Ancient-Future Faith by Robert Webber

Ancient-Future Faith by Robert Webber

Ancient-Future Faith by Robert Webber, is really a book about postmodernism. The subtitle – Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World summarizes the book. Robert Webber, the author of the Ancient-Future book series, has written a book that helps Christians who want to learn different techniques for evangelism in the postmodern world. In this book, Webber contends that for evangelicalism to continue in a postmodern world, the church must return to the style, methods, and approaches from the first century. Webber uses the theme of looking to the past to help reach the future, what he calls the ancient-future approach to share the Gospel in a postmodern world. As Webber states (8):

The fundamental concern of this book is to find points of contact between classical Christianity and postmodern thought. Classical Christianity was shaped in a pagan and relativistic society much like our own. Classical Christianity was not an accommodation to paganism but an alternative practice of life. Christians in a postmodern world will succeed, not by watering down the faith, but by being a countercultural community that invites people to be shaped by the story of Israel and Jesus.

Webber spends considerable time about postmodernism. I found it valuable that Webber addressed this important issue. Here is a summary of the points about postmodernism from the book:

Postmodern thought and classical Christianity (7)

Postmodern thought (11)

Key Element in Postmodern Thought – Paradigm Thinking (16)

Conflict in Churches Today: Modern/Postmodern (18)

Postmodern View of the Bible – What is the Message (46)

Postmodern Term for Work of Christ – “Original Blessing” (56)

Good News for Postmodern Society (61)

Conclusions of Postmodernism – No Center (62)

View of Christ Which Speaks to Postmodern Thinkers (66)

Postmodern Thought – Interconnectedness of All Things (71)

Postmodern People Want a Faith by Participation in Community (79)

Challenge of the Church in the Postmodern World Is to Recover Community (80)

The Catholic (Whole) Church in a Postmodern World (87)

Spirituality in the Postmodern Age (118)

Postmodern Mission (140)

Three-fold Tension How the Christians live in the Postmodern World (168)

The Church in the Postmodern World (171)

Postmodernism and Its Assault on Authority (175)

The Answer to Postmodern Criticism of the Exclusivity of Christ in Salvation (190)

Webber has written a book that every Christian leader should read. I believe that the postmodern worldview underpins every single issue which the Christian leader will face in the church and the culture today. Webber’s analysis will be a helpful read.