Transatlantic Times

Jesus Christ at 2005: Where is Christianity Today?

By Dan E. Austin

A new Jewish religious sect emerged more than two thousand and four (closer to two thousand and five) years ago and quickly attracted followers for a Jewish born young Rabbi (Rabboni) called Jesus. The organized Jewish state and religious Establishment of that time trailed this Jesus with much suspicion and regarded him as an outcast and a rebellious zealot with mysterious supernatural powers. The leading Political groups among the mainly Aramaic and Hebrew speaking peoples of the Palestinian nation of Israel at that time were the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Herodians. The latter were named after the successive reigns of the monarch Herod. Most noted among these Herodians was Herod the King who ordered the slaughter of all children in Bethlehem and all along the adjacent coast thereof, from two years old and under.

Click here to read the rest in our Subscribers section

Start of a Spiritual Revival?

By Uwe Siemon-Netto

A considerable increase of religious activity over the last ten years may indicate a start of a spiritual revival in the United States, according to pollster George Barna.

He termed it significant "that we are witnessing a slow but steady development of more traditional religious behavior in the Western states." Trends, "usually start in the West, take hold in the Northeast, then infiltrate the interior of the nation," he explained.

A recent poll by the Barna Research Group showed marked jumps in private, rather than public, religious activity, such as prayers, Bible study and participation in worship groups.

This might suggest that groups within mainline denominations "are taking the cue from the para-church movement," said Thomas C. Oden, a professor of theology and a leader of the confessional movement within the United Methodist Church...

To continue reading, click here for subscriber page