One of the greatest challenges Christians face in these difficult days is knowing how to respond to the various mandates and expectations that are coming upon us. This age is marked by excarnation as Charles Taylor put it. Excarnation is the opposite of incarnation. Incarnation is the truth that God becomes Man without ceasing to be God. Incarnation is made possible by Jesus Christ whose very incarnate presence brings the fullest expression of our humanity. Excarnation evicts God from our lives, rejects the imago Dei in each of us, thereby, devaluing the individual, and causing humanity to become a mere commodity. All of this is the heinous consequence of rejecting the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The Secular Age is marked by the firmly held supposition that God is not only irrelevant in the public square and in the affairs of state but is forbidden. Those that are caught in the net of this diabolical spirit will increasingly do the bidding of the evil one, not only tolerating those things which God forbids but demanding that others join in their confederacy of unbelief. Indeed, the Apostle Paul taught in chapter 1 of his epistle to Romans that the downward cycle of sin caused by denying God eventually leads to insanity and the codification of unbelief and witness to God’s word. We are seeing in our own day the codification of sin that leads to despair and ultimately to destruction. Theologians and philosophers anticipate post secularism with two possible alternatives: (1) That the secular state will become totalitarian, weaponizing the instruments of the state to suppress and then persecute those who stand against the insanity of denying God; or, (2) the culture becomes of a polytheistic, welcoming various forms of spirituality into the public square,, while vigorously opposing monotheism and, thereby, thereby, denying Christians and Jews a place at the table a place. at the table. This scenario also includes anticipation of not only the nine the Judeo-Christian the Judeo Christian faith Faith a voice in the pluralistic culture, but demanding and then legislating a gag order on the gospel.
We hope that we are wrong in our assessment. Nevertheless, the D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership is honored and humbled to announce its inaugural monograph series and the collected works of numerous scholars and pastoral practitioners to bring a prophetic voice to 12 areas of Christian living. Our hope is to answer the question, “how shall we then live in a secular age?” I will serve as the series editor and will contribute to the writing and am delighted to announce others who are part of this project:
- Dr. George Grant
- Dr. Peter Lilback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary;
- Dr. John Frame, Prof. of Philosophical Theology, Knox Theological Seminary; Reformed Theological Seminary, retired;
- Dr. Scott Redd, Jr.,, President of RTS Washington DC and the chair of Old Testament at that institution;
- Dr. RJ Gore, Prof. of systematic theology, Erskine theological seminary;
- Dr. Mark Ross, the JR DeWitt Chair of Systematic Theology, Erskine Theological Seminary, Columbia, South Carolina;
- Dr. Michael A. Milton, Series Editor and Contributor.
And more.
Please pray as our pastor-scholars complete their assignments and our monographs are collected into a single volume. Pray for me as I compile and edit the work. Pray that God will lead us to the right publisher who will see this time as urgent as we do: and, value this work as an important resource, a map, if you will, to help us find our way through the Secular Age.
However, we do not fear. For God is with us. The Captain of our salvation goes before us. This book is not a response to political intrusion into the faith. This book is about a faithful witness in difficult days.y
The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me? The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD is on my side; I will not be afraid.
Psalm 118:6
