Religion Crisis

Nearly 40 years ago, Ralph Martin's best-selling A Crisis of Truth exposed the damaging trends in Catholic teaching and preaching that, combined with attacks from secular society, threatened the mission and life of the Catholic Church. While much has been done to counter false teaching over the last four decades, today the church faces even more insidious threats from outside and within. In A Church in Crisis: Pathways Forward, Martin offers a detailed look at the growing hostility to the Catholic Church and its teaching.

In 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear, and not solely of satanic afflictions. Horrifyingly violent Indian attacks had all but emptied the northern frontier of settlers, and many traumatized refugees—including the main accusers of witches—had fled to communities like Salem. Meanwhile the colony’s leaders, defensive about their own failure to protect the frontier, pondered how God’s people could be suffering at the hands of savages.

In 1991, when he was 13 years old, Lenny Duncan stepped out of his house in West Philadelphia, walked to the Greyhound station, and bought a ticket - the start of his great American adventure. Today Duncan, who inspired and challenged audiences with his breakout first book, Dear Church, brings us a deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the US. In his characteristically powerful voice, he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith.

Acclaimed author Karen Swallow Prior examines evangelical history, both good and bad. By analyzing the literature, art, and popular culture that has surrounded evangelicalism, she unpacks some of the movement's most deeply held concepts, ideas, values, and practices to consider what is Christian rather than merely cultural. The result is a clearer path forward for evangelicals amid their current identity crisis—and insight for others who want a deeper understanding of what the term "evangelical" means today.

Writing in response to our current “constitutional crisis”, New York Times best-selling author and Christian activist Jim Wallis urges America to return to the tenets of Jesus once again as the means to save us from the polarizing bitterness and anger of our tribal nation.

Is your organization in danger of Mission Drift? Without careful attention, faith-based organizations drift from their founding mission. It's that simple. It will happen. Slowly, silently, and with little fanfare, organizations routinely drift from their purpose, and many never return to their original intent. Harvard and the YMCA are among those that no longer embrace the Christian principles on which they were founded. But they didn't drift off course overnight. Drift often happens in small and subtle ways.

In Pope Peter, Joe Heschmeyer says that papal flaws are an opportunity to understand what the papacy really means, not to abandon it (or the Church). Drawing deeply on the scriptural and historical witness, he offers a thorough but accessible defense of the papal office and an edifying picture of the extent—and limits—of its authority.

The transgender movement is based on a destructive ideology that has affected every adult and minor in every sector of American society. Our churches and communities need to understand how to address the spiritual and psychological crisis behind gender ideology. This book was written by Jennifer Bauwens, a trauma therapist and researcher, and Walt Heyer, who previously identified as a woman. Both authors have helped those who suffered the effects of gender ideology and who also had traumas and other mental health conditions.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan offers a powerful, universal message on God’s grace and the healing power of Jesus to get us through tough and turbulent times. Drawn from sermons and writings offered during the early days of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, I Am with You provides solace, hope, and healing for anyone suffering through illness, grief, job loss, isolation, or anxiety.

What Brian McLaren sets forth in this provocative, unsettling work is a "form of Christian faith that is holistic, integral, balanced, that offers good news for both the living and the dying, that speaks of God's grace at work both in this life and the life to come, both to individuals and to societies and the planet as a whole."

In Our Endangered Values, Carter offers a personal consideration of "moral values" as they relate to the important issues of the day. He puts forward a passionate defense of separation of church and state, and a strong warning of where the country is heading as the lines between politics and rigid religious fundamentalism are blurred.

Nearly two decades ago, Hank Hanegraaff's award-winning Christianity in Crisis alerted the world to the dangers of a cultic movement within Christianity that threatened to undermine the very foundation of biblical faith. In the 21st century, there are new dangers—new teachers who threaten to do more damage than the last. Christianity in Crisis: 21st Century exposes darkness to light, pointing us back to a Christianity centered in Christ.

Although Christian believers agreed with one another that the Bible was authoritative and that it should be interpreted through commonsense principles, there was rampant disagreement about what Scripture taught about slavery. Furthermore, most Americans continued to believe that God ruled over the affairs of people and nations, but they were radically divided in their interpretations of what God was doing in and through the war.

Author and advocate Mary DeMuth urges the church she loves to rise up and face the evil of sexual abuse and harassment with candor and empathy. Based on research and survivors' stories, along with fierce fidelity to Scripture, DeMuth unpacks the church's response to sexual violence and provides a healthy framework for the church to become a haven of healing instead of an institution of judgment.

It was the final test. A chance to win not only the love of Allah, but the love of her father - something she had never been able to earn. Esther took a deep breath and raised her hand in the air. At the age of 18, she had just volunteered to become a suicide bomber. Defying Jihad is the true story of a girl growing up under radical Islamic rule, trained to believe her ultimate purpose was to serve Allah by dying as a jihadist. But two nights before she was to leave forever, she had a dream...one that would change the course of her destiny.

Each of us will encounter loss, difficulty, and hardship in this life. While you can’t control what happens to you, you can control your response. Where do you turn when you see ominous storm clouds begin to mass on your horizon? Into the Storm is about responding to God faithfully when life’s storms come charging your way. With keen biblical insights and real-life stories, pastor and speaker Josh Turner illuminates the power of trusting God—especially amid life’s most difficult moments.

"I first met al-Qaeda before there was an al-Qaeda, way back in the winter of 1984. It was an encounter that came within a split second of costing me my life." So begins Rob Schultheis's gripping account of his journey into the heart of one of the world's most dangerous places, on the trail of the world's most wanted man. A veteran war correspondent, Schultheis offers a first-hand look at how the seeds of al-Qaeda were planted by foreign jihadists in the 1980s, before most Americans knew what the word "jihad" meant.

The current prolonged season of war and worldwide economic crisis has created countless personal crises. Unemployment, foreclosures, threats, and fears loom, and Christians are not exempt. You can survive and even thrive during these times. Myles Munroe teaches how to overcome any crisis by applying the sure wisdom and the time-tested principles of the Kingdom of God.

Just as the moon obscures the sun's light during an eclipse, today's radical secularism has obscured the light of God. But God's light still shines—and He is calling us to shine His light in the growing darkness. In The Eclipse of God, bestselling author Erwin Lutzer exposes our nation's disastrous efforts to redefine God in its own image. The resulting damage has been so great that confusion about God has even crept into the church.

Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the frustrations and resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins of political Islam and tells us what the Islamic doctrine of jihad has meant at different times in history.