Christian Literature & Book Reviews

The Light of Eden: A Christian Worldview
By Harold C. Raley

The book is divided into seven sections that each deal with a particular piece of the puzzle of seeing the world as a Christian. In succeeding sections, the author takes the reader on a journey from the Scriptural foundations through a uniquely Christian way of seeing truth, man and his dilemma, society, and history. At each step, he integrates his reasoning within a thoroughly Christian outlook and points out the differences within other frameworks.

In all his reasoning, Dr. Raley is careful to retain fidelity to the Christian witness. Where the outlook given differs from the "conventional wisdom" - even that within the Church - he takes great care to explain where he believes prior developments erred. Throughout, his tenor is fair and he does not subject any particular view to ridicule nor engage in "straw man" argumentation but seeks to fairly evaluate opposing views. The writing is always crisp and not bogged down in technical details without losing the depth required for the topic.

With all the attention given in the Church to upholding a "Christian world view", one would hope The Light of Eden would garner some notice. It certainly deserves to be read widely within the Church. However, given its focus on foundational issues rather than political headlines, it is might be overlooked by the movers and shakers in American Evangelicalism. This is a shame because it is very rare to have a truly Christian philosophy presented so vividly. This is a thoughtful and challenging book that all thinking Christians should read.

The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries
By Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark's The Rise of Christianity is a welcome exception to this unfortunate rule. Taking his cue from sociological research, Stark uses applies generally accepted criteria to the phenomena of the early Church and follows the trail where it may lead. When the result is not what is expected, he further examines source material and exposes weaknesses in the prevailing assumptions. Although the results may seem iconoclastic to some, in reality there is a restoration of much of the historical view with the only icons smashed those of post-enlightenment assumptions concerning the early Church's motives.

Stark begins with a primarily methodological chapter in an attempt to gauge the relative strength of the Church in its first few centuries. Through trial and error he finds a probable average growth rate for the Church and points out that this would imply a tiny minority in the early centuries that would explode due to exponential growth. However, there was still the question as to how so many would be added to sustain such an astounding growth rate. That is, why did so many in the Roman Empire find this new faith so appealing?

In getting to the truth, a number of commonly held assumptions needed to be held up to scutiny. The first to be critiqued is the belief, popularized by many social scientists and commonly embraced by backers of liberation theology, that Christiantity represented a form of proletarian revolt against Roman oppression. Not only does the documented evidence not support this, but Stark points out that religious movements that cut against the conventional social structure have been shown to be disproportionately represented by the educated members of the upper and middle classes. This, in fact, coincides well with descriptions of the Church at the time and thus attempts to explain the rise of Christianity in revolutionary terms is wholely misguided.

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