Gods That Fail: Modern Idolatry & Christian Mission

This book is a must-read for anyone who is looking for Christ-centered input while thinking deeply about the world around them. The book discusses everything from the ideas of Marx and Freud, to Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations." It elucidates clearly the effect of Modernism and Post-Modernism on the current state of Christianity, both positively and negatively. It also takes a good hard look at the alternative to the many philosophies and beliefs of this world that Christianity offers, and points out the idols that we often accept as substitutes for the truth of Christ. It is not an leisurely read, and familiarity with (even more so--interest in) basic philosophy, history, and current events is strongly recommended.

I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a good picture of Christianity and competing ideologies, as well as critiques of some ideas in present-day Christianity that are unbiblical/incorrect. One of the nice things about it is that while it's clear to people like me (the extent of my knowledge of philosophy and theology are having read Plato's Republic for a freshman course and CS Lewis' Mere Christianity) it's not ridiculously oversimplified in the way that a lot of popular apologetics books tend to be ("God is real! Atheists are dumb!). One thing that was memorably surprising was his argument for the Genesis creation story being figurative, based on Genesis itself. There's an interesting coincidence between the title of this book and RHS Crossman's The God that Failed, a book about communism...which of course is one of the 'gods' covered in Ramachandra's book. One has to wonder.

Combining scholarship and compassion, the authour writes with a prophectic voice a message that is sobering and disturbing. no matter what our conclusion maybe we are forced to realize that as christians not only have we offered the world our salvation-message but also our idols. in the conculding chapter we are led to foot of the cross where we meet a God who came to serve and not be served and we understand it is here we recive our commission to be his wittness. anybody who is passionate about jesus, his message and his mission must read this book.