The conviction of this book is twofold. First that the idea of the Church and its supernatural life by a new creation is decaying in several of the Churches that have been most critical about its relation to the State; whereas it is only a high and distinctive idea of the Church that gives us any right or principle regarding that relation. And, second, that a true Church is inseparable from a belief in certain doctrines for which men are ready to die--is, indeed, impossible without such belief; and the decay in the Church idea (as distinct from that of a mere association, sympathetic or religious), is due chiefly to the decay of doctrinal interest and conviction. No theology, no Church. --from the Preface Peter Taylor Forsyth (1848-1921) preached and pastored for twenty-five years before becoming Principal of Hackney College in London where he taught systematic theology and preaching. Forsyth converted from theological liberalism to classical Christianity in the mid-1880s. The theological transition was, in his own words, from a lover of love to an object of grace. A theologian of the cross, Forsyth is well-known for his publications 'The Work of Christ, ' 'Cruciality of the Cross, ' and 'The Person and Place of Jesus Christ.'
