I am doing a study on relativism and its affect on the church and society. Can anyone recommend a good book or books? I am particularly interested in the influence that the philosophy had on the church at large. (Good articles would be helpful as well).

Thanks!

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

Perhaps these can be of some help... ??

R.C. Sproul
Al Mohler
David Wells
John MacArthur

In MHO... relativism has left one massive tumor on the Christian Church - "Liberal Emergent Mega Churches"

That's the effect... now... the cause...
You might have to dig deeper to discover the historical context behind this... Johnny Mac is so good at this... I would start there.

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Matt Johnson
member, [URL="http://www.fepcb.org/"]FAITH Evangelical Presbyterian Church[/URL] Brooksville, FL
[URL="http://www.sixdayz.com/"]SIXDAYZ.com[/URL]

"Best-of-all-possible-worlds"
God governs the course of history so that, in the long run, His glory will be more fully displayed and His people more fully satisfied than would have been the case in any other world. - John Piper

Matt,

My sentiments exactly. I have seen its influence all over the place, and it bothers me greatly. I think it flies in the face of the Sovereignty of God.

While he is a Roman Catholic, Peter Kreeft's Refutation of Moral Relativism is outsanding

Here is the audio to it.
Peter Kreeft - A Refutation of Moral Relativism

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J. B. Atken
John Knox PCA
Layman, M.A. student at Louisiana College

Checkout this website of links on the subject: PLURALISM & POSTMODERNISM (Updated 11/18/06)
I would especially recommend 'Why I am Not Relativist, by Frank Beckwith; in Why I Am A Christian', which is the first article under the Article section. There is a link to the right of it in which you can download the article as a pdf. It is a good quick read, and he uses much of the material in his first chapter of Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case against Abortion Choice.

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Caleb
Trinity Baptist Church
Spokane, WA

I believe Greg Koukl also wrote a book on it entitled "Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air" or something to that effect. I listen to Stand to Reason, and Koukl seems fairly solid.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)

Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air, co-authored with Dr. Francis Beckwith, Baker Book House (1998)

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

It is a decent read but it is not very deep. I love the title though!

And yes being in college I notice relativistic lingo every day. Just the other day I asked someone what logic was and they said "My logic this.." and "To me logic is that..." etc. It seems like all conversations these days have to start with personal qualifiers...

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Joshua Philbeck
Boyce Memorial Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
Shelby, NC

http://philbeck.blogspot.com
http://www.xanga.com/joshuaphilbeck

The book, Without a Doubt, by Kenneth Richard Samples has a chapter that discusses moral relativism.

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Curt Hayashida
member, Community Bible Church (Non-denominational)
Vallejo, CA

Thanks everyone this is very helpful!

Joshua, what bothers me is that it seems to be creeping into the church.

Yeah, relativism is rampant on the University campus. People are astounded when they are shown that, no, truth is not relative because the absolute nature of truth and the law of non-contradiction prevent that. *shrug* It's amazing how some of even the most learned people have bought into this. I'm in law school, and I'm not surrounded by dummies, but the level of absurdity that some folks operate on a day to day basis is nothing other than... absurd!

This is a good article and very helpful. This is a topic which is way too much to ingest in one sitting. I think I will be studying it for some time.

I've not read it (but it sits on my shelf), but I've heard good things about Groothuis's Truth Decay.

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Todd K. Pedlar
member, First Congregational Church, (CCCC) Cresco, IA
http://semperubi.rtrc.net

"Many men, after a long conversion, see more of the workings of sin in their hearts than ever they did before or at their first conversion. Now, such men have not an increase of sin, but an increase of illumination and light" (Christopher Love)

I'm somewhat surprised that no one has mentioned D.A. Carson's book _The Gagging of God_.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com
http://brahmsgreenglove.blogspot.com
http://accenttranslation.blogspot.com

Yes, that is a wonderful book - but SO encyclopedic. I thought I'd suggest a briefer treatment in Groothuis. So - I'd second Lane's suggestion of Carson IF you're ready to read a very long, VERY meaty presentation of the issues.

Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll keep Carson's book in mind, though I'll probably save it until I have read through some of this other material.