A Definition of Christianity for the 21st Century

On one occasion, the famous Indian philosopher and statesman Mahatma Gandhi was asked why he did not join the Christian Church. His reply was, "Well...but which one?"

This same question is what still today, at the dawn of the third millennium, causes many sincere men and women to remain on the sidelines or even turn away from the truth of the Gospel. Looking at the world, Christianity presents a confusing and perplexing picture. A concrete definition of Christianity for the 21st century is urgently needed, one capable of removing from the hull of the ship that is the church the crust that the barnacles of superstition have formed over twenty centuries, so thick that it threatens to sink it. A valid answer is needed to show postmodern society that Christianity is not a mere system of rituals or a moral ideology that expires with the passage of centuries, but rather, as the Apostle Paul expressed, it constitutes the good news concerning a historical Person, Jesus of Nazareth, the resurrected Christ, the only hope for the future.

To this end, David Gooding and John Lennox turn to the book of Acts, which describes the power that catapulted the first Christians onto the stage of world history, eclipsing all other religious, political, or philosophical systems. The authors then analyze current thought trends and the problems affecting our contemporary society—from racism and the defense of human rights to ecology, globalization, and the resurgence of magic—and clearly demonstrate how these problems, which the Early Church already faced in its own way, find their answer in the reality of the Gospel and the application of the apostolic model.