"G.K. Chesterton long ago observed that real Christianity had in some ways never really been tried. Eric Gritsch, a renowned historian, a pastor, and a theologian for half a century, offers Christianity a reality check, exposing four historical movements that have weakened and abused the core of the Christian tradition. These movements represent wayward views on the relationships between Christians and Jews; between the authority of Scripture and tradition; between the church and worldy power; and between faith and morals. Readers encounter these wayward traditions in their historical trajectories, in the ways these traditions have diminished the gospel, and in the ways they have been impediments of an effective contemporary Christian witness. They represent the enduring temptation to be 'like God' (Gen. 3:5), a temptation marked by a zeal for secure, unchanging, and ultimate Christian life on Earth. The author confronts these wayward traditions with the enduring challenge of faithful, cruciform, penultimate discipleship in the time between the first and second advent of Christ." -- Publisher's description.