Real Christianity

William Wilberforce

Description

Just in time for the release of Amazing Grace, the movie about the life of William Wilberforce. This edition of his classic book from 1797, Real Christianity, is paraphrased in modern language and made more accessible to contemporary readers. This is the book that helped abolish the slave trade in the United Kingdom and called Christians to live a more authentic life of faith more than two hundred years ago. The timeless truths it contains will speak to readers in fresh ways today. Christians who eschew cultural Christianity in favor of a real faith in Christ, will find the principles here thought-provoking and applicable. The social justice orientation will appeal to readers of Jim Wallis, Os Guinness, Charles Colson, Shane Claiborne, John Perkins, Bono, and Nancy Pearcey. Readers will also find the book is a good litmus test of the authenticity of their own faith.

Sujets

• Christian theology
• History of religions
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 19 décembre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441267566
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

P RAISE FOR
R EAL C HRISTIANITY

Wilberforce is one of the most neglected heroes of modern history—even most Christians are unfamiliar with this thoughtful and passionate Christian whose biblical worldview and dependence on God’s Spirit emboldened him to champion the abolition of slavery. This is a man we need to hear from, and Bob Beltz has made him accessible. This 210-year-old book is as relevant as it is important. With Bob’s help, it’s soul stirring to sit at the feet of Wilberforce, a man God used to change the world.
RANDY ALCORN
A UTHOR , H EAVEN AND S AFELY H OME
Talk about finishing well! Just days before his death, Wilberforce’s great mission to end slavery in Britain was successfully concluded. Now on the eve of the major motion picture release of Amazing Grace , there’s a new release of Wilberforce’s timeless classic, Real Christianity , which has been revised and updated by my friend Bob Beltz, who also worked on the film. What a wonderful Christmas 2006 gift to all of us!
BOB BUFORD
F OUNDER , L EADERSHIP N ETWORK
A UTHOR , H ALFTIME AND F INISHING W ELL
This is a book I strongly recommend. Bob Beltz has done a superb modern translation of one of the all-time Christian classics. I have read and reread Real Christianity , and I find its message as timely today as it was when that great Christian leader, the model for my life, William Wilberforce, wrote it. Don’t just get this book—read it.
CHUCK COLSON
F OUNDER AND C HAIRMAN , P RISON F ELLOWSHIP
The gap between real faith and cultural Christianity is as wide today as it has been at any time in history, so there is much we can learn from William Wilberforce’s stirring—and highly successful—cry for reformation. Bob Beltz has done us a great service in making this best-selling classic accessible again.
OS GUINNESS
A UTHOR , U NSPEAKABLE : F ACING U P TO THE C HALLENGE OF E VIL
Millions of lives were changed as a result of William Wilberforce’s determination to change the society of his day. Two hundred years later, the needs around us are still immense. I hope many people will read this new edition of Wilberforce’s classic book and be inspired by his example.
NICKY GUMBEL
A UTHOR , Q UESTIONS OF L IFE AND A L IFE W ORTH L IVING
Real Christianity is all about living as Jesus lived and doing what Jesus did. It’s a must-read for everyone serious about living all and only for Christ.
WALT KALLESTAD
S ENIOR M INISTER , C OMMUNITY C HURCH OF J OY
G LENDALE , A RIZONA
Wilberforce has long been a hero to many of us. Now, through Real Christianity , we get a better glimpse into his theology, his spirituality and his passion. Bob Beltz’s adaptation of Wilberforce’s original work will provide a needed challenge to all of us, because we’re all constantly tempted to let an on-fire, vibrant, world-changing faith cool to a lukewarm “conventional” Christianity.
BRIAN M C LAREN
A UTHOR /A CTIVIST ( BRIANMCLAREN.NET )
An historic, culture-transforming book by an evangelical politician who changed the history of the British Empire. This classic is still relevant today.
RONALD J. SIDER
P RESIDENT , E VANGELICALS FOR S OCIAL A CTION

© 2006 by Bob Beltz
Published in association with the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80920, www.alivecommunications.com .
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Bethany House Publishers edition published 2014
ISBN 978-1-4412-6756-6
Previously published by Regal Books
Ebook edition originally created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Other version used is KJV — King James Version . Authorized King James Version.
Cover image courtesy of Bristol Bay Productions. Copyright © 2007 by Bristol Bay Productions.
Real Christianity is a paraphrase in modern English of a practical view of the prevailing religious system of professed Christians, in the higher and middle classes in this country, contrasted with real Christianity, published in 1797 by William Wilberforce, Esq., member of Parliament for the county of York. Revised and updated by Bob Beltz.
C ONTENTS

Introduction to This Edition
By Dr. Bob Beltz
William Wilberforce: A Man for All Seasons
By Kevin Belmonte
Wilberforce’s Original Introduction
Chapter One
The State of Contemporary Christianity
Chapter Two
Current Ideas About the Nature of Man
Chapter Three
Understanding Cultural Christianity
Chapter Four
True Standards of Christian Behavior
Chapter Five
Arguments for True Christianity
Chapter Six
The Current State of Christianity
Chapter Seven
Practical Hints About Authentic Faith
Recommended Bibliography
Compiled by Kevin Belmonte
I NTRODUCTION TO T HIS E DITION
Dr. Bob Beltz
In the following pages I am going to introduce you to a classic book by one of the most amazing figures in British history. His name was William Wilberforce. Perhaps you are reading this book because you are already familiar with the man but have never read his writings. That was certainly the case in my own experience. Then, several years ago, I had the good fortune of becoming part of the team that began production on the feature-length film Amazing Grace , which is based on the life of William Wilberforce. Early in the process of working on this film, I decided to read an abridged version of Wilberforce’s classic work on Christian faith.
As you can see from the title page, this was a work written at a time when publishers believed that you should deliver as much information in the title of a book as was humanly possible. In 1797, the year the book was first published, catchy titles were not in vogue. Since that time, I have often seen the title condensed to A Practical View of Real Christianity . But the intention of Wilberforce was much more focused: He addressed his work to a particular group of people, living at a particular time and place, embracing a unique religious system, which produced a specific religious experience. Hence, to create an accurate and complete title for his book, Wilberforce himself wrote that his text was intended to be A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians —not of just any group of professed Christians, but specifically professed Christians who were to be found in the Higher and Middle Classes in This Country (i.e., England in 1797). It was the belief system of this specific group of people that was to be Contrasted with what Wilberforce called Real Christianity .
Because of the specificity of the book, it is difficult to fully appreciate the work at hand without some knowledge of the author and his times. It is not my intention in this volume to write a biography of Wilberforce. Others much better qualified to do so have already undertaken that task. I refer you to the postscript, where a brief biography adapted from Kevin Belmonte’s Hero for Humanity is included, and the bibliography, also graciously compiled by Mr. Belmonte.
My goal in this book is to “translate” Wilberforce’s classic work out of the linguistic style of the late eighteenth century into a book that captures Wilberforce’s message for a twenty-first-century audience. Wilberforce purists will cringe, I’m sure. But for those who do, it should be noted that Wilberforce, in his book, recommended doing exactly this with works from previous generations that had become inaccessible to the common man because of language or style. For instance, in chapter 6 of the 1824 edition of A Practical View , Wilberforce makes the following remark in reference to the 1707 four-volume set of books by Presbyterian pastor Richard Baxter:
The 1707 edition of Baxter’s Practical Works are a treasury of Christian wisdom, and it would be a most valuable service to mankind to revise them, and perhaps to abridge them, so as to render them more suited to the taste of modern readers.
My hope and intention in revising and updating this book is that a new generation of modern readers will discover this wonderful man and the timeless message he delivered.
Before you move on to Wilberforce’s own introduction, let me inform you that I worked from the fifteenth edition of the complete text of A Practical View of Real Christianity . This edition, printed in London by T. Cadell in 1824, is acknowledged as the last version of the book Wilberforce himself edited. The title page of this edition contains two quotes under its lengthy title. I’ll present them here as they appeared on the original page:
Search the Scriptures! ———
John 5:39.
How charming is DIVINE PHILOSOPHY!
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull Fools suppose ,
But musical as is Apollo’s lute ,
And a perpetual feast of nectar’d sweets ,
Where no crude surfeit reigns .
John Milton
Wilberforce knew that his readers would do well to follow John’s command in order to reap the rewards implied by Milton. I hope this modern version of Wilberforce’s work will have the same effect.
W ILLIAM W ILBERFORCE : A M AN FOR A LL S EASONS
Kevin Belmonte
By any measure, William Wilberforce was a most remarkable man and, indeed, he has been described as “the greatest reformer in history.” 1 His legac