In an attempt to make churches more attractive and relevant, over the decades, many pastors effectively stopped preaching and teaching the contents of the Bible, and this has resulted in a significant decrease in basic Bible literacy among Christians across all denominations. Thirty years ago today, a diverse group of pastors and theologians met in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to address this and other challenges, and they produced an important document called The Cambridge Declaration. This program features audio from the 1996 meeting featuring R.C. Sproul, James M. Boice, David Wells, Michael Horton, Gene Veith, W. Robert Godfrey, and others.
To read the full text of The Cambridge Declaration online, click here, and to order a book containing the document along with all the plenary addresses presented at the 1996 conference, click here. For a recent review of the new 2026 edition of this book, click here, and to read the Wikipedia entry about The Cambridge Declaration, click here.
SHOW NOTES
Books
Here We Stand, Jim Boice & Ben Sasse (updated 2026 edition)
The Vanishing American Adult, & Them, Ben Sasse
No Place for Truth, David Wells
God in the Wasteland, David Wells
Faith Alone, R.C. Sproul (the book inspired by the WHI polls)
Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down, Marva Dawn
Peculiar Speech, Peculiar Speech, William Willimon
Christless Christianity, Michael Horton
The Christian Mind, Harry Blamires
Christianity & Liberalism, J. Gresham Machen
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers
Articles
Neither Reason, Nor Free Will, Ben Sasse
When Evangelicals Forget Their Theology, Andrew Spencer
The Megachurch Century, Shane Rosenthal
The Story of Us, Shane Rosenthal
The Tower of Babel, Shane Rosenthal
The Mormonization of American Christianity, Shane Rosenthal
Why Johnny Can’t Preach, T. David Gordon
Liberalism or Christianity?, J. Gresham Machen
The Importance of Christian Scholarship, by J. Gresham Machen
Creed or Chaos? Dorothy Sayers (essay)
Audio
The Living Church, WHI #317 with Ervin Duggan
Doctrine, Worship & Life, WHI #323 with Jim Boice
Catechesis, Preaching & Vocation, WHI #317 with Gene Veith
The Courage to Be Protestant, WHI #913 with David Wells
Grounded in the Gospel, WHI #986 with J.I. Packer
A Debate with Robert Schuller, WHI # 103
You Foolish Galatians! WHI #140 includes Shane’s 1993 street interviews
An Interview with R.C. Sproul, WHI #909
The Preached Word, WHI 972 with William Willimon
Jacob’s Ladder, Humble Skeptic #63
Christian Narcissism, Humble Skeptic #67 with J.I. Packer & others
The Effect of Media & Technology, Humble Skeptic #30
Youth Ministry in Crisis, WHI 1204 with Christian Smith & others
The Vanishing American Adult, WHI #1369 with Ben Sasse
Video
Ben Sasse on Uncommon Knowledge, with Peter Robinson
Ben Sasse on Interesting Times, with Ross Duthat
Ben Sasse on Life, Cancer & The Gospel, with Mike Horton
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