Christless Christianity by Michael Horton
Book SummaryMichael Horton offers up a crushing diagnosis of contemporary American Christianity where Christ is abandoned in favor of some other form of man-centered pseudo Christianity. The solution he points us to is the same solution that the church has been abandoning for the entirety of its existence…the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Horton calls the main problem “moralistic, therapeutic deism.” We’re not that bad. God’s not that great. Christianity is about this life. The problem the contemporary American church faces has an ancient name: Peliganism. Peliganism is a heretical system of theology that exalts the ability and nature of man to do and be good and ultimately make the right choice to save himself, although salvation is not that great because sin is not really that big of a problem. Horton exposes this system of theology in the current trends of the prosperity gospel that the popular Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer preach and the emergent church movement led by the likes of Brian McLaren.
Horton issues a call for the American church to return to a Christ-centered Christianity. He issues this call as a “call to resistance” because it will ultimately go against our very human nature to be Christ-centered. If we are Christ-centered, gospel-loving, God-exalting then we cannot go with the current of human-centered ministry.
Book Evaluation
This was a timely book for me, as a pastor trying to evaluate all that is going on in the current landscape of American evangelicalism. I think Horton’s critique is very accurate and that our human nature is to always leave Christ-centered ministry in favor of some form of ministry that exalts us and tries to make us feel good about ourselves and our plight in this world.
I recommend you read this book with the following understanding…
This book is not an easy read simply due to the target level of readership. The assumed knowledge of advanced Christian vocabulary and the assumed knowledge of Christian history (early history, reformation history, and 2nd great awakening history) make for a more difficult book if you do not have the assumed background knowledge.
Mark’s Related Commentary
I strive to have a Christ-centered ministry but I know that I / we can do better in many areas at First Baptist. It is my thought that Christ-centered ministry is often absent in churches and the people of the church do not even know it b/c they are fed a steady diet of “do this” “do that” “live this way” without grounding all of the exhortations in the gospel. It seems and feels like Christianity, but it is really a moral improvement program with a Christian wrapper. We don’t need to do more ministry…we need to be ministered to by the Son of God, the one who, to our own objection, gets on his knees with a towel wrapped around his waist and serves us. Church, let’s have Christ as our center in all that we are and do!!!
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