The Witnessing Community: The Biblical Record of God's purpose

by Suzanne De Dietrich

What does it mean to belong to God's People today? In our time the hunger of mankind for meaning sets the problem of the Christian church in bald relief. What is the witnessing community? What is it now and what should it be? This dear and stirring book brings new perspective to the continuing question of how God's People should face the world of their time and how they should fulfill their function in it. Using the methods of Biblical theology, Suzanne de Dietrich traces the record of God's purpose to make the church the witnessing community, as seen in the story of his People. Over the years of this record a two-fold temptation has remained in many ways the the temptation to conform to the world; und the temptation to live in self-contented isolation. Today these temptations are recognized in all quarters as threatening both the individual und society. For several thousand years God's purpose for his People hos also remained the same, however; they are chosen, set apart, und given a mission - their goal a world reconciled with God. In her book Miss de Dietrich traces these themes of election, separation, und mission in the patriarchal stories, showing how each figure embodies some aspect of Israel's calling.

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1958