What does Christian witness look like in a post-Christian society? It is more important than ever to preach the Word, but it is also important that we learn to dialogue with people from diverse perspectives. This book is intended to equip evangelical Christians for meaningful discussions with people of other beliefs. Drawing on his many interactions with people from other religious traditions -- including regular talks at a Buddhist temple in Portland and addresses before groups like the Unitarian Universalists -- author Paul Louis Metzger guides readers into winsome and thoughtful conversations engaging the various kinds of people they cross paths with every day. Yet this book is not meant simply to equip, but also to challenge. Metzger believes Christian witness has tended toward monologue and a desire to win arguments rather than true engagement. Amid a culture increasingly perplexed by or hostile to the faith, Christians have too often made God look common rather than like the uncommon God revealed in Jesus Christ -- the God who often discomfited religious people while extending fellowship to the broken, the marginalized, and outsiders. In chapters on various spiritual traditions (Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc.) and on "hot topics" that often come up when talking with people from other traditions (hell, religious pluralism, and the like) Metzger calls Christians to reevaluate what it means to be a witness to Jesus in light of the Bible and the way the first century church lived for Jesus in a similarly hostile setting.
