Illinois State Library

Illinois Center for the Book

Individual Author Record

General Information

Name:  Alvin James Schmidt  

Pen Name: None

Genre: Non-Fiction

Audience: Adult;

Born: 1932 in Waldersee, Manitoba, Canada

-- Alvin James Schmidt on WorldCat --

Illinois Connection

Dr. Alvin Schmidt retired in 1999 as a professor of sociology at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Il.

Biographical and Professional Information

Alvin Schmidt was a former member of Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police, holds a divinity degree from Concordia Theological Seminary has both an M.A and Ph.D. degrees in sociology and has taught at colleges and universities in Nebraska, North Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, and Canada

Speaking Engagements

Speaking Engagement Availability (No)

Selected Titles At Your Library

How Christianity changed the world
ISBN: 9780310304586. OCLC Number: 696776031

Zondervan,. .

How Christianity changed the world :
ISBN: 0310264499. OCLC Number: 56752587

Zondervan,. .

"Setting Christianity in the context of history and culture, How Christianty Changed the World reveals the full, radical nature of the Christian faith as a shaping force." -- From the jacket.

The great divide :
ISBN: 1928653197. OCLC Number: 56565960

Regina Orthodox Press,. .

These days, the hills are alive with the sound of musings about Islam. Publisher's Weekly reported this spring that a spate of new books on the religion are hitting the bookstores, and they're unlike the critical books that came out after September 11; the new tomes assure readers that Islam is a religion of peace. That, as Alvin Schmidt points out Thre Great Divide, is wishful thinking. Muslims are right to point out that the Bible has its parts (such as the book of Joshua) that sound bloodthirsty to modern readers, but the Quran is Joshua all the way through, without its contextualization in the peace-emphasizing prophetic and New Testament books. Professor Schmidt does not hack away at Islam, nor does he attack Christianity because of headlined absues that arise in it. He doesn't hyperventilate about the Abu Ghraibs of Christianity - the misogyny of some church fathers, the bloody entry of the Crusaders into Jerusalem, the pro-slavery rhetoric of some antebellum fire-eaters. Instead, he compares the normal practice of Christianity and Islam. He shows how Christianity grew by the blood of its martyrs, but Islam grew by killing those who opposed it. He compares the view of women in the New Testament and the Quran, showing how Christ's teaching eventually led to the development of complementary roles for men and women but Muhammad's teaching eventually led to the development of complementary roles for men and women but Muhammad's teaching led to subservience. He shows how Christians looked at slavery critically over the centuries and how many fought for its abolition; Islam, though, has no intrinsic anti-slavery position, so it's no surprise that some Islamic countries today still allow it. Christians who understand these specific differences, delineated in Schmidt's book, will strengthen their own faith and be ready to enter into discussions with Muslims without offering either appeasement or shotgun-blast aggression.

Under the influence :
ISBN: 0310236371. OCLC Number: 45420133

ZondervanPublishingHouse,. .

The positive impact of Jesus Christ and his followers on Western culture cannot be overstated. Yet, ironically, today's marketplace of ideas fails to recognize the Christian foundation on which it is built. Christianity is popularly discredited by our pluralistic culture. The overlooked truth, however, is that from education to women's rights to public health to economic liberty, the things we cherish most and many of the blessings we take for granted trace to the spiritual and cultural revolutionary named Jesus.