Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times

Prominent social critic Guinness (The Call) urges the Christian church to draw upon its history, live out its faith, and free the West from captivity to modern culture. It has succeeded twice before and the world was changed, but can there be a third Renaissance? Guinness wonders. Will an age of globalization, instant information via the Internet, and a watered-down, worldly gospel—a combination that creates the most significant challenge to the church since the apostles, the author says—usher in a new Dark Age or present an opportunity for renewed global influence? The answer lies in whether the worldwide Christian church can recover its integrity and effectiveness and demonstrate faith and trust in God, he says. Chapter titles, indicative of the scope of his inquiry, include “Our Augustinian Moment,” “The Secret of Cultural Power,” and “Our Golden Age Is Ahead”; prayers and study questions are supplied at the end of each chapter. Guinness also pens an Evangelical Manifesto, a declaration of evangelical identity and public commitment, to serve as a rallying point. Agent: Erik Wolgemuth, Wolgemuth & Associates. (Aug.)