Customer Reviews

The Contemporary Christian: Applying God's Word to Today's World

5 star:		(7)
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3 star:		(1)
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I have used this book as the centerpeiece of a small group discussion that I do each year for the past 5 years. It is a great book for covering the basics of the Christian life. Stott does a superb job of speaking to the issues that face Christians in the modern context by showing the relevance of scripture without losing substance. The book not only gives you plenty to think about, but also opens up doors of discussion in many areas.

I highly recommend this book for two reasons. First, this book underscores the important of the Christian world view in contemporary times. Stott is very methodical at outlining the relevancy and importance of theological and historical issues (such as the resurrection) to our contemporary world. He does this without diluting historic Christianity. Secondly, this book reaffirmed my faith in Jesus Christ.

I gladly recommend this book to everyone that is interested in understanding our time and in learning more about communicating the gospel to this generation. It's an inheritance from an experienced and wonderful personality within the christian world.

This book is the first book by John Stott I have read and I found it very readable and profound at the same time. It challenged a lot of my attitudes about Christians and the world and really made me think about how I can live in the world without compromising my faith in Jesus. I did not agree with everything in the book, but it was definitely well-thought out and well-argued. I am looking forward to reading other books by Stott.

John Stott has made a most profound statement in this book - calling God's Church to the act of "Double Listening", or continuing to listen to the Bible as well as the culture, to apply Biblical principles to living in the present age, and to reach out with integrity to the world in God's name.

This book should be second only to the Bible on the reading list of every Christian!

The word religion comes from a Latin word, meaning a "model for regulating life according to the gods." More correctly, Christianity is a revelation of a "given" model, specifically Jesus of Nazerath. Dr. John R. W. Stott, in his book, THE CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN, focus on living out a "faith, once delivered to the saints," in a time frame radically different from Jesus' day, more than 2000 years ago. He does the job with conscious sensitivity to these radical differences better than any writer I know.

"So the book is an expository treat. It is really a pastoral essay, a sermon on paper aimed at changing people rather than the advancement of learning as such. Bible based and well researched, intimate and magisterial in style. passionately calm and generous to a fault, this is a finely arranged and beautifully written contribution to what Stott calls 'BBC': balanced biblical Christianity'."
J. I Packer, in 'Christianity Today'

I have at least 40 of John Stott's books and consider this one the most useful, inspirational and challenging, yet it also seems to be the most underestimated. As the great Packer states it is an 'expository treat.' But do not think you are merely treating yourself to buy it,rather because it is so relevant for today's Christian I believe it to be a MUST buy for the thinking Christian. The chapter on 'transposing the word'in is particular is important - yet it is hard to say that any of the 400 pages are not equally as important, inspiring and of the same high quality.If you purchase a copy based on this review and do not yourself rate it please contact me!

Stott gives us a level-headed, comprehensive exposition of what it means to be a present-day Christian, with some chapters that are dedicated to pulpit ministers. It would be difficult to find a book that had less faults, but the faults of this book are pretty big.

There's nothing wrong with the doctrine of the book--unless you, like me, have no sympathy for Calvinism (which makes a couple of brief appearances in the form of assertions of human depravity)--it's the writing. While Stott writes with extraordinary clarity, he also is so careful in this book to make his case with calmness and generosity that the finished product is bland. The language he uses is uninspired, uninspiring, and unimaginative.

So Stott makes a good case; it's just that the book is uninviting.