What do you think?
Rate this book
The Meaning of Service
Harry Emerson Fosdick ( 1878 – 1969) was an American Baptist pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the "Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy" within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th Century.
In this book Fosdick writes:
"This little book completes a trilogy which it has long been my hope to write. "The Meaning of Prayer" is a study in the Christian's inward experience of fellowship with God; "The Meaning of Faith" is a study in the reasonable ideas on which the Christian life is based; and now "The Meaning of Service" is a study in the practical overflow of the Christian life in useful ministry.
"This last book has been written at a time when its theme is most congenial with the crucial need of the world and the dominant mood of thoughtful folk. The overturn of human society in the Great War has inevitably brought to the top those elements of Christian life and thought which center about service. The task to be accomplished on earth is so immense, the cheap optimisms which once contented us are so impossible, the enemies against whom the Christian program must win its way are so formidable, and the need of unselfishness, public-mindedness, and sacrificial love is so urgent, that anyone who thinks at all about humanity's condition must think about service, its meaning, motives, and aims. I have not tried to keep these immediate and pressing conditions of our time from showing themselves in this book. One can write more timelessly about prayer and faith than he can about service. Yet I trust that I have not altogether lost the accent of those universal Christian truths and principles which make service, in any age, the indispensable expression of discipleship to the Master."
CONTENTS
I. Service And Christianity
II. The Peril Of Uselessness
III. The Strong And The Weak
IV. The Abundant L1fe
V. Self-denial
VI. Justice
VII. Small Enemies Of Usefulness
VIII. Cooperation
IX. New Forms Of Service
X. The Great Obstacle
XI. The Motive Of Gratitude
XII. Victorious Personality
This book originally published in 1920 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
In this book Fosdick writes:
"This little book completes a trilogy which it has long been my hope to write. "The Meaning of Prayer" is a study in the Christian's inward experience of fellowship with God; "The Meaning of Faith" is a study in the reasonable ideas on which the Christian life is based; and now "The Meaning of Service" is a study in the practical overflow of the Christian life in useful ministry.
"This last book has been written at a time when its theme is most congenial with the crucial need of the world and the dominant mood of thoughtful folk. The overturn of human society in the Great War has inevitably brought to the top those elements of Christian life and thought which center about service. The task to be accomplished on earth is so immense, the cheap optimisms which once contented us are so impossible, the enemies against whom the Christian program must win its way are so formidable, and the need of unselfishness, public-mindedness, and sacrificial love is so urgent, that anyone who thinks at all about humanity's condition must think about service, its meaning, motives, and aims. I have not tried to keep these immediate and pressing conditions of our time from showing themselves in this book. One can write more timelessly about prayer and faith than he can about service. Yet I trust that I have not altogether lost the accent of those universal Christian truths and principles which make service, in any age, the indispensable expression of discipleship to the Master."
CONTENTS
I. Service And Christianity
II. The Peril Of Uselessness
III. The Strong And The Weak
IV. The Abundant L1fe
V. Self-denial
VI. Justice
VII. Small Enemies Of Usefulness
VIII. Cooperation
IX. New Forms Of Service
X. The Great Obstacle
XI. The Motive Of Gratitude
XII. Victorious Personality
This book originally published in 1920 has been reformatted for the Kindle and may contain an occasional defect from the original publication or from the reformatting.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 9, 2015
5 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Harry Emerson Fosdick
298 books19 followersHarry Emerson Fosdick was an American clergyman. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Colgate University in 1900, and Union Theological Seminary in 1904. While attending Colgate University he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1903. Fosdick was the most prominent liberal Baptist minister of the early 20th Century. Although a Baptist, he was Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church on West Twelfth Street and then at the historic, interdenominational Riverside Church (the congregation moved from the then-named Park Avenue Baptist Church, now the Central Presbyterian Church) in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!