Suggestions de livres
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CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CHALLENGES
13.500 CFAThe Church faces many problems: internally and externally. Internal problems are called controversies. Those from the outside are apologetic problems, that is to say which call for the defense of the faith. Let us look briefly at some internal issues within the Church, to focus our attention primarily on the challenges that lie at the interface between the Church and the world. Because that is above all where the issue lies.
There is the problem of priesthood, celibacy, tensions between church leaders, Christian and ministerial ethics, vocations and many others. The refusal to truly confront faith and intelligence, reason and the believing approach are another reality (R. Rémond, Le Christianity en accusation, p. 93). But the real problem may not be there. Isn’t the real problem within the Church above all spiritual decline and the loss of its identity? What could be at the origin of the weakness of the Church? How did she get there?
Questions plague the mind of any vigilant observer: how does the question about the Church or Christianity constitute a major concern? Why has Christianity encountered so much opposition since its existence? Can he survive in the face of all these fierce attacks? “Are things going well or badly in the Church? » asks the curious little boy. “Good and evil,” replies the Sage. An ecclesiastical response, one might say, but nonetheless the Sage is right. As Nicolas Farrell and Christophe Paya said, we should not think that all of today’s questions are new.
Certain subjects run through history, like constants. But it is up to each generation of Christians to ask themselves in what world they live, and to listen to the spiritual quest of their contemporaries. The burning questions revolve around the major centers of reflection between and others:
– theology and the main Christian doctrines and themes;
– the Bible and the global questions it poses;
– ethics and the major moral questions of today, sometimes burning and painful questions, whether individual or collective;
– culture and society, and therefore the main trends in today’s world;
– faith and religion, in order to situate the Christian faith in the very diverse religious and spiritual world in which modern globalization places us;
– philosophy and values, in other words the major trends which shape the thinking and behavior of our contemporaries.However, the question that arises is the following: has the Church, since its existence, remained the same? Has it kept its values, its power, its authority? Students of higher studies in Theology will find what they are looking for in this book.
It is a wide-ranging theological tool for theology teachers and church leaders.
Jérémie TCHINDEBE
Read the free extract of the book “CHRISTIANITY AND ITS CHALLENGES”.
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Why This Tumult Among The Nations ?
12.000 CFALearning from international conflicts.
“Humans have long been concerned about the final collapse of civilizations, but today more than ever the world has become a frightening place: religious wars, international terrorism and genocides are constantly in the news and, with access to the Internet , the information age will have led to the age of anxiety”. (Sylvia Browne)
Indeed, the world is in turmoil. On virtually every continent on our planet, people are waking up, and the wind of protest is rising in many capitals, in opposition to the power in place. Is it possible to see similarities between these different movements? What can they have in common? These protests first have a certain meaning for the concept of democracy. Some democracies are marked by the rise of a form of nationalism, of withdrawal, exploited by some of their conservative politicians – this is the case of Viktor Orbán -, who readily speak of “illiberal democracy”.
If each case is indeed unique, many nevertheless follow a form of logic that is ultimately quite similar, of which here are some essential elements: It is, often, the youth who carry the torch of protest. It is not a question of the poorest, nor of the least or most educated, but of the young, those who have the future ahead of them in, if I dare say, biological terms, but who, from a point of view economic, social or political view, have the feeling of not having a future.
If the nature of the protests can take on diverse contours, the message they carry sometimes has elements in common, such as the denunciation of the corruption of the elites in power or the rejection of social inequalities that are too glaring. In a certain number of countries, the political explosion is most often the product of a questioning of the existing status quo by those in power itself.
Let us think, in Iran, of this spectacular increase in the price of gasoline, or, in Hong Kong, of the questioning of the formula “one state, two systems” symbolized by the end of the jurisdictional exception of Hong Kong and this famous extradition law. A dialectical logic follows, the crowd taking to the streets in opposition to this upset balance, then the crowd subsequently repressed, the repression further strengthening this popular opposition. In other cases, I am thinking here of Lebanon or Chile, there are straws that break an already very full social vase, and quickly transform economic anger into a political revolt. It is also, probably, the direct consequence of globalization increasingly perceived as unfortunate. The great crisis of 2008 is no stranger to this.
The world is in turmoil today, because it is moving in all directions. On the one hand, nationalism is growing, on the other hand, liberal currents could prove resilient.
Everywhere, there is social protest or resistance. The situation in certain European countries is indicative of this turmoil. (Dominique Moïsi)What does the Bible say about this turbulence? Will there be a way out of this?
JEREMIE TCHINDEBE
Read the free exract of the book’s “Why This Tumult Among The Nations ?”.
