No Other Doctrine - The Gospel and the Postmodern World, by John F Parkinson; price £6.95. Published by and available from John Ritchie Ltd.
In a society more than ever beset by doubts and led astray by falsehoods, it is refreshing to read something which lucidly declares the solidity and reliability of the Gospel of Christ while examining the origin and the outcome of the world’s thinking. The author has done his research thoroughly, and what he has written will be of great benefit to help young people find their way through the bewildering maze of current education. But also Christian parents, assembly teachers and leaders, and all who would make known the Gospel in today’s confused society will find this book very helpful and relevant to their tasks.
The doctrine of the Gospel, based on the Roman Epistle, is first of all comprehensively and clearly set out. The hostile reception this Gospel received from different first century audiences, Jewish, Gentile, religious or pagan, is also described, and shown to be the prototype of today’s hostility. Old lies are repackaged with new names! It is well stated that "Although men have made gigantic strides in science and technology, their prevailing philosophies and life views have changed remarkably little." Human nature has not improved, and man’s need is the same.
On the question of origins, some very useful scientific material is given which refutes Darwinism and its dogmas. It is then shown how reaction to dogma has led to uncertainty and into "New Age" thinking, self-centred psychology, and occupation with the occult - all of this fashionable but spiritually damaging.
Today’s "postmodern" philosophy states that truth is relative, temporal, ethnic, pluralist, and fragmented - not absolute, eternal, universal, exclusive, and unified. Thus its errors attempt to undermine the foundations of divine revelation and Christian doctrine. It is our duty to bring the Gospel to people who have absorbed such notions. We cannot and must not attempt to change the Gospel - it must be Bible based and Christ centred, as it was in the days of the Acts of the Apostles. It must be founded upon the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Our attempts to reach others, however, will be more effective when we realise what people are thinking nowadays. This book does us all great service in this respect, and I recommend that you read it all - whatever age group you belong to!
RWC
Christian Jihad, by Ergun Mehmet Caner and Emir Fethi Caner, published by Kregel Publications; price £7.95. Available from John Ritchie Ltd.
The striking title of this book is meant to catch the eye of potential Christian readers and it clearly needs some explanation. This is provided by the publishers’ back-cover announcement that jihad means holy war and that therefore jihad "plays a major role in Christianity’s own dark history". This refers first of all to the Crusades when the papal-backed armies of "Christian" Europe attacked the Muslims in the Holy Land.
While readers of this magazine would not normally buy such a book, there might be reasons why they could find it useful. First, in witnessing to the growing number of Muslims in this country, the subject of the Crusades could well come up and it might be useful to know the true facts from an evangelical point of view. The authors certainly supply this, both being converted Arab Muslims and now "staunch evangelical professors" in American universities. Students studying history might also find the material and the approach helpful.
The second reason for buying this book is that the sections on the development of the historical theme are most useful read in parallel with expositions of the seven churches of Revelation. For instance, the details of the persecution of Christians for the first few centuries are well documented. Then the authors show that before the days of Constantine, Christians were essentially pacifists. However, Constantine’s unholy marriage between "church and state" resulted in a dramatic change that eventually developed into (so-called) Christians taking part enthusiastically in "holy wars". The authors put this down to a misunderstanding of the Christian’s hope and their movement away from believing in the Millennium.
Fighting "holy wars" is of course the line that Muslim terrorists take today. Indeed the most useful contribution provided by the authors is their Appendix B that sets out a side-by-side comparison of the call to crusade by Pope Urban II on November 27th, 1095 and the call to jihad by Usamah bin Ladin on February 23rd, 1998. The resemblance is most remarkable, with both containing a promise of forgiveness of sin for the warriors!
Unfortunately the authors seem to have got bogged down in the Inquisition, which presumably they also meant to show as another example of so-called Christians taking life in the name of religion.
Perhaps the authors’ other book Unveiling Islam: An Insider’s Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs would be of more interest to the general Christian reader.
HAB
