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left_flag Friday, March 25
Friday, March 25, 2016
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On Point of View today, Kerby welcomes author Rodney Stark. Stark tells us more about his book, A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China which provides a reliable, thought-provoking, and engaging account of the resilience of the Christian faith in China and the implications it has for the future.

In the second hour, we hear from evangelical scholar, Dr. Craig Evans, author of the book, God Speaks: What He Says, What He Means. Through his book, Evans shows us that the Bible is far from a dusty old book of do’s and don’ts, the Bible is a relevant and eternal message of love and reconciliation that holds the power to shape society and transform lives.

Kerby Anderson
Kerby Anderson
Host, Point of View Radio Talk Show
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Kerby Anderson is host of Point of View Radio Talk Show and also serves as the President of Probe Ministries. He holds masters degrees from Yale University (science) and Georgetown University (government). He also serves as a visiting professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and has spoken on dozens of university campuses including University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University, Princeton University, Johns HopkinsRead More

Guests
Rodney Stark
Author
Rodney Stark grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota, and began his career as a newspaper reporter. Following a tour of duty in the U.S. Army, he received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, where he held appointments as a research sociologist at the Survey Research Center and at the Center for the Study of Law and Society. He left Berkeley to become Professor of Sociology and of Comparative Religion at the University of Washington. In 2004 he joined the faculty of Baylor University. He has published 38 books and more than 160 scholarly articles on subjects as diverse as prejudice, crime, suicide, and city life in ancient Rome. However, the greater part of his work has been on religion. He is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. He also has won a number of national and international awards for distinguished scholarship. Many of his books and articles have been translated and published in foreign languages, including Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Turkish.
A Star in the East: The Rise of Christianity in China
What is the state of Christianity in China, really? Some scholars say that China is invulnerable to religion. Some say that past efforts of missionaries have failed, writing off those who were converted as nothing more than “rice Christians,” or cynical souls who had frequented the missions for the benefits they provided. Some wonder if the Cultural Revolution extinguished any chances of Christianity in China.
Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang offer a different perspective, arguing that Christianity is alive, well, and even on the rise. Stark approaches the topic from an extensive research background in both Christianity and Chinese history, and Wang provides an inside look at Christianity and its place in her home country of China. Both authors cover the history of religion in China, disproving older theories concerning not only the number of Christians, but the kinds of Christians that have emerged in the past 155 years. Stark and Wang claim that when just considering the visible Christians, those not part of underground churches, there are still thousands of Chinese being converted to Christianity each day, and forty new churches opening each week.
Dr. Craig Evans
Author, Professor
Craig A. Evans, Ph.D. is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Acadia Divinity College and Acadia University. Prior to Acadia, he taught for twenty-one years at Trinity Western University, where he founded the Dead Sea Scrolls Institute. He has served as editor-in-chief of the Bulletin for Biblical Research and published over five hundred scholarly books, articles, and reviews.

Professor Evans has lectured in universities and museums around the world and appeared in news programs and documentaries on BBC, Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, CBS Sunday Morning, and Dateline NBC. Professor Evans and his wife, Ginny, live in Kentville, Nova Scotia, and have two grown daughters and a grandson.
God Speaks: What He Says, What He Means
Explore and examine the depth of the Bible with evangelical scholar Dr. Craig Evans in God Speaks.

No matter how familiar or unfamiliar you are with the Bible, God Speaks will bring its timeless truth alive as you view it with fresh eyes and apply its restorative power to your life.

Far from a dusty old book of do's and don'ts, the Bible is a relevant and eternal message of love and reconciliation that holds the power to shape society and transform lives. Dr. Craig Evans, a consultant on Mark Burnett and Roma Downey's blockbuster miniseries The Bible, unfolds Scripture with compelling clarity. God Speaks will equip you to provide answers to skeptics' questions about the Bible's true message.

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