The Gospel for an Age of Doubt; Sixth Edition Revised; With a New Preface

The Gospel For An Age Of Doubt – is a book authored by Henry van Dyke, an American author, educator, diplomat, and clergyman. This book was originally written as a lecture course on preaching at the Lyman Beecher Foundation and read to Yale University theology students. But the purpose of these lectures was not to teach the art of sermon composition. This was to emphasize the truth that the question "What to preach" comes first and the question "How to preach" comes second. A man must have a distinct message, clear and bright for his own soul, a message that comes to him with a joyful feeling of novelty and requires utterance - he must feel the living suitability of this exact message for the needs of society. peace before he can learn to deliver it with freedom and power. The author wanted to show that there is a message of religion that is especially suited to meet the needs of our time. There is an aspect of Christianity that is coming into the world today as good news. There is a newness in the ancient gospel that shines like the rising of the sun above the darkness and despondency that darkens much of modern life. This aspect of Christianity is centered in the person of Jesus Christ as the human life of God. This novelty of the gospel lies in faith in Him as a real man, in whose sonship the Fatherhood of God is revealed and confirmed to all people. And the power of this message to enrich and ennoble life lies in the fact that those who receive it are freed from threefold slavery: first, from the heavy thought that they are beings of necessity, whose actions and destinies are determined by heredity and environment; secondly, from the unceasing fear that the world is ruled by blind chance or brute force; and thirdly, from the curse of sin, which is selfishness. To see in Christ the true Son of God and the brother of all people means to be sure that the soul is free, that God is good, and that the goal of life is noble service. This is the message the author wanted to convey in this book as the true gospel for an age of doubt.