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This book fits into the category of several other books I
have reviewed recently regarding our disintegrating moral culture. Wells
addresses the subject in a way that helps us within the church think about
strategy and action plans. If you read this book along with George Barna’s
The Second Coming of the Church, reviewed in the July/August 98 Equip for
Ministry, you will get a consistent description of the moral and spiritual
climate of America. It is not one that will cause us to smile and feel that we
are honoring God as a people. I mention these books together because their
analysis of the situation is similar. But because Wells is a historian and
Barna a market researcher, they each suggest a different action plan.
Wells is a professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary
and has written many books and articles. Losing Our Virtue corresponds
with two of his latest books, No Place for Truth and God in the
Wasteland. Of the three I think this is his best. As I read Losing Our
Virtue, I determined that Wells really has a grasp on what is going on in
America and Western culture. His critique is incisive and to the point. He
does not hesitate to write plainly about our present condition. We cannot
continue to ignore what he says, especially if Barna is right about the
five-year time frame to turn the American church around.
Wells demonstrates his understanding of modernism and
postmodernism, and of modernity, which I believe over arches both. He states in
the opening chapter that he intends to make readers aware “that the modern world
tends to produce its own kind of Christian spirituality. This spirituality is
not simply of one kind.” He differentiates them by the labels, “classical”
spirituality and “postmodern” spirituality. By postmodern he means “the kind of
spirituality that is forged in the interactions between biblical truth and that
set of instincts and intuitions, which are the hallmark of our modern world.”
He is correct in stating that there is a rewriting of the religious landscape
today. New paradigms are constantly emerging. Wells reminds us that our
spirituality in Christ must be explicated in the Gospel and expressed in
worship. We must keep in mind he says that “worship is theological rather than
psychological.”
As I read this book I felt, not only that it contains good
material, but that perhaps some of my concerns about his earlier two books were
being allayed. While I appreciated those books, I felt that he recommended a
return to a previous era as the answer to our dilemma. I did not get that
feeling about this book until I came closer to the conclusion.
Wells, like so many others in our circles, suggests that
while we need to learn from those who have gone before us such as Luther, Owens,
Brainerd, etc., we should not try to reestablish their world. Remember, but do
not try to restore or focus on any one period in history other than our own. I
am not quite as willing as he is to throw off everything of the postmodern age.
While we must be critical, we must also understand God’s providential leading.
Wells makes an interesting observation about our interchangeable use of the
words evil and sin in modern times. He suggests that we emphasize evil at the
expense of a concept of sin, hence sin is forgotten in our culture. I’ll let
you decide how valid that contrast is as you read.
He asks the question, “Does the Church have the courage to
become relevant by becoming biblical?” That is a powerful and valid question
for us to probe. I am not totally comfortable with his answers because he
establishes too many either/or situations. For example, he writes, “What the
Church needs is not more of these strategies but more faith…” I would be more
comfortable blending the two. I do share some of his concerns about many of
today’s worship services; however, I am not willing to say that any previous
generation had the final word on worship and spirituality. I do think we would
do well to hear his warnings and understand his concerns.
The last statement in the book sets up the kind of
antithesis that I do not believe offers the real solution to the problems
outlined in the book. “It is the reform of the Church of which we stand in
need, not in the reform of the Gospel. We need the faith of the ages, not the
reconstruction of a therapeutically driven or commercially inspired faith. And
we need it, not the least, because without it our postmodern world will become
starved for the Word of God.” Wells is right, we cannot change the Gospel
message. I like this book because it does give a good description of the
problem. I certainly concur with the diagnosis, and while I am sympathetic with
some of Wells’ pleas, I am not certain that he has given us the final
prescription to restoring our virtue, because we need to communicate the Gospel
to the generation into which God has placed us. He is right that the Church
needs to restore its moral vision.
- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator
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