SERIES PREFACE
Some might call us spoiled. We live in an era of significant and substantial
resources for Christians on living the Christian life. We have ready access to
books, DVD series, online material, seminars—all in the interest of encouraging
us in our daily walk with Christ. The laity, the people in the pew, have access to
more information than scholars dreamed of having in previous centuries.
Yet for all our abundance of resources, we also lack something. We tend to
lack the perspectives from the past, perspectives from a different time and place
than our own. To put the matter differently, we have so many riches in our
current horizon that we tend not to look to the horizons of the past.
That is unfortunate, especially when it comes to learning about and practicing
discipleship. It’s like owning a mansion and choosing to live in only one room.
This series invites you to explore the other rooms.
As we go exploring, we will visit places and times different from our own. We
will see different models, approaches, and emphases. This series does not intend
for these models to be copied uncritically, and it certainly does not intend to put
these figures from the past high upon a pedestal like some race of superChristians. This series intends, however, to help us in the present listen to the past. We believe there is wisdom in the past twenty centuries of the church, wisdom for living the Christian life.
Stephen J. Nichols and Justin Taylor