Christianity At Sunset

This book investigates the claims of a "post-Christian era" and the factors

that are leading Christianity to a sunset. It digs into the theological writings

of Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Stanly Hauerwas, finds their

meeting points and where the two diff er, and remedies they offer to combat

the crisis. These two great theologians seem to envision a dying Christianity

with its greatest enemy as Relativism. Joseph Ratzinger rates relativism as the

greatest challenge of the church today. In a like manner, Stanly Hauerwas fights

the same battle on the Protestant side. This book therefore seeks to argue out

the best response to relativism that affects both the Western Church as well as

the global church, the Catholic Church as well as the Protestant Community.

Relativism in imposing itself as the new world culture, depicting all other

cultures and perceptions as inferior and obsolete. Ratzinger christened this the

'Dictatorship of Relativism,' while Hauerwas calls it 'Policing of Christian

Values.' While Ratzinger's greatest worry is relativism's denial of Truth extra

ekklesia, Hauerwas' claim is that relativism is not a force from without (of

the Church), but rather, part and parcel of the peoples' modern ways of life,

in which Christian values are persecuted in the name of peaceful existence.

Both perspectives point at a crisis of cultures where the past is canceled out

and the future disconnected from the present, which trend inevitably leads

to disintegration - a leap into the dark. While the pre-Modern world sought

God, and the Modern world sought knowledge, the Contemporary world

seeks relativism. However, all is not lost. The truth can still be found through

the word of God and the Christian culture.