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{{Christadelphians}}
'''''Christendom Astray From the Bible''''' (commonly: ''Christendom Astray'') is a polemic work by the [[Christadelphian]] [[Robert Roberts (Christadelphian)|Robert Roberts]] that claims to demonstrate that the main doctrines shared by most Christian denominations are at variance with the teachings of the [[Bible]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://christadelphia.org/books.php|title=Christadelphian Books |accessdate=2020-06-18 |last=Stewart | first=Scott | publisher=San Francisco Ecclesia }}</ref> In the [[preface]] to the book the author states the rationale of ''Christendom Astray From the Bible'' as follows:
{{Quotation|THE enlightened reader will bear with the seeming arrogance of the title. It is a proposition-not an invective. The question proposed for consideration is a question for critical investigation. Attention is invited to the evidence and the argument. They are strictly within the logical sphere. They can be examined and dismissed if found wanting. What the title affirms is that Christendom, the ostensible repository of revealed truth, is away from that truth.|Robert Roberts|from the preface to ''Christendom Astray From the Bible'' (1884)}}
''Christendom Astray'' covers topics such as ''The Bible—What it is, and how to interpret it'' (chapter 1), ''The Dead Unconscious till the Resurrection, and consequent error of popular belief in heaven and hell'' (chapter 3), ''The Devil not a personal supernatural being, but the scriptural personification of sin in its manifestations among men'' (chapter 7) and ''The Promises made to the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), yet to be fulfilled in the setting up of the Kingdom of God upon earth'' (chapter 9).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://christadelphia.org/books/chrastoc.php|title=Christendom Astray From the Bible |accessdate=2020-06-18 |last=Roberts| first=Roberts | year=1884 | publisher=San Francisco Ecclesia }}</ref>
The last section of the book is a summary of the preceding chapters comparing and contrasting, in table form, Roberts' understanding of the Bible against the beliefs of mainstream [[Christendom]]. This is followed by a brief introduction to the [[Christadelphian]] community, which Roberts claims are 'a body of people ... who hold the views advocated in this book of lectures'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://christadelphia.org/books/chrsumm.php|title=Christendom Astray - Summary |accessdate=2020-06-18 |last=Roberts| first=Roberts | year=1884 | publisher=San Francisco Ecclesia }}</ref>
==History==
The content of ''Christendom Astray'' was first delivered as a series of fortnightly lectures in [[Huddersfield]] in 1862. It was subsequently republished under the title of ''Twelve Lectures on the Teaching of the Bible''. Additional chapters were added in subsequent reprints until the fifth edition, which was published as a cloth-bound book in 1869 with a total of seventeen chapters.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antipas.org/books/chris_astray/ca_pref.html|title=Christendom Astray -- Preface To The Edition of 1884 |accessdate=2008-01-26 |last=Roberts | first=Robert |year=1884 | publisher=Dawn Book Supply }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.antipas.org/books/chris_astray/ca_fore.html|title=Christendom Astray -- Forward |accessdate=2008-01-26 |last=The publishers | publisher=Dawn Book Supply }}</ref> Subsequent editions were simple reprints from the same plates. It was expanded to 18 chapters and republished as ''Christendom Astray From the Bible'' in 1884.
Minor changes were made in later editions. Following his debate with John James Andrew in 1894, Roberts revised two paragraphs in the 1899 edition which originally left open the possibility that unbaptised but responsible rejectors of the Gospel might not be raised and judged till the end of the [[millennium]]. In the 1951 edition published by [[The Christadelphian]] Office, chapter 16 entitled 'Evidence that the End is Near' was deleted because the start of the millennium age did not start as predicted by 1910.  As the editor wrote, 'the suggested time of the Lord's appearing proved to be premature.  Two world wars and worldwide changes could not go unnoticed in an adequate treatment of the subject, but this would have entailed an entire rewriting of the chapter'. '<ref>Preface to 1951 Edition, repeated in the 1984 printing by the Christadelphian Office</ref>
==References==
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==External links==
*[http://christadelphia.org/books/chrastoc.php ''Christendom Astray From the Bible''], by Robert Roberts.
[[Category:Christadelphian books]]
[[Category:1884 books]]
[[Category:1884 in Christianity]]