Zum Hauptinhalt springen
Nicht aus der Schweiz? Besuchen Sie lehmanns.de
Baal and the Gods of More - Andrew Root

Baal and the Gods of More

Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry

(Autor)

Buch | Softcover
256 Seiten
2026
Baker Academic, Div of Baker Publishing Group (Verlag)
978-1-5409-7006-0 (ISBN)
CHF 41,90 inkl. MwSt
  • Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Juni 2026)
  • Versandkostenfrei
  • Auch auf Rechnung
  • Artikel merken
In this moment of church decline, there is a deep temptation to believe what will save us is getting more--more people, more influence, more reach, more money. But this modern temptation opens us up to an ancient idolatry. This book reorients us to a deeper, relational, and theological way of thinking about the future.
How should we think about church growth in our current cultural moment?

The golden era ushered in by the industrial revolution led the Protestant church in America to experience unprecedented growth and prosperity in the twentieth century. This environment has formed our understanding of and dependence on growth for stabilization: It's assumed that if we aren't growing, we are stagnant at best and declining at worst.

In Baal and the Gods of More, leading practical theologian Andrew Root challenges our assumptions about growth, offering a deep analysis through the lenses of cultural philosophy, economic theory, and theological examination. Turning to 1 and 2 Kings, he shows that our desire for growth is an idolatry that mirrors the ancient idolatry of the Israelites in their worship of Baal and other fertility gods.

Baal and the Gods of More argues that looking to innovation, creativity, and other secular methodologies in the endless pursuit of "more"--more influence, more people, more reach, more money--will not save the church. Instead, the church needs to return to dependence on divine action and a relational encounter with the Word.

Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is the Carrie Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He writes and researches in the areas of theology, ministry, culture, and younger generations. Root is the author of Evangelism in an Age of Despair, the six-volume Ministry in a Secular Age set, and more than a dozen other books. He also serves as theologian in residence at Youthfront, is a frequent speaker, and cohosts the Ministry in a Secular Age podcast.

1. Memes and Museums: Realizing the Church Has an Idolatry Problem
2. What's So Bad About Growth? Dynamic Stabilization as Modernity's New Fertility System
3. The Machine and the GDP God: How the Special Century and the Christian Century Got Us Addicted to Growth
4. Techno-Optimists and Identitarians Take Over the Church: How Baal Becomes Modern and Embedded in Protestantism
5. The Disobedience of a Lost Golden Age: Reading 1-2 Kings Next to Protestant Decline
6. You, Mother! A Sweet Apocalyptic Relationality
Index

Erscheinungsdatum
Verlagsort Ada, MI
Sprache englisch
Maße 152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt Religion / Theologie Christentum Kirchengeschichte
Religion / Theologie Christentum Moraltheologie / Sozialethik
ISBN-10 1-5409-7006-X / 154097006X
ISBN-13 978-1-5409-7006-0 / 9781540970060
Zustand Neuware
Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR)
Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt?
Mehr entdecken
aus dem Bereich
die Macht des Dunklen in unserer Zeit und wie wir ihr entgegentreten

von Anselm Grün

Buch | Hardcover (2025)
Verlag Herder
CHF 27,90