David Wells, author of No Place for Truth and Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, writes God in the Wasteland as a sequel to his previous books in an attempt to offer a remedy to the problem of decaying theology within the evangelical church. This critique will summarize the content through recovering general themes revealed in Wells’ book, and interact with the theological issues at stake with appropriate assessment of the author’s opinion.
Wells is a professor of theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He received a grant in 1989 from the Pew Charitable Trusts that financed his literary work. He conducted extensive research using surveys in 1982 and 1993, which are cited in chapter eight of his book This research supports his proposition that modernity has infiltrated the evangelical church.
God in the Wasteland is a book about Christ in culture. Wells refers to this concept as Jesus and McGuire (p. 5). Wells coins the term Accidental Revolution to define the unintentional change in western culture. He cites four main realities that drive the process of modernization. These realities include capitalism, technology, urbanization, and telecommunications (p. 7).
These realities have their costs and benefits. However, Wells believes the costs far outweigh the benefits in regards to sustaining a biblical worldview. These realities of modernization have left people anxious, stressed, and tense. Consequently passion for God’s truth is becoming extinct. Churches have traded traditional protestant theology for pluralism and secularism. Wells challenges the church’s spiritual authenticity.
Three meanings of the kosmos or world are discussed. The first is a reference to the earth as humanity’s physical habitat. The second is explained as the human fraternity. Third, the kosmos is described as “the collective expression of every society’s refusal to bow before God, to receive his truth, to obey his commandments, or to believe his Christ(p. 39).”
As expressed in the third sense of the kosmos, the world is an alternative to God. Acceptance of such an alternative, as explained by Wells, is nothing less that idolatry, and in modernity God is replaced with self (pp. 52-53). The church is faced with choosing to market like the world or be set apart as a biblical establishment. According to Wells, mega churches market themselves to consumers like big businesses of the western world. George Barna is an advocate of such a religious economy. Wells acknowledges that the struggle lies within the competition between loving God and loving the world. Consequently, doctrine is often sacrificed. Wells describes such a strategy as therapeutic and worldly (p. 83).
Wells writes of the sacrifice of doctrine leading to the weightlessness of God. God is replaced with modernity. Wells researches and cites several well-known scholars like Karl Barth, Mitchell Berman, Erving Goffman, and others to support his findings. Wells concludes that “the church has lost the transcendent truth and goodness of God” (pp. 88-117).
Chapters six and seven discuss the sovereignty and providence of God. Wells notes that the church must once again look above to God who is above all and in all. One can read of the emergence of Deism and modern evangelicalism during the reformation. Consequently, such views of God led to his immanence being cut loose from his transcendence (pp. 118-163).
Chapter eight titled, The Coming Generation, provides statistics from seminary students recorded with the use of the surveys in 1982 and 1993. Chapter eight sets up the final chapter where one reads of Wells’ purpose for writing God in the Wasteland: “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 (p. 214).” Wells continues to describe his vision for the evangelical church, and he lays out some keys of success for the evangelical church competing with a postmodern world.
Upon reading God in the Wasteland, one can understand Wells’ obvious concern for the weakening of traditional protestant theology and doctrine among modern evangelicals and evangelical organizations. Wells approaches the subject of theological truth decay from the perspective of a twentieth century evangelical that holds dear traditional protestant theology. He first blames the church for allowing itself to become seduced by modernity. Wells’ goal is to challenge the church’s “spiritual authenticity in the midst of modernity’s wasteland” (p. 78).
Wells offers a compelling argument and certainly seems to prove his point and achieve his goal. His argument includes extensive research citing many other authors who have offered work on the same subject. He also includes statistics from 1982 and 1993 surveys of seminary students. The following is an excerpt from God in the Wasteland that best summarizes the findings in these surveys.
“I believe that the anomaly of the seminarians’ theological affirmation of the concept of human depravity and simultaneous psychological endorsement of the essential innocence of the self is best explained in the fact that these students adopt alternate worldviews as they move from one context to another. A theistic worldview that is significantly defined by a sense of divine transcendence will typically drive those who hold it to view human nature and modern culture as perverse and corrupt; a theistic worldview that is significantly defined by a sense of divine immanence, on the other hand, will not. (p. 211)”
The strengths of Wells’ argument lie in his extensive research. However, his bias toward traditional protestant theology places him on the edge of legalism. Such a bias may keep some readers from continuing to read his book. This would be unfortunate since God in the Wasteland addresses a dilemma that should be considered. A revised or updated version of God in the Wasteland certainly seems necessary. The book was published in 1994 and should reflect the ever changing culture if he wishes its impact to continue. For example, Wells speaks of the emergence of the television and its impact on the culture (p. 9). An update with a reference to the Internet would be recommended.
Certainly the disregard for mega churches and the language used referring to them as sell outs does not appeal to a general audience. Wells conveys that the smallness of a church is viewed as an illness (p. 27). However it could be viewed as a church that is not successfully fulfilling the Great Commission.
Other reviews of God in the Wasteland provided by Calvin Theological Seminary observe that Wells’ book deals more with the idolatry of self as the problem within modernity. These reviews note that because narcissism is rampant, Wells’ book should be read by every evangelical and non-evangelical(Bolt, John. God in the Wasteland: Review Grand Rapids, MI: Calvin Theological Seminary). His book may open the eyes of unbelievers of a self-centered nation to check their own philosophy. This opens the question of whether a personal philosophy is truly independently personal.
Other books on the subject of Christ in culture offering a similar perspective include Rethinking Christ in Culture: A Post-Christendom Perspective by Craig A. Carter, The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular Through the Theology of Karl Barth by Paul Louis Metzger, and Christ in Culture by Helmut Richard Niebuhr, Martin E. Marty, and James Gustafson.
God in the Wasteland is a useful tool for pastors and teachers within adult ministry. The book offers a perspective of truth decay within modernity and is a must read for all ministers of the twenty-first century. Although some may disagree with the approach taken by Wells or side that some statistics may not directly reflect the issue, his book will without a doubt open the eyes of all believers and unbelievers to the rapid digression of morality and traditional theology and the epidemic of self indulgence.
Wells achieves his goal in conveying a well supported rationale for the demise of traditional protestant theology and doctrine within modern evangelical circles. However, some conflict may be noted by some evangelicals who side with Armenian doctrine. Wells’ doctrine is mostly supported by Calvinists, and his theological support may raise some questions. One is left with the opinion that all mega churches have compromised something. Wells does not address the issue of cultural relevancy. He instead continues to demean any organization that markets with a place of refuge for the lost and down trodden.
One may be left with the following questions. When Wells writes of the church, is he writing of the body of Christ or a building of which people become members? What about Paul becoming all things to all people so that he might reach one? Does Wells support such Pauline evangelism? Such questions may further one’s study of the subject of theological decay within modernity and its relationship to evangelism in an ever changing culture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wells, David. God in the Wasteland. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994.
