The Future of Faith

Harvey Gallagher Cox

Aug 2009 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

Legendary Harvard religion scholar Harvey Cox offers up a new interpretation of the history and future of religion. Cox identifies three fundamental shifts over the last 2,000 years of church history:

The Age of Faith was when the early church was more concerned with following Jesus' teachings than enforcing what to believe about Jesus.

The Age of Belief marks a significant shift-between the fourth and twentieth centuries-when the church focused on orthodoxy and right beliefs.

The Age of the Spirit, that began in the 1960s and is shaping not just Christianity but other religious traditions today, is ignoring dogma and breaking down barriers between different religions. Spirituality is replacing formal religion.

Reflecting on how his own faith journey mirrors these three historical shifts, Cox personalizes the material in a compelling, practical ways. The Future of Faith is a major statement by one of the most revered theologians today.

About the author

Harvey Cox is the Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1965, both at Harvard Divinity School and in the Harvard Fac- ulty of Arts and Sciences. His classic book The Secular City is widely regarded as one of the twentieth century's most influential books of Protestant theology. He is also the author of The Future of Faith. Cox lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.