Faith Among the Faithless: Learning from Esther How to Live in a World Gone Mad
Encounter a timeless story of evil, awakened faith, and hope for good in a world where God seems absent.
Can Christianity survive a secular age? Can Christians live without compromise in an increasingly hostile society? And what if they’ve already given in to that society’s vision and values?
In this revelatory and provocative new book, Mike Cosper answers these questions by pointing out the parallels between our world and the story of Esther. A tale of sex, ego, and revenge, the book of Esther reveals a world where God seems absent from everyday life—a world not unlike our own. Far from the gentle cartoon we often hear in Sunday school, the story of Esther is a brutal saga of people assimilated into a pluralistic, pagan society, embracing its standards. Yet when threatened with annihilation, they find the courage to turn to God in humility.
A call to spiritual awakening and to faith in an age of malaise and apathy, Faith Among the Faithless is an invitation to remember the faithfulness of God, knowing that in dark times—as in the days of Esther or our own—God may be hidden, but he is never absent.
Top Highlights
“When God tells us that we’re clay, it’s not just a happy image that promises that he—the Potter—has the power to shape us. It means that we are moldable, and something is always forming and shaping us.” (source)
“Assimilation fails to resist; isolation fails to love.” (source)
“Suddenly, Mordecai realized he lived in a world that was bigger than the court, bigger than Susa, bigger than Persia itself. He was abruptly caught up in the story of God and Israel, and in that world, he could not bow. ‘Because I am a Jew,’ he said.” (source)
“This is the point where not only the Ten Commandments but the rest of the law becomes most important. Armed with it, the exiles had a way of life that could sustain their separate identity in the midst of another culture.” (source)
“I’m thinking especially of evangelicalism—my own tradition—where in the name of contextualization, we’ve embraced so many aspects of a celebrity-driven, consumeristic, and technocratic culture.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Faith Among the Faithless: Learning from Esther How to Live in a World Gone Mad
- Author: Cosper, Mike
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson
- Publication Date: 2018
- ISBN: 9780718097486
Mike Cosper is the executive director of Harbor Media, a non-profit media company serving Christians in a post-Christian world. He served for sixteen years as a pastor at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and is the author of Recapturing the Wonder, The Stories We Tell, and Rhythms of Grace. He lives with his family in Louisville, Kentucky.