to an ancient evangelical future

Bob Webber et al

Living a “with-God” life

The friendship of Richard Foster and Dallas Willard and the birth of Renovaré

Tina Fox

Life in God’s Kingdom

an excerpt from Spirit of the Disciplines

Dallas Willard

Christian History Timeline - Responses to Modernity

Attempts to recover the spirit of the first Christians are almost as old as Christianity itself, but we focus here on those that arose in some way as a response to problems of the modern world.

the editors

Vatican II: 101

Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council for the express purpose of addressing the issues of modernity

the editors

25 years of talking together

Evangelicals and Catholics seek to work out theological statements both can agree upon

Christian History and Timothy George

Freedom for tradition

The Lutheran tendency to defy denominational categories has been a strength as they seek renewal 

Robert Saler

From Manhattan to the monastery

Kathleen Norris thought she would make her name as a poet. Instead her greatest legacy came from her spiritual memoirs.

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

“We’re not done with virtue yet”

Many different approaches to recover from modern amnesia

Jennifer A. Boardman

Renewals and revivals

Recent organizations that have attempted to be forces of renewal and Christian unity while maintaining a commitment to historic orthodoxy.

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

A church of the ages?

We asked some pastors and professors to reflect on what it means to recover from modern amnesia and how the ancient and medieval faith can inform the church of the future

Jason Byassee, Chris Armstrong, and Greg Peters

Modern amnesia: Recommended resources

Recommendations on modern amnesia from CH editorial staff and this issue’s authors

the authors and editors
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