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God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams
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.
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
October 5th 1995
by William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
(first published July 21st 1994)
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Jul 28, 2011
Peter Coleman
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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 theologica...more
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,...more
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, M...more
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, M...more
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.
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...more
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 re...more
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.
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.
Book 2 of a 4 part series - a classic. The idea of God being belived but of no real cvonsequence to those who believe is powerful.
Great treatment of the wake of modernism and its impact on the Church. Although it was written in 1994 its thesis and content is quite relevant today. Good read.
This is the second (and best, IMO) of Wells' quintology on theology in the postmodern world.
Pessimistic about modern American evangelicalism; optimistic about Reformation evangelicalism.
Aug 29, 2010
Jeff
marked it as to-read
Recommended by David McCullough
Read. Be disturbed. Act.
Quite good.
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...more
Nonetheless, it's a message we desperately need to hear in this day and...more
Very good book!
May 11, 2013
BJ
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Apr 05, 2013
David Sims
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Mar 27, 2013
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Mar 22, 2013
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Mar 21, 2013
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Mar 20, 2013
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Mar 19, 2013
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Mar 16, 2013
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