Apocalypse Now?: Reflections on Faith in a Time of Terror - Hardcover

Forrester, Duncan B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754652602 ISBN 13: 9780754652601

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2005

Synopsis

How may people of faith respond wisely, constructively, and courageously to the challenges of a time of terror? How might religious reasons in public debate be a force for reconciliation rather than violence and hatred? In a world in which religious arguments and religious motivations play such a huge public role, there is an urgent responsibility for interpreting what is happening, and engaging with religious views which are commonly regarded as alien, threatening or dangerous. In "Apocalypse Now?", Duncan Forrester argues that disorders and atrocities which include the Gulag, the Holocaust, 9/11, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and the Tsunami disaster have shown us that we stand not at the end of history but in the midst of an apocalyptic age of terror which has striking similarities to the time in which Christianity was born. Moving between two times of terror - the early Centuries of Christianity, and today - Forrester asks how religious motivations can play a positive role in the midst of conflicts and disasters. Reading the 'signs of the times' to try to understand what is happening in today's age of terror, Forrester argues that there are huge resources in the Christian tradition that can be productively deployed for a more constructive and faithful response. We are at a turning point - this is a book which should be read.

About this title

About the Author

Duncan B. Forrester was ordained as a Presbyter of the Church of South India in 1962, after education at Madras College, St Andrews and the universities of St Andrews, Chicago and Edinburgh. As a Church of Scotland missionary he taught Politics at Madras Christian College for eight years. After a period as Chaplain and Lecturer in Politics and Religious Studies at the University of Sussex, he was appointed in 1978 to the Chair of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology in New College, University of Edinburgh. He was Principal of New College from 1986-1996, and Dean of the Faculty of Divinity from 1996-2000. He established and was first Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues. In session 2000-2001 he held a Personal Chair in Theology and Public Issues in Edinburgh University. He retired in 2001, and the same year he chaired the Theology and Religious Studies Panel for the Research and Assessment Exercise. He has been President of the Society for the Study of Theology and the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by the universities of Iceland, Glasgow and St Andrews, and in 1999 he was awarded the UK Templeton Award 'for breaking new ground in religion'. His recent publications include The True Church and Morality: Reflections on Ecclesiology and Ethics (WCC, 1997), Christian Justice and Public Policy (Cambridge University Press, 1997), Truthful Action: Explorations in Practical Theology (T. & T. Clark, 2000) and On Human Worth: A Christian Vindication of Equality (SCM Press, 2001).

Edition details

• Publisher: Ashgate Publishing Limited
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0754652602
• ISBN 13: 9780754652601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 204