The twelve theses: a call to a new reformation

Résumé

With every discovery emerging from the world of science over the last 500 years concerning the origins of the universe and of life itself, the traditional explanations offered by the Christian Church appeared to be more and more dated and irrelevant.  Christian leaders, unable to embrace the knowledge revolution seemed to believe  that the only way to save Christianity was not to disturb the old patterns either by listening to, much less by entertaining the new knowledge. I tried to articulate this challenge in a book entitled: Why Christianity Must Change or Die, published in 1998.  In that book I examined in detail the issues that I was convinced Christianity must address. Shortly after that book was published I reduced its content to twelve theses, which I attached in Luther-like fashion to the great doors on the Chapel of Mansfield College at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. I then mailed copies of those Twelve Theses to every acknowledged Christian leader of the world. It was an attempt to call them into a debate on the real issues that I was certain the Christian Church now faced.  I framed my twelve theses in the boldest, most provocative language possible, designed primarily to elicit response and debate. I welcome responses from Christians everywhere.  I claim no expertise or certainty in developing answers, but I am quite confident that I do understand the problems we are facing as Christians who are seeking to relate to the 21^st century.