God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams

by David F. Wells

David F. Wells's award-winning book No Place for Truth - called "a stinging indictment of evangelicalism's theological corruption" by TIME magazine - woke many evangelicals to the fact that their tradition has slowly but surely capitulated to the values and structures of modernity. In God in the Wasteland Wells continues his trenchant analysis of the cultural corruption now weakening the church's thought and witness with the intent of getting evangelicals to rethink their relationship to the "world."
Wells argues that the church is enfeebled in part because it has lost its sense of God's sovereignty and holiness. "The fundamental problem in the evangelical world today," says Wells, "is that God rests too inconsequentially upon the church. His truth is too distant, his grace is too ordinary, his judgment is too benign, his gospel is too easy, and his Christ is too common." God has become weightless to the extent that the church no longer allows him to shape its character, outlook, and practice.
Evangelicals have become heavily invested in the mind-set of modernity - a mind-set that Wells correlates with the biblical concept of the "world." They have become enamored of advanced management and marketing techniques, have blurred the distinctions between Christ and culture, and have largely abandoned their traditional emphasis on divine transcendence in favor of an emphasis on divine immanence. In doing so, they have produced a faith in God that is of little consequence to those who believe. An extensive survey of students at seven evangelical theological seminaries - the results of which are included in this book - indicates that the next generation of evangelical leaders is as caught up in these trends as the laity.
Arguing that the church's diminished appetite for truth will not be restored without repentance and a fresh encounter with the holy God, Wells makes a compelling case for urgently needed reform in the evangelical church. Without such reform, he says, evangelical faith will be lost in and to the modernity that has invaded the church.

Genres: Theology, Cultural, Christian, Christianity, Church, Nonfiction, Christian Living

278 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

David F. Wells (PhD, University of Manchester) is the Distinguished Senior Research Professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

In addition to serving as academic dean of its Charlotte campus, Wells has also been a member of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization and is involved in ministry in Africa.

He is the author of numerous articles and books, including a series that was initiated by a Pew grant exploring the nature of Christian faith in the contemporary, modernized world.

Reviews

[Jon Pentecost · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was difficult to read--difficult, because Wells so accurately describes many of the the maladies affecting broader evangelicalism today.

As I get older, I realize more and more that all the times when I've said, "Why is no one talking about this", what's actually going on is I don't know who to listen to. Or, I just wasn't paying attention. And when it comes to the ways modern culture is affecting the bride of Christ, and tempting her to be unfaithful, that person I should have been listening to is David Wells.

This, along with the first in the series, "No Place for Truth" are important books for anyone aspiring to eldership or even parachurch leadership in this day to read.

No Place for Truth helped me realize the water I was swimming in, and how much the culture of our day (true across the world) is shaped by an expectation to see immediate, practical payoff. Meditative practices (of the Christian variety) are denigrated, stuff with the bigger splash is celebrated.

God in the Wasteland helped fill out the foundational shifts under that cultural preference--in particular, how such a view of skepticism towards doctrine and devotion affects our very view of God himself.

Take up and read.

[William Dicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

The five books by Wells are a must read for every Christian today. They show the theological and moral bankruptcy of the modern church and calls for a theological reformation.

The books are:
1. No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
2. God in the Wasteland: The Reality of truth in a World of Fading Dreams
3. Losing our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover its Moral Vision
4. Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World
5. The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is Wells' followup to "No Place For Truth." It spends the first third of the book summarizing and expanding on his thesis that modernity has almost thoroughly infected the evangelical church and the ramifications of such syncretism (my word). He then goes on to show the path out of the confusion, essentially stating that modernity is just a contemporary form of worldiness. He then argues theologically for the restoration of pure Christian doctrine, the centrality of theology in the life of the church.

It is a very good work with many good observations and ideas. I thought his section on theology got a bit muddled, or at least difficult to follow. He seems to be arguing along the lines of Francis Schaeffer, when he writes about idealist philosophy and its consequent modernism as infecting the church and creating a private/public dualism. Yet he never mentions Schaeffer or explicitly advances his work. I found that puzzling.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the twenty year anniversary of No Place for Truth approaches, I am slowly re-reading David Wells monumental series. Not only has it aged well, but it seems more trenchant in its critique, more prophetic in its call, than it did when first published. This volume, #2 in the series, builds on the first work and its treatment of modernity within the church, but exceeds it in constructive capacity. The final chapter, with its clear call to a counter-cultural existence in the world, is worthy of regular re-reading by every pastor who cares to see God in all his glory weigh heavily upon the church and her corporate life in the world.

[David Campton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was written nearly 20 years ago, and the subsequent trajectory of the evangelical wing of the church shows that it wasn't widely enough read. Throughout the book I found myself agreeing with the author and being frustrated by him in roughly equal measures... Dealing with the frustrations first there are times where it simply reads like a "the church just isn't what it was" rejection of the contemporary in favour of some Utopian yesteryear, but this is an issue of tone rather than substance, because he is appropriately critical of past generations too. Throughout the whole book he was treading similar ground to that covered by both Francis Schaeffer and Os Guinness, yet I found it curious if not disingenuous that there were only two fleeting references to the latter's work and none to the former... Of course, as a Wesleyan I was also never going to entirely buy his thoroughly Calvinist perspective - his recommendation that the church needs to focus on holiness and truth, comes across slightly differently in a Wesleyan tradition that defines holiness in terms of "perfect love"... But the biggest frustration was his contention that many of the ills he was identifying were features of modernity, whereas most others would suggest that they were classic features of post-modernity... I put a lot of that down to the fact it was written in 1994, before thinking on post-modernity was particularly widespread in the church, but towards the end of the book he revealed that he didn't see the sharp discontinuity between modernity and post-modernity that others do, which is actually something I could accept... But it would, perhaps, have been helpful to have that explained before launching in to his critique of modernity and the church...
But that said he raises important questions regarding various aspects of contemporary evangelicalism, including the church growth movement, "seeker sensitive worship", "the church in the markeplace" etc, individualism and the retreat from the public sphere into the private. Actually, I found his definition of the private sphere an interesting and perhaps even more devastating one than that which is usually held, ie. that of a reduction of Christian faith into a system of personal piety... he would also see the church's retreat into dealing purely with local outreach as a feature of the privatisation of Christian faith, which is something few would recognise. There are times when I believe he unhelpfully confuses the psycho-social/therapeutic model of the contemporary church with the consumerist/commercial approach, although they both probably stem from the same ills in the modern world ie. the narcissistic need for individuals to have their own personal needs met in everything... And he perhaps too quickly throws out lessons to be learnt from both the commercial and therapeutic worlds simply as symptoms of a warped worldview. One can still learn lessons without buying the whole philosophy.
There aren't many reasons to be cheerful in this book, or, to be honest, many easy answers. Taking on board my comment earlier regarding his suggestions that the church needs to focus on God's holiness and truth, I actually think he is on to something, and indeed, in the shape of teachers like Tim Keller, the reformed tradition may have leaders who are doing just that... But for the most part I think that many of the contemporary leaders of evangelicalism are exactly what David Wells was dreading back in 1994 in his last chapter...

[Bobby Bonser · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a sequel to "No Place For Truth" Wells offers what he claims are some solutions to the problems raised in the first book. He highlights how modernity has affected the church more specifically, while adding the results of several polls of seminary students as a thermometer of the times. The points he makes are cogent and well received, if a little unnecessarily morose.

The church would benefit from reading this classic work by seeing how the culture threatens truth from the mid 1900s to today in America. The unfolding of the sociological and philosophical history of America with the backdrop of the effects on the church are helpful and provide warnings and solutions (a recovery of God's transcendence and holiness in the preaching of His Word).

The only contention I have is simply the sullen tone in which the book is written. Perhaps this tone contributes positively by creating an urgency or sense of importance within the reader about the topic. But I think it also may detract from the very truth which Wells highlights in his book; namely that Christ is sovereign over all including and especially the preservation of His church. I don't think Wells would disagree with this statement but sometimes the gloomy outlook for the church that he seems to warn of overshadows the glorious truths of God's preserving grace in the midst of modernity.

[Emily Stem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and prophetic.

[Dr. Z · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though decades old, a must-read for our 2020 world.

[James Horgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although slightly dated, and written within an American context, this book contains prescient warnings against the influence of modernity and post-modernity on the evangelical church.

Modernity, which separates private faith from public life, is worldliness. ‘God rests too inconsequentially upon the church. His truth is too distant, his grace is too ordinary, his judgment is too benign, his gospel is too easy, and his Christ is too common.’

Modernity is anthropocentric rather than theocentric, so our world measures what is only by the natural world, with no thought of the supernatural. What matters is whether things work, or bring pleasure, not whether they are good or true. In saying this there is a danger that Wells portrays the past as a golden age. Worldliness has been and will always be the greatest challenge to the church but its form shifts and changes. That said, it is true that our present world is much less conscious that it exists against a backdrop of Biblical truth.

In looking at the changes in Protestant demographics in the nineteenth century, Wells’ views are particular to the USA. In England, too, churches with a congregational polity, such as Methodists and Baptists also grew, but this was not a result of society being democratic. Universal manhood suffrage only commenced in 1870. The cause of these changes lies elsewhere (and is beyond the scope of this review).

Wells rightly brings out that pragmatism was increasingly the motive for how church functions; a philosophy that contrasts with rationalism, or acting in a way that is principled regardless of the outcome. We have all seen this in operation in church settings.

The central point of the book is that God’s holiness has been evacuated from the consciousness of society and so many churches, so that he is weightless. He is less interesting than TV, his judgments less authoritative than the evening news and his truth less exciting than the fantasy world of adverts. Having given up on a transcendent God people replace him with an immanent spirituality full of felts needs and cuddly thoughts. (This can be seen in the spiritual response to The Queen’s death with Paddington as the mediator between her and a heaven filled with Prince Philip and corgis butwhere God is strangely absent.)

In parallel post-modernism (which is merely modernism taken to its logical limit) atomises people and their experiences so we lose connection with each other, the world and God, who is then remade in our own image. This last step is an old error. It is already their in Schleiermacher’s rejection of objective knowledge about God and descent to subjectivity. We have to return to see ourselves as creatures dependent on a God who is holy, transcendent and self-sufficient in whose goodness and gospel we can make sense of ourselves and our world.

The dynamic of losing an outside God in favour of a God who is merely there to satisfy self makes him ‘too small to sustain faith in a world where the normative beliefs are overwhelmingly erroneous, to sustain goodness in a world that overwhelmingly champions badness, to sustain life in a world where death is inescapable.’

Curiously Wells see Puritanism in America as having the tendency to separate God above from God in Christ and so bifurcating into Deism and emotionalism. I’m not sure what he suggests should have been believed but these errors seem inevitable pitfalls of failures to hold, as the Puritans did, proper doctrines of the Trinity and Christology. Indeed his subsequent paragraphs seem to advocate this.

He rightly goes on to emphasise God’s holiness and omniscience. Rejecting the first means we radically alter concepts of sin, guilt and redemption. Rejecting the latter means we fail to look to God to understand our world and right and wrong in it, and do diminish the place of the Word in church life.

I was less convinced by Wells’ chapter on the God inside which seems to decry the mere existence of the huge variety of choice we have in our world. I think a Reformed worldview can accommodate the fecundity of creation and the beauty of God in much of this. It is the attitude towards choice that matters, not the choice itself. Also he fails to hold in tension undeniable technological progress from moral progress. Certainly technology will not bring us utopia and recognise many in our world think it will, whether it be through a green economy or education.

Wells moves to thinking about providence. Do we see progress? I would say yes, absolutely, in the growth of the church around the world. Wells rightly sees the church as existing in the end times between Christ’s first and second comings. I agree we cannot easily draw straight providential lines between events in our lives and God’s particular purposes, but that is not the same thing as saying we cannot draw any lines at all. We can see God’s providential hand at work in history in events that led to great blessing for the church and also in our own lives as we look back and see his goodness to us. I would argue it is important for us to reflect in both these ways to recognise how God glorifies Christ in our world and in our own particular existence. This has the effect of closing the gap between public and private which Wells decries.

Contained within the book is a survey of students at Christian seminaries (which compares results from an earlier survey that included Westminster Philadelphia, I am sure the change will have had a material effect on the results!) I found the questions lacking specificity and leaving open a range of interpretations so this chapter was the least useful in the book.

The last chapter is a call to return to the old paths of preaching Christ’s Word and administering the sacraments. It starts with Christian parents consciously raising their children to care more about their character than the surface impression they give to others on social media. We need to cultivate a sense of meaning and purpose from where we fit inside God’s purposes to counter the fragmentation that so easily results in a distracted world flooded with advertisements and lifestyle gurus trying to move us on to the next thing (which pays their wages). Failing to do this will cause churches to be shaped after the image of the world, shifting from one popular technique or fad to another. Watch out for such churches! They aren’t hard to spot for those with eyes to see. Developing that Christian world view that perceives glorifying and enjoying God is our chief end is the need of the hour.

[Justin Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“God in the Wasteland” is the next book in David F. Wells’ series on the church. I reviewed the first book, “No Place for Truth” last week and that book described the condition of the church as it meets our present time – that is, the time of modernity. Wells begins this book recapping some of the arguments he made in No Place about the current church. He argues that the church: 1) modernity, urbanization, capitalism, and postmodernism has infiltrated our culture; 2) the culture has a higher degree of influencing the church today than in times past; 3) the church is seeking for things like truth from sources outside the Bible because of this, most definitivly from within as our culture has prescribed. These few facts set up the argument that Evangelicalism has lost it’s way in the modern era.

Wells speaks much more in this book about what the influence of our culture means for the church. In the first book, he painted a broad landscape of the various problems with the culture. In this book, he makes equally sweeping statements on how this is dramatically affecting the church. One of his chapters is about how capitalism and consumerism have become the dominant themes of today’s churches. For example, he cites heavily from George Barna’s “Marking the Church: What They Never Taught You About Church Growth.” This book is all about how to transform your church into a thriving enterprise based on the latest business tricks that are successful in the corporate world. Because our culture is saturated with economic demands of a free market, the most logical step for the church is to pattern their practices off the same used in the business world. What Dr. Wells points out however, is that the church is not a business. He ties this in with the theme of No Place: the modern church is not decidedly focused on God and the Bible, but rather we have become a therapeutic society where church is a way to address the needs of the self. He talks about how Pastors are increasingly becoming less concerned about God’s truth and more concerned about filling the felt needs of every person in the congregation. Obviously, not everything in the Bible has a “feel good” message but the wisdom from these capitalist-driven Christians is to simply not talk about the “bad” stuff. Why would you when your goal is not to make more of God, but to bring more people to church? And therein lies one of the most fundamental problems with the Evangelical movement today: we have lost sight of the purpose of the church.

Dr. Wells moves to the “weightlessness of God,” which means that both “high culture” (elitist culture) and “low culture” have come to a fixed point of autonomy. Culture does not find truth within an objective source, but rather a subjective one that is within. The irony of the whole situation when it comes to the church is that people desire spirituality, but they do not want to define their spirituality in terms of doctrine and dogma. Rather, they turn to a physiological means of synthesizing both God and the “self-culture” into an artificial precipice that is devoid of anything resembling Christianity. We can see this in the wide acceptance of things like Eastern Spirituality and the Charismatic movement. Religion is now “designer,” meaning that one can be more pluralistic in an age of fading truth and objectivity. God is now someone whom we use instead of obey; God is someone who fulfills our needs and not someone whom we surrender everything to.

Dr. Wells argues that the church is sacrificing on two major points that are furthering her demise: the loss of God’s proper place in the church, and the greatest abuse of the doctrines of providence and Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross (substitutionary atonement). He takes two chapters to look at these issues. In the first chapter, he looks at the character of God and how modernity has influenced the church to lose sight of the importance of things like the holiness of God. In the second chapter, he speaks at length about the providence of God (that would be too much to discuss here). Lastly, before he closes out the book with his closing thoughts, he looks at two separate surveys of Evangelicals who were attending seminary in the 90’s. He looks at this data and tries to interpret it to demonstrate his argument (again, too much to discuss here; I would encourage you to pick up the book if you want details on both of these subjects).

He ends with a scathing review of the church. Read an excerpt here of some of his last thoughts:

“Recent proposals for church reform have rarely amounted to anything more than diversions. They tend, in fact, to lead the church away from what it needs most to confront. They suggest that its weakness lies in the fact that its routines are too old, its music is too dull, its programs too few, its parking lots too small, its sermons too sermonic. They suggest that the problems are all administrative or organizational, matters of style or comfort. That is precisely what one would expect to surface in an age that is deeply pragmatic and fixated on image rather than on substance. Real reform will have to look beneath the surface to see the poverty of spirit in the evangelical world, its lack of seriousnessness, its tendency to engage in superficial rather than penetrating analyses, its childish inability to withstand the diversions of flash, fun, and glamor. God now rests too inconsequentially upon the church. His Word, if it is preached at all, does not summon enough. His Christ, if he is seen at all, is impoverished, thin, pale, and scarcely capable of inspiring awe, and his riches are entirely searchable. If God is at the center of the worship, one has to wonder why there is so much surrounding the center that is superfluous to true worship – indeed, counterproductive to it. It is God that the church needs most – God in his grace and truth, God in his awesome and holy presence, not a folder full of hot ideas for reviving the church’s flagging programs.”

This is indeed a wake up call for Evangelicals. I’m surprised this book isn’t circulated more. If you are interested in ministry, I believe this series of books is so incredibly essential to your growing library.

[C Jing · Rating 4 out of 5]

与天道一起读完的中文版读书会，goodread弄了很久中文版没有放入。
本书囫囵吞枣的读完，作者用词真的很深涩，另一个原因是因为作者广博的知识量让读者很难驾驭——要搞明白他所说和所表达的，需要一定的知识量和北美文化处境理解能力。
然而这本书瑕不掩瑜，依然是一本值得读的书。有些书已经出版了许多时间，但却仍然能抵挡时间的侵袭，可见作者功力。本书作为30年前的系统神学类书籍在探讨北美福音派如今面临处境和当代的尴尬，作为当时振聋发聩的声音而言是毫无疑问的先知性话语。所说、所提观点，在今日教会界看来都一一浮现，不是已经出现了，就是正在发生。
本书的确需要静下来好好的，花时间的细读和咀嚼，不仅仅是他所揭露的现象，也在于作者的洞见有时候太过入木三分甚至犀利，所以会让后生晚辈觉得太过刺耳和不舒服。这也是本人想提的观点，希望可以用更谦和的语气来书写，这是唯一的小小抱怨。
另外本书没有提供解决问题和出路，因为作者言明本书只揭露问题和探讨本质，然而要解决问题却并没有提供作者的观点。当然，我能揣摩出来作者的思想。总得来说，盼望在局面没有变得更坏之前，我们可以因为读了这本书而获得更多的儆醒就很感恩了。

[Nathan Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was written in 1994 and much of what Wells spoke of has come true or is far far worse. In some ways a depressing/sobering read and brings up many of the same Goliath questions that Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self raised. Modernity is likely the greatest threat to the Christian worldview ever conceived.

[Douglas Domer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a current today as it was 25 years ago when it was written. RC Sproul said: "must reading for understanding what it means to be a Christian in a pagan society." High praise from a luminary of the current Church! And, I agree with his assessment!

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

jesus himself has said there is no living person more moral than the tax collector. and wells lives of the money given by the tax collector. so who is better to speak of god's work, than the tax collector's servant?

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another substantive read, took me a while! Fascinating cultural analysis, and important results from a survey of conservative seminaries back in the 90s. I was helped by Wells' consistent criticisms and solutions for churches.

[Mikey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prophetic word from the mid-90s on what has become so true of evangelicalism in the West. A small god, wishy-washy church goers, and churches that look more like nightclubs than fountains of eternal truths. Wells was right, and perhaps is even more right today.

[David M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Astounding.

[David Wile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book

[Jeff Breeding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional. Sobering and encouraging at the same time. Written in 1994, but still full of penetrating insight about the effects of modernity/post-modernity on the Church.

[Joseph Hamrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightful read.

[Phil Cotnoir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book # 2 in David Wells' series.

I highly recommend it for church leaders and pastors, or anyone wanting to understand evangelical Christianity in the modern world.

The books are now 20+ years old but frankly they are just as relevant. Wells is sometimes a bit cranky, but don't let it get to you. He has a sharp eye for the ills of the church to which she is mostly blind, and we need that. Many powerful and quotable sections worth underlining and returning to.

[Peter Coleman]

In the wasteland of a theologically desolate church that has shifted its focus from traditional doctrines toward the emphases of modernism, David Wells (Th.M. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Ph.D. Manchester University) seeks to identify the current state of the church. Furthermore, he wants to give a solution to reclaim the strength of the church, freeing it from the distractions that have come upon it. This solution, he feels, will come by the church returning to a depth in its theological understanding, particularly a recommitment to the doctrine of God’s transcendence.
With this purpose in mind, David Wells, a professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, writes God in the Wasteland . This book comes as a follow up to the volume No Place For Truth , which addresses the impact of modern philosophy and culture on the church. That impact was a diminution of theology’s place in the evangelical church . Wells’ purpose in God in the Wasteland is to continue the work of No Place for Truth by providing an answer to that situation therein described by confronting both Christ and culture .
Wells states his case well. His examination of culture is broad, from the nature of American urbanization to theological trends within the church. While his analysis of the difference between modernism and post-modernism may be inaccurate, the solution that he proposes to the situation of his time appears to adequately address the situation. If the reformed renewal does indeed match the emphasis that Wells calls for, then only time will tell if that solution was accurate.
The book remains valuable to any student of theological, philosophical, and cultural trends of recent decades. If synthesized with more recent scholarship, this volume can help provide insight into those trends, giving a snapshot of what that progression looked like at one particular moment.
The book’s greatest worth may be in its critique, not of culture, but of the church and the culture’s influence upon it. In that critique, Wells challenges church leaders to re-examine their methods and the mindset in ecclesiastical matters. If that critique could be placed in the hands of pastors and denominational leaders across this nation, there may be a shift from what Wells labels in the quintessential metaphor he gives in describing the contemporary church, that it is as wide as an ocean, but only an inch deep. Then might the church find renewed vibrancy and depth in the midst of “Our Time.”

[Wes F · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very stimulating read that is very relevant, very needed, very prophetic. David Wells--in my opinion--hits the nail on the head in so many ways with regards to the state of the church in recent days. The trend in the church that he mainly discusses is its slow slide into conformity with the surrounding culture worldview and values. As he puts it, God's presence is felt "too lightly" on/in the church and there has been a "hollowing out" of the deep, abiding, serious aspects of the life of the church. I think these two quotes are a good summary and leave lots of food for thought:

“We have thus become the pawns of the world we have created, moved about by the forces of modernity, our inventions themselves displacing their inventors in an ironic recapitulation of the first dislocation in which God’s creatures replace their Creator and exiled him from his own world. As it turns out, we too have lost our center through this transition. We have become T. S. Eliot’s ‘hollow men,’ without weight, for whom appearance and image must suffice. Image and appearance assume the functions that character and morality once had. It is now considered better to look good than to be good. The façade is more important than the substance—and, that being the case, the substance has largely disappeared. In the center there is now only an emptiness. This is what accounts for the anxious search for self that is now afoot: only the hungry think about food all the time, not the well fed, and only those in whom the self is disappearing will define all of life in terms of its recovery, its actualization.” (p. 14-15).

“The fact is that while we may be able to market the church, we cannot market Christ, the gospel, Christian character, or meaning in life. The church can offer hand child care to weary parents, intellectual stimulation to the restless video generation, a feeling of family to the lonely and dispossessed—and, indeed, lots of people come to churches for these reasons. But neither Christ nor his truth can be marketed by appealing to consumer interest, because the premise of all marketing is that the consumer’s need is sovereign, that the customer is always right, and this is precisely what the gospel insists cannot be the case.” (p. 82)

Exactly--so, let's make sure we are a part of the counter-culture movement who long for and act to see true revival come to the Church & churches.

[Todd Wilhelm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Author David F. Wells is a precise critic of what is wrong with American evangelicalism and what needs to be done to right the ship.

"Moreover, when God becomes weightless, as I believe he is so often today, we lose the doctrinal signals that might otherwise warn us that some profound change has taken place - the sorts of signals that once warned of the threat of heresy. Too often in Our Time, there is only peace and quiet. The traditional doctrine of God remains entirely intact while its saliency vanishes. The doctrine is believed, defended, affirmed liturgically, and in every other way to be held inviolable - but it no longer has the power to shape and to summon that it has had in previous ages."
page 89

"There are grounds for saying that the Church Growth movement is rapidly becoming a religiious recovery group for pastoral codependents."
page 77

"To be the church in this way, it is also going to have to find in the coming generation leaders who exemplify this hope for its future and who will devote themselves to seeing it realized. To lead the church in the way that it needs to be led, they will have to rise above the internal politics of the evangelical world and refuse to accept the status quo where that no longer serves the vital interests of the kingdom of God. They will have to decline to spend themselves in the building of their own private kingdoms and refuse to be intimidated into giving the church less and other than what it needs. Instead, they will have to begin to build afresh, in cogently biblical ways, among the decaying structures that now clutter the evangelical landscape. To succeed, they will have to be people of large vision, people of courage, people who have learned again what it means to live by the Word of God, and, most importantly, what it means to live before the holy God of that Word."
page 214-15

[John Rabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second of Wells' four volume trilogy. (Yeah, yeah, I know, four volumes does not a trilogy make.) All four volumes are excellent and necessary. I've realized something, however. While there is no doubt a difference between each of the four books--i.e. I'm sure he's laying out a different thesis in each one--I realize I can't really tell them apart. They're all good, but they all seem to be explications of the same thing.

Nonetheless, it's a message we desperately need to hear in this day and age.

[Lee Button · Rating 5 out of 5]

I agree wholeheartedly with the publisher's summary. "In this sequel to the widely praised No Place for Truth, David Wells calls for the restoration of the church based on a fresh encounter with the transcendent God. By looking anew at the way God's transcendence and immanence have been taken captive by modern appetites, Wells argues convincingly for a reform of the evangelical world." Wells' analysis is so current it is hard to believe the book was written 20 years ago. It turns out he was prophetic.

[Timothy Bertolet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book looking at how evangelicalism has shifted from its roots. It shows how the evangelical view of God is shallow and lacking. It points to significant compromises within evangelical life and thought. Some of the statistics are a bit dated (1993) nevertheless they ring true. Indeed evangelicalism has fallen further into the morass that Wells exposed. This book is a great reflection on the need to recover the doctrine of God in the church today.

[Brian Reagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

An excellent book for telling the reader everything that is wrong. Very little in this book is helpful, and over 85% of it is like an infomercial. The book excels in being stilted academically, and so it is easy to get lost in thinking that Wells says anything that is genuinely helpful. My only regret is that I actually read the book instead of just skimming it.

[Dwain Minor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is over 20 years old and because of his tremednous accuracy it has stood the test of time. Wells does an excellent job of critiquing modernity and postmodernity and how it has crept into churches. I believe that even over 20 years removed from the writing that this is an excellent resource for Christian leaders to read and think through.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A frank examination of the evangelical church and its submersion into modern culture, abandoning the doctrines of God's transcendent holiness and man's original sin in favor of a radically individualistic view of God as our personal assistant.