BQ 733 – 29/2022
WEA Theological Commission Publishes Volume 2 of ‘Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures’

5. September 2022

(Bonn, 05.09.2022) The Theological Commission of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA TC) has published ‘Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures’, volume 2: ‘Culture, Hermeneutics, Natural Law, Islam, and Missions’, as part of its World of Theology Series. The 130-page book, available as a free PDF download, examines the difficult questions of how to live as Christians sent by God into today’s complex world.

In his preface, author Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Johnson, who serves as Senior Theological Advisor to the WEA, describes some of the many pressing challenges we face today:

“Increasing numbers of Evangelical Christians, decline of democracy, growth of authoritarianism, increasing religious persecution, globalization via the internet, astonishing growth of science and technology, growing sense of differences among cultures, increasing interaction with adherents of other religions, ideological extremes on the right and the left, propaganda disguised as news, horrible human rights abuses, immense environmental issues, constant racial problems in several continents, religious terrorism, anti-religious extremism, sexual chaos, greying populations, and a terrifying pandemic. Our globe today. How should followers of Jesus respond?”

Johnson responds by systematically reviewing foundational moral questions. He starts with the Word of God’s multi-faceted engagement with cultures, continues with a historical model for applying God’s Word borrowed from Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin, and examines various other relevant topics, including “Scars on the Face of Christendom,” a sensitive look at some darker moments in Christian history.

“Are there many honest evangelicals alive at this time in history who would not admit they have felt tempted to let their chaotic world ‘go to hell in a handbasket’? Historian Robert D. Linder (1933–2021) said evangelicals have always had two impulses: proselytize and improve. But now, many are tempted to dissociate or withdraw. ‘Jesus is the answer,’ we say. ‘But please, God, don’t send us into the line of fire!’ I suspect few know how to process the dizzying number of problems and issues paraded before us every day,” Dr. Liam J. Atchison, retired Senior Vice President of Global Scholars, writes in his preface to the book.

He adds:

“In this book Thomas K. Johnson shows that evangelical reluctance is neither a necessity nor an option for those who represent Christ. He does not merely dismantle our comfortable idolatries. Instead, he provides a comfort and compass we evangelicals need badly. Johnson’s sound, reasoned, and biblical approach is appropriate to the turbulent world of the pandemic age without the rhetoric of impending doom and hopelessness. After all, we have potent guides, the prophet Amos, the apostle Paul, and the magisterial reformers among them.”

About the author

  • Thomas K. Johnson is Senior Theological Advisor to the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), which represents and connects over 600 million Christians in 143 countries. He also serves as WEA Special Envoy to the Holy See and as Special Envoy to Engage Humanitarian Islam. He has long been a foremost international Protestant voice on human rights and religious freedom, including numerous publications and consulting with diplomats and religious leaders from around the globe.

Bibliographical information

  • Thomas K. Johnson. Christian Ethics in Secular Cultures Volume 2: Culture, Hermeneutics, Natural Law, Islam, and Missions. The WEA World of Theology Series. Vol. 21. Culture and Science Publishing: Bonn, 2022. 135 pp. ISBN 978-3-86269-233-0.

Downloads and Links

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