The Astonished Heart: Reclaiming the Good News from the Lost-And-Found of Church History

by Robert Farrar Capon

Book Overview

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

Where has the church been, and what has it become? According to Robert Farrar Capon, the answers to these questions are in many ways dispiriting. Although the church has done much good, it has also made numerous blunders in its checkered history. Chief among them is that is has lost its astonishment over the Good News of the gospel -- the gift of salvation we receive from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802807917
• ISBN13: 9780802807915
• Release Date: March 1996
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A great--and slightly salty--perspective on Christianity

I love this author. He is literally salt and light--sometimes salt in the wound and light shed on dark places--but always offering a profound perspective on the Christian faith. The Astonished Heart shows the evolution of the Christian church and how various cultural models have affected the way Christians understand their faith. From the beginnings of the church to the medieval model of Christendom to the modern corporate model, Capon helps readers understand the dynamics of the development of the church and how it relates to their faith (or disillusionment, as the case may be). But beyond historical models, he shows (as he does in all of his books) that Christianity is an incarnational religion of grace and that we lose sight of that to our peril. This book is not so much a church history as an argument drawn from church history to illustrate that God's grace is greater than our legalism and that our relationship with God is always perceived in a particular historical context. Anyone who is jaded with church hierarchies and institutionalism will find refreshing perspectives in this witty and slightly cantankerous book. Any book by Robert Farrar Capon is a treasure and The Astonished Heart is no exception. I wholeheartedly recommend it.