Book Review: Ancient Future Evangelism by Robert E. Webber

Last updated on: March 12, 2010 at 1:13 pm by Billy Kangas

Book Review: Ancient Future Evangelism by Robert E. Webber 2010-03-12T13:13:00-04:00 Billy Kangas

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

After moving away from a fundamentalist background to the Episcopal Church Robert E. Webber spent many years of his life helping evangelicals become more deeply rooted in the historical faith they are a part of. He is known to many today through his “Ancient Future” series of book, which have helped provide a context of historical Christian worship and formation for the evangelicals of today. I recently read his book Ancient Future Evangelism (Baker Books, 2003). In it he posits that conversion is a process over time that results in spiritual maturity, and has historically been done in a fourfold process which is modified to complement eras and cultures but always includes evangelism, discipleship, spiritual formation, and vocation.

Ancient Future Evangelism reflects a good deal of personal reflection, and scholarship that I both admire and appreciate. Webber is able to present the Gospel story as well as the story of the church in a concise and easily accessible way that is inspiring to the reader and prophetic to the church. This does come at the cost of an oversimplification of the discipleship paradigms of the past, and a tendency to romanticize the early church while demonizing the conversion of Constantine. By fitting all christian history into 20 pages of so he does make some fairly broad generalizations.

This book’s real brilliance is not in it’s role as a historical review but in the tools that are given to translate historical Christian discipleship into an understanding of the process of Christian formation that is both contemporary and culturally relevant. In it we are given a compelling narrative of the role of the Church in fostering disciples with a mature spiritual life, and some basic tools to help develop rituals and practices to engage in the formative process with intentionality (make sure you check out the appendixes they include some great stuff!) While reading I found my mind wandering to applications of the text very naturally. This book inspires creativity in discipleship by casting a trajectory within conversion.

No matter what capacity you might be serving in ministry, and no matter how well your church is doing, I recommend you read this book. If nothing else I guarantee you it will inspire hope in you, and hope is one of the cardinal virtues we could all use more of.

Summery of the Book: You can clearly see his main idea develop over the 9 chapters that make up the book. The first chapter first establishes a need for this process, and then explores the historical trends and how disciples have been made throughout history.Chapter 2 gives a close look to the early church and the how it implemented the process. With this Webber begins to establish the tools to translate formation to our own communities. Chapter 3 dives right into our western post-modern context and he begins to flesh out what stage one, evangelism, looks like. Chapter four proceeds to stage two, discipleship. In this Webber strongly emphases having a lifestyle of worship, which is lived in response to the activity of God. Chapter five focuses on the spiritual formation stage. Webber predicates that this is done through teaching around the practices, rituals, and prayers of the church. Chapter 6 discuses the final stage, vocation. For Webber the center of vocation is the call of God. The church is called, but we too are called within the church, to be servants in our communities. When we take communion we should remember that God abides in us and we in him. He is our food in our journey of service. Chapter 7 begins the second part of the book in which is offered as an examination of the convictions that underlie this process of conversion. This chapter focuses on culture. Our culture is strikingly similar to the culture that the early church encountered. How we interact and transform it is filled with a great deal of tension. Christians must stand against some aspects of culture, but still be able to identify with it. Chapter 8 tells the story of God’s mission in the world. It looks at how the early church understood the Gospel and calls the church today to plant the story in our own settings. Chapter 9 is a call for the church to live under the rule of Jesus and not in service of the political authorities of the world. The life of the church tells a story about it’s mission,and it’s king. He encourages christian communities to actively engage in the story of God’s activity in the world today.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 6, 2010

Listen to The Dark Night of the soul by Saint John of the cros in it's entirety

Next Post

March 22, 2010 My Top Ten Reasons for praying the Divine Office

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art Bible Books CCC Prayer Christmas Current Events Family Film Free Photo Fridays Humor hunger liturgical calendar liturgy Music Photos pope Prayer Prayerful Leader questions Quotes Review Saints Satire Scripture SYNOD SYNOD FOR THE FAMILY teaching Uncategorized video Weekly Round Up

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 April 2026 February 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 February 2025 January 2025 September 2024 June 2024 May 2024 February 2024 December 2023 August 2023 May 2023 February 2023 November 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 March 2022 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 September 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 January 2019 December 2018 August 2018 June 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 December 2017 November 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 February 2016 January 2016 November 2015 October 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 October 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nathanael Peter John the Baptist Pilate