| Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church |  | Author: Michael Horton
Publisher: Baker Books
In Stock
Rating:  reviews
Sales Rank: 46,999
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 277.3083
ASIN: B001IDZ440
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Product Description
Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Timely message September 6, 2010
David Rose (Vancouver, B.C. Canada)
I agree with the general sense in the reviews that Horton has really nailed the problems with the modern church. His critique really cuts deep. A lot of things in the book resonated with me personally. The one star left off my review is due to one question still in my mind.
I also agree with the reviewers who rated Horton's assessment of the problem as being much more bang on than his solution. As I read Horton's prescription for re-ordering our thinking (God serves us first through weekly reminders and admonitions of the actual gospel message, and then we are equipped to serve each other and others), I really, really wanted (and want) to believe that this reordering of mission would cause a church to thrive.
Problem is that I actually do attend a church in which correct doctrine is preached week after week. The Pastor is extremely careful not to put the cart before the horse (works before grace). Yet, the church is shrinking and I feel many of the same feelings of emptiness Horton describes as being present in a church which misrepresents the gospel (the inability to "mourn before one can dance", etc).
Another reviewer mentioned that a church can have 100% correct doctrine, and still be 100% dead. I can vouch for that, and wish that Horton would have addressed a situation like this. If he did, I missed it.
Beyond that one wish, this book is so desperately needed in a time when the church's relevance diminishes.
 Too much tickling of ears in American Christianity July 13, 2010
E. Johnson (El Cajon, CA United States)
What a sad state of affairs when the church is so lukewarmish and putrid. In this book, Horton points out some of the alternative gospels posing as Christianity. While he says that we have not yet arrived at "Christless" Christianity, we certainly are on our way, and he is right. So many churches are stressing the here-and-now rather than the eternal, and the result is a Christianity so different from the gospel as portrayed in the Bible. The sad part about this is that so many ignorant Christians will never take the time to pick up the Bible, let alone this book, to see how they really ought to live. Though the book does drag in the second half of the book, there are so many quotable quotes here that I must give it a 5-star rating. It is, overall, very readable and ought to be considered by followers of those leaders such as Olsteen, Schuller, etc. who are used as popular examples in the book.
Some favorite quotes:
* "My argument in this book is not that evangelicalism is becoming theologically liberal but that it is becoming theologically vacuous."
* "In contrast to previous generations that at least had some residual knowledge of the Bible and basic Christian teachings, it seems there is very little serious ability to state, reflect upon, or examine their beliefs, much less to relate them to daily life."
* "'Smooth talk and flattery' is part of the staple diet of successful American religion today. And it is almost advertised simply as more effective mission and relevance."
* "When we try to fit God into our life movie, the plot is all wrong--and not just wrong but trivial."
* "When even good, holy, and proper things become confused with the gospel, it is only a matter of time before we end up with Christless Christianity: a story about us instead of a story about the Triune God that sweeps us into the unfolding drama."
* "Find me on my best day--especially if you have access to my hidden motives, thoughts, and attitudes--and I will always provide fodder for the hypocrisy charge and will let down those who would become Christians because they think I and my fellow Christians are the gospel."
* "So there are really only two religions in the world: a religion of human striving to ascend to God through pious works, feelings, attitudes, and experiences and the Good News of God's merciful descent to us in his Son."
* "There is no balance here between law and gospel. The law tells us what we must do; the gospel tells us what God has done for us."
* "The church desperately needs a second Reformation, to be sure, but one that--like the first one--returns the church's focus to Christ and his work. Neither the Republican nor the Democratic Party is entrusted with this commission."
Overall, I recommend the book.
No more excuses for the American Church May 5, 2010
John Gardner (Cookeville, TN)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a hard-hitting wake-up call for those of us in the American Church. Horton, a professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Westminster Seminary California, essentially dismantles what passes for theology at most evangelical churches in this country.
While he does confront the errors of "pop theology" movements such as the "Word-Faith" or "Prosperity Gospel" of Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen, and the "seeker-sensitive" or "Emergent Church" of guys like Brian McLaren, his harshest criticism is reserved for those of us who attend conservative evangelical churches. His primary argument "is not that evangelicalism is becoming theologically liberal, but that it is becoming theologically vacuous". In other words, it doesn't take a great heresy to lead the Church into apostasy. All that is necessary to make the Church ineffective is for Satan to succeed in de-emphasizing the centrality of Christ in our churches. Horton's argument is that the vast majority of churches follow a "flavor of the moment" mentality, emphasizing programs, political activism, and social work -- in and of themselves all admirable undertakings -- at the expense of the preaching and understanding of God's Word. This leads to a lack of discernment among professing believers, leaving many unable to even tell the difference between sound doctrine and heresy.
This is not to say that this book is merely a collection of criticisms. After all, anyone can identify problems. What is needed are visionaries who offer solutions. This is the purpose of the final chapter in the book, in which Horton calls for the Church-at-large as well as individual church congregations to recommit themselves to theology, and, most of all, to the power of Christ and the Word. After all, it is the Word of God that equips us for good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Still, read by itself, this book is long on critique and short on solutions. However, Horton wrote in the introduction that this would be the case, as this book is actually part one of a two-book effort in this area. Its counterpart, "The Gospel-Driven Life", is entirely solution oriented, giving direction for those who, like Horton, do not believe that the Church has already arrived at "Christless Christianity", and that reformation is not only possible, but imperative. I hope to offer a review of this second book in the next month or two.
All in all, this is a great read, though you should be prepared to be convicted by it. I certainly was!
Painful at times, but poignant January 30, 2010
Jared Totten (Omaha, NE)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Christless Christianity is Michael Horton's diagnosis and prognosis of the state of the Christian church in America. Going into painful detail, he presses in on the places where the church has shifted its focus from God's activity to ours, from Christ as Savior to Christ as coach, from the transforming Good News to our own transformed lives.
Horton says that our narcissism has taken the form of what has been coined "moralistic, therapeutic deism", but he suggests that, at its core, it is simply a repackaged Pelagianism. He calls it "the default setting of the human heart: the religion of self-salvation".
While Horton seems uncomfortably spot on through much of the book, I imagine every reader will find a critique with which they might disagree (or in the case of the fans of Joel Osteen, an entire chapter). Also placed under the microscope are the Emergent Church, fundamentalism and the religious left and right, but his diagnosis is so often returning to the Gospel message that it is hard to argue against it.
While Michael's writing style flows well and moves at a good pace, there was one thing that made this book a slightly harder read: 260 pages were broken up between only seven chapters. I know this is a bit of a juvenile complaint, but long chapters just make a book feel longer.
Christless Christianity is sharp critique of the state of the modern church, and I imagine that no one can walk away from this book perfectly unscathed. However, it is well-reasoned and -argued, and the cuts it makes seem to be the necessary and precise cuts of a surgeon.
Evangelicalism: Defined and Exhorted January 12, 2010
Mike Robinson
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
In "Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church" biblical scholar Michael Horton defines Evangelicalism and energetically urges Christians to hold firm to the "faith once for all delivered unto the saints." Horton furnishes a fine historical overview of Evangelical thought as he contends for the truth found in scripture as rightly summarized and outlined in Evangelical creeds and confessions. The author presses the church to draw its professions from scripture as he exegetes and sketches-out the doctrinal application of the Law and the Gospel. Furthermore he stresses the church's need of the content and power of the gospel forasmuch as man-centered religion fails to deliver that which men must have to be accpeted by God.
So much modern American evangelical expression lacks a focus on Jesus Christ and that's one significant reason the author calls the church back to the Redeemer.
Dr. Horton (Westminster Seminary professor) in this volume advocates:
- Building a foundation upon biblical doctrine centered on the person and work of Christ
- Rejecting Self-help religion because it is not Christianity
- The ever-persisting consequence, implication, importance, and necessity of Christian truth.
In this fairly large but readable volume (272 pages) Horton offers an educational and nourishing defense and proclamation of Evangelical truth with clarity and power.
There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies
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