Acknowledgments

Foreword

James W. Sire

Section I: The Intellectual & Cultural Climate of the Second Half of the Twentieth Century

1 The Gulf Is Fixed

Before the Chasm

Presuppositional Apologetics Would Have Stopped the Decay

The Line of Despair

Unity and Disunity in Rationalism

Tendency Towards a Uniform Culture

2 The First Step in the Line of Despair: Philosophy

Hegel, the Doorway

Kierkegaard, the First Man Below

The Existentialism of Jaspers, Sartre and Heidegger

The Antiphilosophy of the Anglo-Saxon World

The Use of Drugs

What Does and Does Not Happen in These Experiences

3 The Second Step: Art

Van Gogh and Gauguin

Cezanne and Picasso

Mondrian

Dada, Marcel Duchamp, the Happenings and the Environments

4 The Third & Fourth Steps: Music & the General Culture

Musique Concrete

Henry Miller

Philosophic Homosexuality

John Osborne

Dylan Thomas

Modern Cinema, the Mass Media and the Beatles

5 The Unifying Factor in the Steps of Despair Romanticism Is Dead: Christianity's Opportunity If Antithesis Is Maintained

Section II: The Relationship of the New Theology to the Intellectual Climate

1 The Fifth Step: Theology Departure from Biblical Christianity

2 Modern Mysticism: Despair Beyond Despair

Theology and Semantic Mysticism

The Use of Words and Symbols

The Origins of Semantic Mysticism-Leonardo da Vinci

Nature and Grace

3 Modern Mysticism in Action: Art & Language

The Tension of Being Man

Mysticism in Art: Paul Klee and Salvador Dali

Mysticism in Language: Martin Heidegger

4 Modern Mysticism in Action: Music & Literature

Mysticism in Music--Leonard Bernstein and John Cage

Mysticism in Literature--Henry Miller

5 The Next Phase of Modern Theology

God Is Dead--Or Almost So!

A Quest by the Upper-Story Men

Today's Opportunity for the New Theology

Section III: How Historic Christianity Differs from the New Theology

1 Personality or a Devilish Din The Logical End of Denying Personality

2 Verifiable Facts & Knowing

Personality as Such Cannot Imply Limitedness

Divine and Human Communication

Love Is More Than a Word

3 The Dilemma of Man

The Scandal of the Cross

Historic Christianity and Man's Dilemma

4 God's Answer to Man's Dilemma There Need Be No Either-Or in La Peste

5 How Do We Know It Is True?

The Nature of Proof

True Rationality but Not Only Rationality

Section IV: Speaking Historic Christianity into the Twentieth-Century Climate

1 Finding the Point of Tension

Communicating to One of My Kind

Logical Conclusions

Torn by Two Consistencies

The Tensions Are Felt in Differing Strengths

2 From the Point of Tension to the Gospel

Why There Is a Place for Conversation

Giving and Taking Blows

Taking the Roof Off

3 Applying the Gospel

How Dare We Do It?

Faith in the Biblical Sense

Section V: Pre-evangelism Is No Soft Option

1 Commending the Christian Faith to Our Generation

Defense of the Faith

Communication of the Faith

2 The Importance of Truth

Truth Stands Before Conversion

Truth and Spirituality

The God Behind Truth

Section VI: Personal & Corporate Living into the Twentieth-Century Climate

1 Demonstrating the Character of God

Salvation Does Not End with the Individual

The Visible Quality

Realism in Exhibition

Personality Is Central

2 The Legal, but Not Only the Legal Human People in Our Culture

Appendix A. The Question of Apologetics

Appendix B. The Problem of the Middle-Class Church in the Latter Half of the Twentieth Century

Appendix C. The Practice of Truth

Glossary

Notes

Index