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Tue 9th Mar 23:39 2010: The Future (and history) of Faith

Debian Developer John Goerzen reviews Harvey Cox's book The Future of Faith and it does sound quite interesting.

John's link (http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/09/21.php#27929) says that Cox was until recently Professor of Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School.

As Goerzen summarises it,

Cox separates the history of Christianity into three periods: the age of faith, stretching from the time of Jesus only a few centuries until Constantine; the age of belief, stretching from Constantine until the 20th century; and the age of the spirit, now dawning. During the age of faith, “their sharing in the living Spirit of Christ united Christians with each other, and ‘faith’ meant hope and assurance in the dawning of a new era of freedom, healing, and compassion that Jesus had demonstrated.” Cox makes the point that doctrinal questions just weren’t all that important back then, and though differences existed, they weren’t considered to be fundamental to the religion. “Confidence in Christ was their primary orientation, and hope for his [earthly] Kingdom their motivating drive.” Further, he argues that the age of the spirit is a return to this earlier age, albeit with modern twists.

I am not sure that "doctrinal questions just weren’t all that important back then, and though differences existed, they weren’t considered to be fundamental to the religion" really fits in with Paul's writings; he regularly rebuked believers (or, as Cox prefers, "followers of the Way", a label I like) for petty bickerings.

The reviews on the Amazon site (linked above) are also quite interesting.

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