Christ Among the Dragons: Finding Our Way Through Cultural Challenges, By James Emery White

Christ Among the Dragons

Finding Our Way Through Cultural Challenges

by James Emery White

Christ Among the Dragons
hardcover
  • Length: 190 pages
  • Published: June 03, 2010
  • Imprint: IVP
  • Item Code: 3312
  • ISBN: 9780830833122

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"Here Be Dragons"

When medieval mapmakers came to the end of the world as they knew it, they would write on the edges of their maps, "Here Be Dragons." Without a way to navigate, these areas were, at best, promising yet unexplored, and at worst, perilous.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, evangelical Christians have an equally unsettling map and a lack of unity in regard to how we will find our way through uncharted territory as we stray from core ideas and differ on key issues.

How did we get here? How will we find our way back? In this book James Emery White takes us on a journey beyond the dragon territory to discover the new world Christ is mapping for us.

"James Emery White's Christ Among the Dragons is exactly what the church needs at a time when so many evangelical Christians are ready to throw tradition and principle out the window for the sake of relevance. With his firm grounding in Scripture, White gives us a compelling and comprehensive vision for how the church can openly reclaim and proclaim the faith given once for all. This book is a good read for any Christian who is serious about capturing this generation for Christ."

Chuck Colson, founder, Prison Fellowship and Colson Center for Christian Worldview

"White offers a systematic yet deeply personal response to theological and cultural challenges confronting contemporary Christians, especially evangelicals. His analysis is measured, balanced and prophetic, offering insights for a renewed evangelical future."

Bill J. Leonard, professor of church history, Wake Forest University Divinity School

"I would like to see this book in the hands of every emerging leader I am mentoring. They are often sailing near the edge of their known world—and Jim White provides some beacons that provide direction and wisdom for their leadership."

Dr. Carson Pue, author of Mentoring Leaders, Arrowleadership.org

"This little book is a tract for the times for the evangelical church today—a summons to be faithful to Jesus Christ and his truth-telling Word while reaching out with love and grace to a world desperate for good news credibly told and lived out."

Timothy George, founding dean, Beeson Divinity School of Samford University, and general editor, Reformation Commentary on Scripture

"Jim White has skillfully woven together the challenges facing evangelicals in the areas of truth claims, cultural engagement, the role of the church and the place of Christian unity. This thematic analysis, though immensely readable and practical in its approach, reflects serious intellectual wrestling with the primary tenets of the Christian faith as well as the significant cultural issues of our day. White calls not for retreat, but for faithfulness that will result in renewal of the gospel witness in our world. Those who are interested in the role of the church and the place of the evangelical movement in our current context will find Christ Among the Dragons to be both helpful and hopeful."

David S. Dockery, president, Union University

"In Christ Among the Dragons, James Emery White addresses the challenges and outlines the solution to a community confronting identity moratorium. Without a doubt, Jim's practical and prophetic supposition reconciles the vertical and horizontal elements of a Christian message that stands poised to reform our culture via a new movement committed to righteousness and justice. Every evangelical in America must read this book!"

Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference,

"White writes with genuine conviction as he leads the reader to a hunger for a deeper engagement in Christ thought as demonstrated within the members of his own church. I appreciate his articulate, intellectual approach in writing. He understands today?s culture and man?s inner needs, truth and orthodoxy. He boldly takes a stand on the importance of uniting in an intentional global effort of reaching out with love and grace in a renewed effort of taking the message and mission of the gospel to a new generation."

Richard R. Blake, The Midwest Book Review, June 2011

"White's book graciously deploys rich Christian theology to help Christians get their bearings, keep their heads, and find their way through both our rapidly changing culture as well as frustrating shortcomings in our churches and the broader Christian community."

D. Michael Lindsay, Outreach, March-April 2011

"In Dragons White takes us on a journey through the approaching land of dragons to discover the new world Christ is mapping for us, a world of promise for evangelicals willing to embrace change."

Jim Miller, The Daily Sentinel, August 14, 2010
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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Here Be Dragons

Truth
1 TRUTHINESS: The loss of absolutes in a wiki world.
2 ORTHODOXY: The dogma is the drama.

Culture
3 THE WORLD WITHOUT US: Renewing culture with the true, the good and the beautiful.
4 OF TABERNACLES AND MOSQUES: How much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize?

Unity
5 THE MARK OF A CHRISTIAN: Bitter blogs and civility.
6 POLARIZATIONS: Misplaced missional energy.

The Church
7 OUR MOTHER: One, holy, catholic, apostolic.
8 THE CHURCH UNHINDERED: It?s not about me.

Afterword

Notes

Image Credits and Permissions

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James Emery White

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is also adjunct professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he previously served as the school's fourth president. Dr. White holds MDiv and PhD degrees from Southern Seminary, where he was awarded a Garrett Teaching Fellowship in both New Testament and theology. He has also done advanced university study at Vanderbilt University in American religious history, and continuing education at Oxford University in England. He currently serves on the Board of Reference at Union University, and as the adjunct professor of Christian theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary/Charlotte. An international speaker and consultant, White is the author of over a dozen books, including such Gold Medallion nominees as Serious Times and A Search for the Spiritual, Christianity Today Book of the Year award-winner Wrestling with God, as well as The Prayer God Longs For and A Mind for God. White also served as the consulting editor as well as contributing author to The Holman Bible Handbook and The Holman Concise Bible Commentary.