Friday, July 17, 2009

3 New Edition of Christianity and Liberalism


This is somewhat old news, but I wanted to point folks to a new edition of J. Gresham Machen's fantastic little work entitled "Christianity and Liberalism". It's another example of a book written long ago that speaks so clearly to today's circumstances. Just one little snip from the book that struck me with its prescience when I first read it:

"The consciousness of sin was formerly the starting-point of all preaching; but today it is gone. Characteristic of the modern age, above all else, is a supreme confidence in human goodness; the religious literature of the day is redolent of that confidence. Get beneath the rough exterior of men, we are told, and we shall discover enough self-sacrifice to found upon it the hope of society; the world's evil, it is said, can be overcome with the world's good; no help is needed from outside the world.

What has produced this satisfaction with human goodness? What has become of the consciousness of sin? The consciousness of sin has certainly been lost. But what has removed it from the hearts of men?"
What about this quote sounds like 1922? What does NOT reverberate with echoes of today's confidence in humanity? If you've not read this work, pick up a copy - you'll be glad you did.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there anything new in the new edition? Or just a new cover and typeset? Tis a great book and timrless indeed.

Todd said...

It's a new cover, typeset (I think) plus a new foreword by Carl Trueman. Otherwise, it's the same - but same is good in this case :)

Anonymous said...

Todd,

I just finished "What is Faith?" and "The Christian View of Man" by Machen and his prescience in those books are surprisingly just as strong and I recommend them as much.

 

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