Dr. Michael Horton author of the book Gospel Driven Life, and Christless
Christianity, is a liberal critic of others, as he himself is short of Biblical application. His criticism applied to his own
books is enough to rethink his theology.
Book Review Christless Christianity by Michael Horton Professor at Westminster Seminary
Christians have always had their differences, but never in church history have
there been so many statistics indicating that many Christians today are practicing what can only be described
as "Christless Christianity."
So Christless Christianity is essentially an evaluation of the American church, not from the standpoint of a generic Protestant theology, but from what I must regard as a narrow, factional, even sectarian perspective. Readers need to understand this. If we remove #1-10 as measuring sticks for the American church, the church does not look nearly as bad as Horton presents it.
There is great danger here of further division within the body of Christ, as if there were not already enough. Arguments over redemptive-historical preaching (#7) have already split congregations apart. When one group presents these principles as the only orthodox position, but others (understandably) are not convinced, and the principles themselves are often unclear, we have a recipe for disaster.
And the church would do well, in my judgment, not to add principles 1-10 to its creed. The results could include intentional irrelevance (1-2), especially on social matters (5, 7, 8), Christian passivity (3, 9), intellectualism and impersonalism in our relation to God (4, 9), artificiality in preaching, not drawing on the richness of Scripture (2, 6-8), elimination of lay ministry (9), and poor theological analyses and evaluations of the church (10).
Horton has mounted a critique of the American church with the most serious implications. He says that if we continue in our ways we will lose the gospel and Christ himself. But he utters these warnings from a position that almost nobody considers orthodox. He is saying that unless the church comes to emphasize exactly what he does, what his factional position dictates, it will soon be without Christ or the Gospel. I cannot regard that position as having any plausibility at all.
So I must render a negative verdict on this book, though commending the author’s passion for the purity of the church and for the gospel. In doing this, I must disagree with many friends and respected colleagues, who have commended this volume lavishly. They should have known better.
Michael Horton Christless Christianity
Dr. Michael Horton Christless Christianity Book
Another perspective
In my view, many Christians (especially those in the conservative Reformed tradition that Horton and I both inhabit) use this sort of language far too loosely, even flippantly. It is time we learned that when we criticize someone for preaching, another gospel, we are doing nothing less than cursing him, damning him to Hell.
Michael Horton, Christless Christianity
Christless Christianity discusses the big
problem within the American religious setting, namely the creeping fog of countless sermons in churches across the country that focus on moralistic concerns and personal transformation rather than the theology of the cross.
Michael Horton's analysis of the contemporary church points believers back to
the power of a gospel that should never be assumed. Gospel Driven Life is the title of one of Horton's latest books.
Sources of Info on Michael Horton:
Participate in returning America back to our traditional values. Ten Commandments
Participate in returning America back to our traditional values.
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