In the third book of his four-part series analyzing the corruption of the church by modernity, David Wells zeroes in on the particular case of morality.
Other recent Christian books bemoan the moral decay in our culture and then indict the church for being of the world but not in it. Wells does not resort to moralism as the cure for immorality as others unwittingly do. In other words, he does not scold the church and tell them to just "cut it out."
Rather, he reflects deeply about the causes of the decline of moral virtue around us and then muses on how beautiful the gospel is as an alternative to the world’s destructive self-worship. In fact, he implies that without a deep appreciation for the cause of the problem, a solution will be impossible to implement.
Concerning the causes, he observes that our world has moved from emphasizing "virtues" to a vague, singular "virtue" and now to only "values" with disastrous results. In the introduction we read, "…modernity refocuses our interests, displacing the moral by the therapeutic, the divine by the human, truth by intuition, and conviction by technique. As a result, we have not only secular humanism in our society but also secular evangelicalism." (page 4) He continues, "If we abandon our moral obligations and indulge our "right" to do and say whatever we want, we will have to live in a society that is trivialized, emptied out, and increasingly more dangerous and inhospitable." (page 9)
Rightly, Wells sees the contradictions this has created. By exalting the self, we have actually belittled it. By rejecting moral absolutes, we have actually become dogmatic and inflexible in promoting immorality. We claim to be set free from moral regulations but "we continue to experience ourselves as moral beings." (page 152)
As he does in the two previous books of this series, he offers a full appreciation of the gospel as the solution we need to turn things around. "The Church’s problem today is simply that it does not believe that, without tinkering, the Gospel will be all that interesting to modern people…Why should the postmodern world believe the Gospel when the Church appears so unsure of its truth that it dresses up that Gospel in the garments of modernity to heighten its interest? It is a self-defeating strategy. What the Church needs is not more of these strategies but more faith, more confidence that God’s Word is sufficient for this time, more confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to apply it, and more integrity in proclaiming it." (pages 206-7)
Christian academicians need to read and digest Wells’ challenging arguments and then express them to the rest of the body of Christ who may not choose to read something this taxing or be able to follow his line of argumentation. Looking behind the presenting issues to root causes and philosophical presuppositions are unchartered waters for many Christians today. But professors who follow Christ are used to these techniques and should serve their fellow worshippers by lending their intellects to the task of cultural renewal.
Reviewed by: Randy Newman
