The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement

The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement

by Mike Cosper
The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement

The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil That Seduced the Evangelical Movement

by Mike Cosper

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Overview

When calling out evil, we often look for the obvious: malice, cruelty, and wickedness. We try to uncover the impulses and motivations. But all too often, malevolence masks itself behind the best of intentions.

In The Church in Dark Times, Mike Cosper unveils this dynamic in the growing crisis of abuse and other failures in modern evangelical churches.

Cosper, a cultural critic and church leader, examines how the workings of evil have shifted in the modern world. Drawing on the work of twentieth-century writer and political philosopher Hannah Arendt, Cosper explores what we can learn from her theory of the "banality of evil," or ordinary people going along with corrupt principles and practices that have been normalized over time.

Through this fascinating study, Cosper uncovers the underlying causes of the breakdowns of the church and then offers practices that foster healing and renewal. This book will engage Christian leaders and all followers who want to better understand how church crises keep happening—and how we can resist them and move forward.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781587435737
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Publication date: 11/19/2024
Pages: 208
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mike Cosper has been creating music, radio shows, and podcasts for more than 20 years. He produced and hosted The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast and is director of podcasts at Christianity Today. He now cohosts a weekly podcast called The Bulletin. Cosper also leads cohorts for church leaders and is the author of four books, including Recapturing the Wonder. He and his family live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction
Author's Note: Dark Times and Godwin's Law
Part 1: Understanding Dark Times
1. Exchanging the Truth for a Lie
2. The Birth of Ideology and the Comprehensible World
3. Ideology, the Fall, and the Limits of Our Knowing
4. Authority, Violence, and the Erosion of Meaning
5. Discovering the Banality of Evil
Part 2: Resisting Dark Times
6. Eugene Peterson, Charlie Brown, and Resistance in Dark Times
7. Solitude and Thinking
8. Storytelling and Culture Making
9. Worship, or Light in Dark Times
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