{"id":400,"date":"2008-10-02T12:32:09","date_gmt":"2008-10-02T17:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=400"},"modified":"2008-10-02T12:36:21","modified_gmt":"2008-10-02T17:36:21","slug":"book-review-god-in-the-wasteland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=400","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: God in the Wasteland"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a world that is constantly asking, \u201cwhat can you do for me?\u201d the church must find a way to counter the culture and direct people back to the God of absolute truth.\u00a0 Far too often, the church is bowing down to the demands of the culture and looking for ways to \u201cmarket Christianity\u201d in such a way that people will want to buy what they are selling without much regard to the long-term effects of watering down the gospel.<\/p>\n

God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams was written by David Wells in 1994 as a follow-up to his popular No Place for Truth: or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology.\u00a0 Wells is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary outside of Boston, Massachusetts.\u00a0 Wells calls out the Western church for how far they have fallen into the trap of postmodernism and utilizes empirical data from surveys of seminarians to prove that it is possible to return to the roots of evangelicalism.<\/p>\n

In his book, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams, David Wells takes us on a journey that starts with the decline of the church into postmodernism, a look at what our society thinks it is looking for, and ends with an encouraging look at the next generation of church leaders.\u00a0 Wells says that the church is crippled because it has abandoned the ideas of holiness and the sovereignty of God.\u00a0 God has become an afterthought, \u201cweightless,\u201d as Wells puts it.\u00a0\u00a0 He says that God is no longer the authority in the character and focus of the church and it\u2019s ministries.\u00a0 Wells says that change is possible and necessary.\u00a0 He says that \u201cWe will know that the evangelical world is being reformed when it not merely escapes modernity but pointedly casts it out of its life, once again making room for the presence of God in his truth and grace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our society has transitioned from modernity to postmodernism in a most drastic fashion.\u00a0 We have allowed absolute truth to be replaced by fleeting moments of self-satisfaction and flashy marketing campaigns.\u00a0 Wells references Norman Cantor in pointing out three major developments that have influenced this sense that God isn\u2019t necessary anymore.\u00a0 Cantor points to biotechnology, advances in computer science, and the instantaneous availability of communication.\u00a0\u00a0 All three of these have participated in the movement of the center of western culture away from God and onto people and things.<\/p>\n

After Wells clearly communicates the effect postmodernism has had on our culture, he transitions into a discussion about what people think they are looking for in life.\u00a0 Our generation has decided that it is okay to be engaged with God on Sundays and other appropriately religious occasions, but that it is not necessary to check in with God more often than that.\u00a0 Wells points out many examples that show how our society wants what it wants when it wants it.\u00a0 That has not only affected technology and media, but also our churches.\u00a0 He goes so far as to say, \u201cMalls are monuments to consumption \u2013 but so are megachurches.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Our churches have fallen into a trap of trying to find what people are looking for and tailor their message and ministries to only those things.<\/p>\n

Wells also points out the difference between the inside and outside God.\u00a0 Christians today are isolating certain areas of their lives and trying to pick and choose where God will be involved.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He says that \u201cWe have turned to a God that we can use rather than to a God we must obey; we have turned to a God who will fulfill our needs rather than to a God before whom we must surrender our rights to ourselves.\u201d
\nThe book closes with the most encouragement it can muster after showing how far the church has slipped into postmodernism.\u00a0 Wells shares the results of a survey that interviewed current seminarians to see how important theology is to them, how they feel about the vision and character of the church, and how theology affects their day-to-day lives.\u00a0\u00a0 The results were very encouraging because most of them showed a great respect for theology in all facets of their lives as well as urgency for the church to reclaim its vision and character from the dictates of society.\u00a0 Wells ends by pointing out that the only way for the church to return to place where God\u2019s truth is taught unashamedly is for Christian leaders to be willing to stand up for the sovereignty of God and the truth of His Word.<\/p>\n

God in the Wasteland reminded me of Charles Dickens\u2019 A Christmas Carol.\u00a0 I felt much like Ebenezer Scrooge when the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley who had died seven years earlier visited him.\u00a0 Scrooge had the opportunity to see the ghosts of Christmas past, Christmas present, and Christmas future.
\nWells provides the reader with a similar opportunity in his book.\u00a0 He clearly lined out the pitfalls of postmodernism on our society, and as a result, on the Western church.\u00a0 He points out how quickly we have walked away from the truths of God\u2019s Word and into the clever marketing ploys of postmodernism.\u00a0 Wells warns us that continuing in this direction will eventually lead to the crumbling of anything resembling absolute truth.<\/p>\n

This book should be an alarm to all Christians about the current crisis facing evangelicalism.\u00a0 Wells even points out that our seminarians are arriving ready to lead churches having no distinct theology of their own.\u00a0 Many of them are coming from difficult upbringings and are using the church as an opportunity to escape.\u00a0 How can these pastors shepherd their flock when they don\u2019t even have a clear understanding of God\u2019s Word for themselves?<\/p>\n

One of the clear examples of this paradigm shift is seen simply in the types of \u201cBible studies\u201d that are offered in churches and parachurch organizations these days.\u00a0 Very rarely do we see advertisements for an exegetical study of the book of Lamentations, but rather a call for singles to come gather around Donald Miller\u2019s Blue Like Jazz in a comfortable coffeehouse setting.\u00a0 Is Miller\u2019s book bad?\u00a0 Not if it is used to get the conversation started.\u00a0 However, the problem lies in the fact that many Christians are allowing superstar Christian authors and speakers to shape their worldview rather than digging into the Bible, which was directly inspired by the God that created the universe.<\/p>\n

The only way for our churches to recover and reclaim the truths of God is for Christians to stand up once and for all and say that enough is enough.\u00a0 We are starting to see this take place in our society in some interesting places.\u00a0 Church planting has become very popular in the past several years.\u00a0 Men are planting churches for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 Hopefully their number one goal is to reach those that are far from God.\u00a0 However, we know that many are planting churches out of a frustration with their current church or the universal church in general.\u00a0 For a while, these church plants were mostly known to outsiders as being places to wear jeans and worship along with a band.\u00a0 The messages were intentionally communicated as sound bites and flashy videos.\u00a0 However, in recent years, we are starting to see a trend in the number of traditional Bible-believing churches that are being planted by pastors who want to get back to preaching the Word of God rather than just focusing on \u201cGod at the movies\u201d or \u201cGod in your iPod\u201d.\u00a0 Is there a place for topical messages that will reach unbelievers?\u00a0 Sure there is!<\/p>\n

Willow Creek Church in Illinois is a perfect example of this paradox.\u00a0 In 1975, Bill Hybels started a church that would be a welcome place for those who wanted to find out more about Christ.\u00a0 Willow Creek coined the term \u201cseeker church\u201d.\u00a0 Now, almost thirty years later, they have published some interesting information.\u00a0 They don\u2019t know how to get to the next level.\u00a0 They have focused so much of their effort and energy on attracting lost people and have had great success in leading them to Christ.\u00a0 However, many of the folks who have come to Willow Creek and found Christ have walked away later because of a lack of discipleship.\u00a0 They have compartmentalized their \u201cChristian life\u201d and their \u201creal life\u201d and they have never been taught to assimilate the two into a pattern of seeking God\u2019s truth in everyday situations.
\nWells closes out the book by pointing out that it will not be easy to reclaim the church from the grasp of postmodernism and the \u201cfeel good values\u201d the church has been peddling for years.\u00a0 He urges those in leadership to take on the task and refuse to compromise any longer about the holiness and sovereignty of God and His truths.<\/p>\n

In the closing chapter of the book, Wells restates his purpose for writing the book.\u00a0 \u201cI have written this book because, like the students who participated in our survey, I believe the vision of the evangelical church is now clouded, its internal life greatly weakened, its future very uncertain, and I want something better for it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 The entire book proved his point and leaves no question that the church is in serious trouble if it continues the way it has been going.\u00a0 He uses both theory and empirical data to prove his points.\u00a0 Wells use of Scripture shows the timelessness of the Word of God and the urgent need for us to return to those words.\u00a0 God\u2019s plan for the church was for it to be a center for truth and an opportunity for believers to be trained to live out the gospel in their everyday lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a world that is constantly asking, \u201cwhat can you do for me?\u201d the church must find a way to counter the culture and direct people back to the God of absolute truth.\u00a0 Far too often, the church is bowing down to the demands of the culture and looking for ways to \u201cmarket Christianity\u201d in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}