An 8-Track Church in a Cd World: The Modern Church in a Postmodern World (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"In the last twenty years Americans have witnessed dramatic changes in the wider culture," Nash writes. "Yet the local churches have hardly changed...People attend out of loyalty to the institution and their own investment in the building rather than because of any real sense of spiritual enhancement. And we continue to 'do church' as if people will endure this kind of tedium forever...We pretend that people want the same things from church in the 1990s that they wanted in the 1950s. For this reason, Christianity in America in the late 20th century is deeply troubled."

Loren Mead states in the foreword, "Nash is helpful to us in exploring the painful cultural divide we straddle-between a world he describes as the 'modern world' and the world emerging around us, 'the postmodern world.' He clarifies for us how that very change is shifting the ground under our feet, making obsolete the practices of yesterday; making obsolete, even some of the institutional structures and the ways we have articulated the deepest things of our faith... New language and new structures will be needed for gospel truth to be articulated in this world of postmodernity." For a future to materialize, though, the church must first take a hard look in the mirror. Only then can corrective measures be taken to help make the church a more relevant part of people's live in the 21st century. If changes aren't made, the church will become obsolete-much like an 8-track tape in today's digital world.

From the Back Cover

God is birthing a new church, and we Christians at the end of the twentieth century are rather like prospective parents awaiting its birth. We do not know exactly what such a church will look like, but we do know that it will be very different from the churches to which most of us now belong.

"Our world is in the midst of transition. Nash is convinced that the church must take the emerging postmodern ethos seriously and that failure to do so jeopardizes its very health and vitality. Nash is right! His prescription is 'must' reading for concerned Christians on all sides of the current 'cultural wars,' not because at every turn he provides the right answers, but because Nash is engaging the right questions." -Stanley J. Grenz, Author of A Primer on Postmodernism and Theology for the Community of God

"Nash believes that it is time for Christians in America to come to terms with the transitions that are at hand. His work pushes us beyond our traditional structures and calls us to explore options for understanding faith as we enter another century. Through it all, Nash finds his way to hope and the promise that the church survives, that it remains for time and eternity the body of Christ."-Bill J. Leonard, Dean, School of Theology Wake Forest University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 132 pages
• Publisher: Smyth & Helwys Publishing; 1St Edition edition (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573120952
• ISBN-13: 978-1573120951
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,485,157 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Doctor Nash gives a good start..should have gone further, July 7, 1998

By	"philhoover" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

The title is most catchy....the content is only "somewhat catchy" at best. Nash's experience in theological circles (including three pastorates)well qualifies him to address a subject in which he only scratches the surface. I found myself finishing the book in a couple of hours, and wanting him to say more. His three or four or five or eight points in each chapter were helpful, useful, and thought-provoking. The issues of community wasn't as fully explored as I was anticipating or expected it to be. Maybe the author could team up with Dr. Stephen Green at Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene (California) and further examine exactly what the "modern church" must do to adequately address and minister to folk living in the throes of postmodernity. The almost comical analogies with the new WALMART Super Centers were cute at best, and lent just a tad to his discussion. Surely there are some "CD churches" in North America somewhere. The problem is only somewhat clear; now the author should help us find some biblical, meaningful and usable solutions.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Nash helped me understand, and now move forward., October 28, 1998

By A Customer

I am an engineer and go to Church somewhat regularly. After reading this book, I now have a better idea of why I have been discouraged with my religious experiences at Church. Dr. Nash explains the problems that face today's church and its congregation. The points that Dr. Nash discusses, establish a starting point to experience Christianity within our world of mass information and search for a meaningful life. Dr. Nash describes what the new Church will be, and explains there are many roads to get there. It will not be easy, but rather extremely difficult. Mainly because congregations go from "group-followers" to individuals with individual responsibility and in that, lead the Church into a new open world with the ministers and pastors being coaches and supporters. As time passes, we will see who is up for the responsibility to be a Christian and who remains locked behind walls in the old world. Welcome to the new world we live in, thanks Dr. Nash.

5.0 out of 5 stars A postmodern view of the problems the church faces., March 23, 1998

By A Customer

Dr. Nash pinpoints the problems that the postmodern church faces today. His real life experiences are very humorous and entertaining. He offers the cutting edge in identifying what decay lies within the church context. However he does not offer any soluable solutions to these problems. This book is well written and genuinely thought out.