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Book Cover for: The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms: Why Spiritualities Without God Fail to Transform Us, Andrew Root

The Church in an Age of Secular Mysticisms: Why Spiritualities Without God Fail to Transform Us

Andrew Root

Post-Christian life and society do not eliminate a desire for the transcendent; rather, they create an environment for new and divergent spiritual communities and practices to flourish. We are flooded with spiritualities that appeal to human desires for nonreligious personal transformation. But many fail to deliver because they fall into the trap of the self.

In the last book of the Ministry in a Secular Age series, leading practical theologian Andrew Root shows the differences between these spiritualities and authentic Christian transformation. He explores the dangers of following or adapting these reigning mysticisms and explains why the self has become so important yet so burdened with guilt--and how we should think about both. To help us understand our confusing cultural landscape, he maps spiritualities using twenty of the best memoirs from 2015 to 2020 in which "secular mystics" promote their mystical and transformational pathways. Root concludes with a more excellent way--even a mysticism--centered on the theology of the cross that pastors and leaders can use to form their own imaginations and practices.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Baker Academic
  • Publish Date: Oct 10th, 2023
  • Pages: 288
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.43in - 5.43in - 0.55in - 0.45lb
  • EAN: 9781540966735
  • Categories: SpiritualityChristian Ministry - Pastoral ResourcesChristian Theology - General

About the Author

Root, Andrew: - Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Faith Formation in a Secular Age, The Pastor in a Secular Age, The Congregation in a Secular Age, Churches and the Crisis of Decline, The Church after Innovation, and The End of Youth Ministry? Root is also the coauthor (with Kenda Creasy Dean) of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. He is a frequent speaker and hosts the popular and influential When Church Stops Working podcast.