Ancient-Future Faith is the first of four books written by Robert Webber examining first-century Christianity and its relationship to an emerging postmodern culture. He has followed this book with others on evangelism, the Christian year, and worship.

Ancient-Future Faith examines five aspects of the Christian faith: Christ, the church, worship, spirituality, and mission. Webber shows how historical trends have affected the Christian worldview in each of these areas. He pays particular attention to the Enlightenment era and the major shifts it brought to both the secular and Christian worldviews.

It would be easy to imagine that modern Evangelical churches are simply updated versions of biblical times. Since we have the Bible as our guide, a faithful congregant might ask, don’t we just follow what it says? Webber shows this isn’t the case and how impossible it would really be for Christians of one era to stay true to worldviews from completely different places and times.

My favorite section of the book is Webber’s examination of spirituality. At the outset of this section he suggests, “Most Christians deeply desire to achieve authentic spirituality, but it remains elusive” (p. 117). The demarcation of events that explain this difficulty give clarity to a problem that pervades evangelical churches like an ever-rolling mist. Not only within churches, though, the desire for authentic spirituality continues to rise in American culture. Sadly, people are turning to paganism, Eastern religions and syncretism instead of the Christian church to find their spirituality.

Webber has been teaching at Wheaton College since 1968 and he writes like the academician he is. His book is densely packed with information and devoid of the banter and padding of many popular writers. Its content is rich and persuasive in its straightforward handling of data.

When the book was first published in 1999, Webber’s intended audience was  “teachers, pastors, college and seminary students, and church leaders” (p. 8). Undoubtedly, the current audience far exceeds that exclusive group. Webber’s scholarship and prognostications reverberate so profoundly that the book is in its eighth printing in as many years. This may be because his projections of culture have become even more captivating as they have been validated. It may be, though, that the book’s draw is its subtle pull at the heart. Webber reminds one that to follow Christ in the first century meant almost certain financial and social persecution—and not infrequently martyrdom. This is still true today in many countries.

It's both sobering and liberating to face the reality that the current comfortable existence of Christianity in America is not a culmination of the faith but an anomaly within it. The underlying call to pull away from the rugged individualism of our society and live in greater unity with Christian brothers and sisters from throughout the ages will continue to draw readers to the book year after year.

Summary by Mickie Courtney