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Book Cover for: No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?, David F. Wells

No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?

David F. Wells

How are we to explain the fragmentation of evangelical faith today and the current turmoil in the churches? According to David Wells, the answer lies in seeing how modernity is reshaping the whole of Western culture, including that part of it which is religious. This book provides a compelling critique of the modern world and the state of evangelical theology. Wells's sweeping analysis explores the collapse of theology in the church, the academy, and modern culture. The new environment in which we live, with its huge cities, triumphant capitalism, invasive technology, and incessant amusements, is homogenizing daily experience, bringing about a world cliche culture. While the modern world has produced astonishing abundance, it has also taken a dreadful toll on the human spirit, emptying it of meaning, depth, and morality. Seeking respite from the acids of modernity, people today have increasingly turned to religions and therapies centered on the self. And, whether consciously or not, evangelicals have taken the same path, refashioning their faith into a religion of the self. Because the modern churchgoer is so often a consumer, pastors are redefining their roles in terms of their own marketability. Evangelicals, argues Wells, have largely lost the truth that God also stands outside all human experience, that he still summons sinners to repentance and belief regardless of their self-image, and that he calls his church to stand fast in his truth against the blandishments of the modern world. Written expressly to encourage renewal in evangelical theology, No Place for Truth explores the interface between Christian faith and the modern world in entirely new ways and with uncommon rigor. Itraises profound questions about the future of conservative Protestant faith. Here is provocative reading for scholars, ministers, Christian leaders, seminary students, and all theologically concerned people.

Book Details

  • Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
  • Publish Date: Dec 20th, 1994
  • Pages: 330
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.01in - 6.03in - 0.93in - 1.03lb
  • EAN: 9780802807472
  • Categories: Christian Theology - HistoryChristian Church - History

About the Author

Wells, David F.: - David F. Wells is distinguished senior research professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, and an ordained Congregationalist minister. His many previous books include Above All Earthly Pow'rs, Losing Our Virtue, God in the Wasteland, and No Place for Truth.

More books by David F. Wells

Book Cover for: God in the Whirlwind: How the Holy-love of God Reorients Our World, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: The Courage to Be Protestant: Reformation Faith in Today's World, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: Losing Our Virtue, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: The Search for Salvation, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: What Is the Trinity?, David F. Wells
Book Cover for: Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision, David F. Wells

Praise for this book

Time
"A stinging indictment of Evangelicalism's theological corruption."

Booklist
"An excellent addition to a theologian's library, this thorough study of the development of current evangelical expression will also inform the philosopher, the social observer, the cultural anthropologist, and even the interested general reader. . . Though profound, the book is easily approachable. Ecumenical thinkers will rank this presentation as the evangelical contribution to current interfaith dialogue."

Religious Studies Review
"A ground-breaking work in evangelical self-criticism. . . This book is must reading not only for evangelicals, but for those who know little and care less about the current evangelical constituency that now numbers a third of U.S. population. The acuity of Wells's analysis, as well as his self-critical spirit, show something of the intellectual prowess and recuperative powers within evangelicalism, and thus represent a small counterpoint to his otherwise accurate assessments."

Themelios
"While David Wells's careful reflection on the state of evangelicalism is firmly rooted in an American context, his analysis is so powerful and far-reaching that the Church throughout the Western world can scarcely to ignore it. . . This is a compelling book which must be taken seriously."

Christianity Today
"Wells's book is designed to be controversial. . . Many will agree with his incisive critique of modernity. Many of his pithy statements . . . will surely find their way into sermons. . . Wells is right in his claim that evangelicalism, if not evangelical theology, is flirting with abandoning objective truth through benign neglect. . . Wells's book can serve as a catalyst for evangelical self-examination."

Evangelical Journal
"I can find no fault with the method, style or validity of Wells' presentation. His demonstration of the changes wrought by modernity was both insightful and enjoyable; it provided the essential backdrop for his arguments about individualism and conformity, and their effects on the twentieth-century Christian. Especially impressive was his articulation of the changes wrought in the pastoral office. . . His writing style is scholarly, but accessible. . . . I would highly recommend No Place for Truth to everyone who now holds, or in the future plans to hold, a position of leadership in the church. It should be required reading at evangelical theological seminaries."