Book Description

There is an essential change taking place in what it means to be "religious" today. Religious people are more interested in ethical guidelines and spiritual disciplines than in doctrines. The result is a universal trend away from hierarchical, regional, patriarchal, and insititutional religion. As these changes gain momentum, they evoke an almost point-for-point fundamentalist reaction. Fundamentalism, Cox argues, is on graphic display around the globe because it is dying. Once suffocated by creeds, hierarchies, and the disastrous merger of the church with the Roman Empire, faith -rather than belief- is once again becoming Christianity's defining quality. This recent move away from the dogmatic religion is best explained against the backdrop of three distinct periods of church history.