Christianity At Sunset

This book investigates the claims of a "post-Christian era" and the factors that are leading Christianity to a sunset. It digs into the theological writings of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Stanly Hauerwas, finds their meeting points and where the two diff er, and remedies they offer to combat the crisis. These two great theologians seem to envision a dying Christianity with its greatest enemy as Relativism. Joseph Ratzinger rates relativism as the greatest challenge of the church today. In a like manner, Stanly Hauerwas fights the same battle on the Protestant side. This book therefore seeks to argue out the best response to relativism that affects both the Western Church as well as the global church, the Catholic Church as well as the Protestant Community. Relativism in imposing itself as the new world culture, depicting all other cultures and perceptions as inferior and obsolete. Ratzinger christened this the 'Dictatorship of Relativism,' while Hauerwas calls it 'Policing of Christian Values.' While Ratzinger's greatest worry is relativism's denial of Truth extra ekklesia, Hauerwas' claim is that relativism is not a force from without (of the Church), but rather, part and parcel of the peoples' modern ways of life, in which Christian values are persecuted in the name of peaceful existence. Both perspectives point at a crisis of cultures where the past is canceled out and the future disconnected from the present, which trend inevitably leads to disintegration - a leap into the dark. While the pre-Modern world sought God, and the Modern world sought knowledge, the Contemporary world seeks relativism. However, all is not lost. The truth can still be found through the word of God and the Christian culture.