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Welcome to Negative World: How to Read the Times You're In
And Remember to Have Fun.
You live in a world vastly different from your parents. Much less your grandparents. Do you know how to thrive here?
According to Aaron Renn's Three Worlds thesis, Christians have experienced rapid descent in public opinion over the last 30 years. The men in these chapters push that thesis into the corners as they consider what evangelism, the moral order, higher education, church strategies, and more might look like in Negative World.
If Christians want to win the 2020s and beyond, it's time we learn to be effective in the time God has placed us.
So grab a helmet and welcome to Negative World.
You live in a world vastly different from your parents. Much less your grandparents. Do you know how to thrive here?
According to Aaron Renn's Three Worlds thesis, Christians have experienced rapid descent in public opinion over the last 30 years. The men in these chapters push that thesis into the corners as they consider what evangelism, the moral order, higher education, church strategies, and more might look like in Negative World.
If Christians want to win the 2020s and beyond, it's time we learn to be effective in the time God has placed us.
So grab a helmet and welcome to Negative World.
172 pages, Paperback
Published March 24, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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July 6, 2026Thumbs up
July 2, 2026
Let me start by saying I’m a big fan of Aaron Renn. His book on the negative world and his substack contain incredibly insightful insights for modern day American Protestants. He is, in short, my favorite living non-Pastor Christian thinker.That said, “Welcome to Negative World” is a very difficult book to rate since the essays it contains are very uneven. So I rated the overall book three stars and below I rate each essay individually:
Introduction (Wilson)
3/5
Wilson asks some interesting questions, like how long the negative world will last, but there isn’t a lot of development in this essay.
The Three Worlds and the Tao (Rigney)
5/5
An amazing essay and worth the price of the book just to read. Rigney is one of the few contributors in this volume that I think meaningfully moved Renns thesis further and corrected some of its weakness. A really well written essay and provides very timely advice at the end. I found Rigneys arguments just as compelling as Renns from the original “Negative world” book.
A Paradigm Shift for Defeating Negative World (Longshore)
2/5
I disagreed with too many of Longshores presuppositions to find much value in this essay. Most interesting was Longshore arguing for the return to patriarchy, a position Renn argues is untenable in the original Negative World book. The best part of the essay is the proposition that the degradation of marriage is the fountainhead of most of the social issues we face today.
Toward a Cultural Insurgency (Humphrey and Cline)
1/5
Hands down my least favorite essay in the book. I have never read anything ostensibly arguing from a Christian position that utilizes Machiavelli, an author called Bronze Age Pervert, and Nietzsche over Scripture. I am all for reading “The Prince” but a Christian arguing for utilizing what can literally be called “Machiavellian” tactics is counterproductive at best and chillingly disturbing at worst. Multiple times as I read through the essay I thought “what am I reading??” To myself.
Seizing the Opportunity in Negative World (Visconti)
4/5
A very good essay for pastors to read. Visconti gives some very memorable metaphors for different people who the church may try to reach. There were points in the essay that I disagreed with or I thought were overstated but it was though provoking particular in terms of asking what demographic your church is trying to reach and what effect that has on how a church ministers.
Negative World and Education (Merkle)
4/5
My main complaint with this essay is I wanted it to be even longer. The question of building Christian institutions in negative world may be the most pressing one, and while a lot was said that was useful, more needed to be said.
In the Era of the Judges (Peter)
5/5
Like Rigneys essay, this contribution actually moves Renns thesis forward and clarifies some key points. Reading this essay immediately caused me to search for more of Peter’s writings online, and he is the real deal. I particularly appreciated how he explained Kellers philosophy of ministry (third wayism) and how it relates to negative world. I think Keller gets a bad rap from certain people these days so Peter showing how to continue Kellers ministry distinctives into a new era is welcome. Also the question of how to create a Protestant professional network is an incredibly important one.
Responses to Contributors (Renn)
3/5
I wish Renns comments were at the end of each essay he responded to, respectively.
All in all, two essays (Rigneys and Peter’s) stood out and the rest were a mixed bag. I wish there were essays from people who disagreed with Renns thesis or have alternative explanations. Carl Trueman, for example, would provide interesting counterpoints that then Renn could respond to. I am glad I read this book and will probably return to a couple essays, but I think there needs to be further essays better arguing against and/or extending Renns thesis in addition to this books essays
Introduction (Wilson)
3/5
Wilson asks some interesting questions, like how long the negative world will last, but there isn’t a lot of development in this essay.
The Three Worlds and the Tao (Rigney)
5/5
An amazing essay and worth the price of the book just to read. Rigney is one of the few contributors in this volume that I think meaningfully moved Renns thesis further and corrected some of its weakness. A really well written essay and provides very timely advice at the end. I found Rigneys arguments just as compelling as Renns from the original “Negative world” book.
A Paradigm Shift for Defeating Negative World (Longshore)
2/5
I disagreed with too many of Longshores presuppositions to find much value in this essay. Most interesting was Longshore arguing for the return to patriarchy, a position Renn argues is untenable in the original Negative World book. The best part of the essay is the proposition that the degradation of marriage is the fountainhead of most of the social issues we face today.
Toward a Cultural Insurgency (Humphrey and Cline)
1/5
Hands down my least favorite essay in the book. I have never read anything ostensibly arguing from a Christian position that utilizes Machiavelli, an author called Bronze Age Pervert, and Nietzsche over Scripture. I am all for reading “The Prince” but a Christian arguing for utilizing what can literally be called “Machiavellian” tactics is counterproductive at best and chillingly disturbing at worst. Multiple times as I read through the essay I thought “what am I reading??” To myself.
Seizing the Opportunity in Negative World (Visconti)
4/5
A very good essay for pastors to read. Visconti gives some very memorable metaphors for different people who the church may try to reach. There were points in the essay that I disagreed with or I thought were overstated but it was though provoking particular in terms of asking what demographic your church is trying to reach and what effect that has on how a church ministers.
Negative World and Education (Merkle)
4/5
My main complaint with this essay is I wanted it to be even longer. The question of building Christian institutions in negative world may be the most pressing one, and while a lot was said that was useful, more needed to be said.
In the Era of the Judges (Peter)
5/5
Like Rigneys essay, this contribution actually moves Renns thesis forward and clarifies some key points. Reading this essay immediately caused me to search for more of Peter’s writings online, and he is the real deal. I particularly appreciated how he explained Kellers philosophy of ministry (third wayism) and how it relates to negative world. I think Keller gets a bad rap from certain people these days so Peter showing how to continue Kellers ministry distinctives into a new era is welcome. Also the question of how to create a Protestant professional network is an incredibly important one.
Responses to Contributors (Renn)
3/5
I wish Renns comments were at the end of each essay he responded to, respectively.
All in all, two essays (Rigneys and Peter’s) stood out and the rest were a mixed bag. I wish there were essays from people who disagreed with Renns thesis or have alternative explanations. Carl Trueman, for example, would provide interesting counterpoints that then Renn could respond to. I am glad I read this book and will probably return to a couple essays, but I think there needs to be further essays better arguing against and/or extending Renns thesis in addition to this books essays
July 7, 2026
Enjoyable, helpful, and empowering. 5 years ago, I had a pretty defeatist mentality, especially in the realm of politics and culture building. Books like this have brought me a long way.
A Few Helpful Quotes
- If Christians find themselves in a commonwealth already settled, one settled in a way contrary to their way of life where they have no power to direct change, they must do their best to submit to the heathen regime and perhaps submit to martyrdom, but for those who find themselves in a commonwealth where they can participate in laying the found (or, we would say reviving it) The duty of the Christian is markedly different. -John Davenport
- it is starting to lose its grip, premillennialism has captured The minds of evangelicals for decades and imprinted deepen our DNA a pessimism about the future, a deep distrust in institutions, and virtually no zeal to build them. In the pre-millennial mindset, whatever you are building Is going to burn, there is no sense in polishing brass on a sinking ship, etc. These sentiments, combined with baptistic cynicism regarding generational faithfulness massively discouraged any interest in long-term vision for our institutions
- Be obedient, resilient, and excellent (ch. 5)
- The manosphere ate the Church's lunch when it came to reaching men. That should be embarrassing to us.
A Few Helpful Quotes
- If Christians find themselves in a commonwealth already settled, one settled in a way contrary to their way of life where they have no power to direct change, they must do their best to submit to the heathen regime and perhaps submit to martyrdom, but for those who find themselves in a commonwealth where they can participate in laying the found (or, we would say reviving it) The duty of the Christian is markedly different. -John Davenport
- it is starting to lose its grip, premillennialism has captured The minds of evangelicals for decades and imprinted deepen our DNA a pessimism about the future, a deep distrust in institutions, and virtually no zeal to build them. In the pre-millennial mindset, whatever you are building Is going to burn, there is no sense in polishing brass on a sinking ship, etc. These sentiments, combined with baptistic cynicism regarding generational faithfulness massively discouraged any interest in long-term vision for our institutions
- Be obedient, resilient, and excellent (ch. 5)
- The manosphere ate the Church's lunch when it came to reaching men. That should be embarrassing to us.
June 29, 2026
Great book and response to Aaron Renn's book. Joe Rigney and other writers in this talk about how to fight back in this negative world. They offer good solutions to try and move us back to positive world. I do like that they let Renn respond to the writers of this book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews