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Saturday, August 1, 2009
Review of Christianity in Crisis by Hank Hanegraff
I am a book reviewer for Thomas Nelson publishers... The book I have received lately is "Christianity in Crisis" by Hank Hanegraff.
Full disclosure - I am a practicing Greek Orthodox Christian.
Mr. Hanegraff presents a well-written impassioned explanation of his view of the "fall" of Christianity today, specifically by evangelism. Unfortunately, he starts out with how the "Word" of God is being twisted by the prosperity ministers - those you see on TV. While I agree in principle that getting most of your religious information, advice and instruction from TV is dangerous and has caused some serious rifts between groups, I do not agree that the Bible is a literal representation of the Word.
He begins his tirade against the prosperity preachers by saying "error begets error" and "heresy begets heresy". Basically upbraiding these preachers because they follow more of a "words create reality" format. Meaning that Preachers such as Joel Osteen and Rhonda Byrne encourage their followers to follow the "if you think it, you can do it and it will become reality".
While I, myself am not comfotable with TV evangelism in any way - preferring the more traditional Sunday service rites attended in a church, I am a bit more open to think that if this will bring some people a measure of comfort that they cannot get elsewhere then it is worth it.
My major complaint of Mr. Hanegraff's writing is that he consistently refers to the Bible as the literal Word. In my opinion, this shows an extreme lack of research and knowledge of the wonderful history and biography of the Bible. If you take the Bible simply as it is, you will understand that most of it is comprised of letters written from from of the Apostles to a community or another group. These epistles are not then, the true and literal word of God, they are individual expressions of faithful men using the same avenues that the properity teachers currently do - without the glitz and glam.
The Bible, and those documents that came before it, are individual expressions of their views on faith - gentle coercion by example and thoughtful discourse. Over the centuries the Bible has endured many transformations and translations. Something is always lost going from one language to another, as are ideas turned round so as to make them more palatable to the intended audience.
It is also a compilation of epistles and psalms which have been moved around a bit, some taken out, others left in as the political or religious politics of the day held sway or broke down. My prime example is the number of different versions of the Bible as it exists today: The Bible began from the Torah, then there are the initial translations from latin into Greek and Aramaic. Then the books were arranged in to the Septuagint. Then came the Masoretic Texts (The Tanakh) wherein the Jewish scholars of the time introduced vowels into the translation which sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since some words differ only in their vowels—their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen.
The Torah and the early books are, quite simply, the written down oral traditions of the rabbis and early leaders of the church. The use of numbered chapters and verses was not introduced until the Middle Ages and later. The system used in English was developed by Stephanus.
Early manuscripts of the letters of Paul and other New Testament writings show no punctuation whatsoever. The punctuation was added later by other editors, according to their own understanding of the text.
I shall not delve further into this history to spare the reader, they re many resources to consult on this matter should you wish further information.
Suffice to say that the oral traditions survive as they did from the beginning and each person of the faith continues this practice by changing it to suit the apparent needs of the faithful.
Basing his "crisis" squarely on the advent of new oral traditions and new versions (KJII, NIV, e.g.) starts the unwary reader down a path of outrage and prejudice, both of which are primarily founded in ignorance.
It is well-written and presents it's context well, but I do not recommend this book for the mainstream as the author intends. This book would be better served to be read and studied by those involved in liturgical studies.
Full disclosure - I am a practicing Greek Orthodox Christian.
Mr. Hanegraff presents a well-written impassioned explanation of his view of the "fall" of Christianity today, specifically by evangelism. Unfortunately, he starts out with how the "Word" of God is being twisted by the prosperity ministers - those you see on TV. While I agree in principle that getting most of your religious information, advice and instruction from TV is dangerous and has caused some serious rifts between groups, I do not agree that the Bible is a literal representation of the Word.
He begins his tirade against the prosperity preachers by saying "error begets error" and "heresy begets heresy". Basically upbraiding these preachers because they follow more of a "words create reality" format. Meaning that Preachers such as Joel Osteen and Rhonda Byrne encourage their followers to follow the "if you think it, you can do it and it will become reality".
While I, myself am not comfotable with TV evangelism in any way - preferring the more traditional Sunday service rites attended in a church, I am a bit more open to think that if this will bring some people a measure of comfort that they cannot get elsewhere then it is worth it.
My major complaint of Mr. Hanegraff's writing is that he consistently refers to the Bible as the literal Word. In my opinion, this shows an extreme lack of research and knowledge of the wonderful history and biography of the Bible. If you take the Bible simply as it is, you will understand that most of it is comprised of letters written from from of the Apostles to a community or another group. These epistles are not then, the true and literal word of God, they are individual expressions of faithful men using the same avenues that the properity teachers currently do - without the glitz and glam.
The Bible, and those documents that came before it, are individual expressions of their views on faith - gentle coercion by example and thoughtful discourse. Over the centuries the Bible has endured many transformations and translations. Something is always lost going from one language to another, as are ideas turned round so as to make them more palatable to the intended audience.
It is also a compilation of epistles and psalms which have been moved around a bit, some taken out, others left in as the political or religious politics of the day held sway or broke down. My prime example is the number of different versions of the Bible as it exists today: The Bible began from the Torah, then there are the initial translations from latin into Greek and Aramaic. Then the books were arranged in to the Septuagint. Then came the Masoretic Texts (The Tanakh) wherein the Jewish scholars of the time introduced vowels into the translation which sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since some words differ only in their vowels—their meaning can vary in accordance with the vowels chosen.
The Torah and the early books are, quite simply, the written down oral traditions of the rabbis and early leaders of the church. The use of numbered chapters and verses was not introduced until the Middle Ages and later. The system used in English was developed by Stephanus.
Early manuscripts of the letters of Paul and other New Testament writings show no punctuation whatsoever. The punctuation was added later by other editors, according to their own understanding of the text.
I shall not delve further into this history to spare the reader, they re many resources to consult on this matter should you wish further information.
Suffice to say that the oral traditions survive as they did from the beginning and each person of the faith continues this practice by changing it to suit the apparent needs of the faithful.
Basing his "crisis" squarely on the advent of new oral traditions and new versions (KJII, NIV, e.g.) starts the unwary reader down a path of outrage and prejudice, both of which are primarily founded in ignorance.
It is well-written and presents it's context well, but I do not recommend this book for the mainstream as the author intends. This book would be better served to be read and studied by those involved in liturgical studies.
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