The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity

by Douglas John Hall

The thesis of this book is that the Christian movement can indeed have a significant future - one that will be faithful to the original vision of the movement and of immense service to our beleaguered world. But to have that future, Christians will have to stop trying to have the kind of future that sixteen centuries of official Christianity in the Western world has conditioned them to covet. Douglas John Hall examines the decline and fall of Christendom and looks at ecclesiastical responses to the end of Christendom. He proposes that the churches make their disestablishment work for good and describes how the Christian movement might serve dominant societies, classes, and institutions in a post-Christian era.

Genres: Theology, Christian

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Douglas John Hall was an Canadian emeritus professor of theology at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and a minister of the United Church of Canada. Prior to joining the McGill Faculty of Religious Studies in 1975 he was MacDougald Professor of Systematic Theology at St Andrew's College in the University of Saskatchewan (1965–1975), Principal of St Paul's College in the University of Waterloo (1962–1965), and minister of St Andrew's Church in Blind River, Ontario (1960–1962).

Reviews

[Merv Budd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it was written in 1995, John Hall's analysis of the future of Christianity is critically needed to be heard - especially in the Unites States (read the book and see if you agree). At long last the church is coming loose from 1600 years of Christendom, which he defines as “the dominion or sovereignty of the Christian religion”, and we now need to reimagine what it means to be the church without power and preference.

This will probably be a disturbing read for some because so much of what we have embraced as Christianity is really the entanglements of our culture meshed with a vague Christian heritage, baptized with Scripture that is taken out of context. However, as culture now drifts further and further from informed Biblical thinking we are finding the cultural attachments being rend from what we had always assumed was true Christianity.

It is a short read and not too difficult, although you may want to have your dictionary handy. I found the last chapter in particular the most informative and encouraging. Anyone who is trying to navigate the cultural shifts, this is a great place to start.

[Daniel Weir · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this little book, Hall lays out briefly the case for Christians working to disestablish Christianity in Canada and the United States. While the establishment has not been a matter of law in either country, in both Christianity has been so intertwined with the two countries' cultures that being a Christian has been until recently the default option. Rather than trying to fight disestablishment, Hall recommends embracing it as an opportunity for churches to become disciple communities. By disengaging from the dominant culture, these communities can engage society in ways that are faithful to the Gospel.

[Chris Halverson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I intend to re-read this book soon and often. Its beauty is in its simplicity. Christians are called to live awkwardly within a culture that we were once culturally dominant.

[jedidja · Rating 3 out of 5]

thesis reading continues ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[David Corbet · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent little book. waiting anxiously for the sequel.

[Mayowa Adebiyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The marriage between the church and the dominant culture ever since Constantine has been both good and also something that the church now has to let go of. Hall's call for intentional disestablishment is different to that of ghettoization typical of the anabaptist tradition. Nevertheless, a deliberate separation is required in other for a truly confessional church to re-engage with the culture.