Western societies are experiencing a series of disorientating culture shifts. Uncertain where we are heading, observers use ‘post’ words to signal that familiar landmarks are disappearing, but we cannot yet discern the shape of what is emerging. One of the most significant shifts, ‘post-Christendom, ‘ raises many questions about the mission and role of the church in this strange new world.
What does it mean to be one of many minorities in a culture that the church no longer dominates? How do followers of Jesus engage in mission from the margins? What do we bring with us as precious resources from the fading Christendom era, and what do we lay down as baggage that will weigh us down on our journey into post-Christendom?
Post-Christendom identifies the challenges and opportunities of this unsettling but exciting time. Stuart Murray presents an overview of the formation and development of the Christendom system, examines the legacies this has left, and highlights the questions that the Christian community needs to consider in this period of cultural transition.
Про автора
Stuart Murray has a Ph.D. in Anabaptist hermeneutics from The Open University, under the auspices of the Whitefield Institute. He is chair of the Anabaptist Network since 2001, where he works as a trainer and consultant, with particular interest in urban mission, church planting and emerging forms of church. He is the founder of Urban Expression, a pioneering urban church planting agency with teams in several cities in the UK and in The Netherlands. He has written several books on church planting, urban mission, emerging church, the challenge of post-Christendom and the contribution of the Anabaptist tradition to contemporary missiology. Recent publications include Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World (Paternoster 2004), Church after Christendom (Paternoster 2005), Changing Mission (CTBI 2006), Planting Churches: A Framework for Practitioners (Paternoster 2008) and The Naked Anabaptist (Herald 2010). He is married to Sian, who is a tutor at the Baptist College in Bristol, and he has two grown sons and two grandchildren.