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Wells states that evangelicalism “has become modern” in that it draws its primary power from the culture rather than from theology. Modernity, meanwhile, reduces evangelicalism to an internal, private faith and a religion of civility. God, in turn, has become inconsequential to the people and leadership of the church as the church becomes progressively more worldly. Enlightenment systems of humanism and capitalism are entrenched throughout modernity, and the church has incorporated the principles thereof, resulting in a Christian-based market of spiritual satisfaction.

Modern satisfaction, achieved by evangelicalism’s strength in identifying with the people, leads to the substitution of self over God in a fundamental rejection human accountability to Him. Sovereignty is granted to the consumer. God has become a weightless element for the church and for culture, resulting in a loss of connectedness and sense of grounding, but whose presence is not considered welcome for fear that He would constrain the individual.

Wells argues that the solution is to reject worldliness from our churches by becoming a powerful counter-culture movement. Christians should cease striving to engage the world on its terms; instead, Christians must become distinctively otherworldly. He portrays Old Testamental holiness as being a “radical departure” from theology of that of the rest of the world, and maintains that contemporary Christianity must return to the “burning purity” and “loftiness” of classic theology. Wells argues that the contemporary church and the coming generation of leadership are both thoroughly tainted by worldliness and modernity, and both must revert in order to achieve a biblical and powerful theology.

David F. Wells is the senior research professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, specializing in historical and systematic theology. His personal theology is distinctly Calvinistic, and his bias is apparent during passages that discuss the historical development of modernity in the context of culture and Christianity. He approaches his subject from a conservative Reformed theological perspective. Wells wrote Wasteland in order to further pinpoint modernity as the most significant threat to the contemporary church, and to provide the basic solution necessary to resolve that threat.

The general threat is made evidently clear; the “weightlessness of God” is rampant in culture, churches, and lives. To this end his survey-study of theological seminary students is at times chilling, and is a worthy complement to his extended chapters describing the philosophical issues present in modernity. When surveyed on the subject of their beliefs and perspectives, although most of the students answered questions indicated that they consider theology to be rooted in the Scriptures and vital in their lives and ideology. However, other statements show the presence of unbiblical ideologies having blended in, such as 64.6% agreeing that “[a:]s a Christian, realizing my full potentials as a human being is just as important as putting others before myself.” Wells also briefly mentions that evangelicals are converting to Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy at a growing rate in a desire to find more depth in the religious experience.

The solution, however, is far less well established. His prescription is highly theoretical: become counter-culture, embrace otherworldliness, and reform. Wells does specify that the upcoming generations of Christian leaders, the seminarians, must be taught these principles. This is, unfortunately, as specific an instruction as Wells provides in his text. The theoretical commands are valuable but when alone they prove difficult to implement for many ministers interested in adapting such principles to their ministry environment. That difficulty, however, is indicative of Wells’ limitations.

Wells does not separate theology from methodology. He rightly rejects the self-centeredness of the contemporary church environment, but he groups into the theological matters a rejection of the methodologies, such as marketing strategies, used by many churches. For example, Wells frequently refers to modern individuals as having the attitude of consumers. If the church is to draw people from the world and to meet them at some level from which it can raise them up, then logic would suggest that market strategies in the general methodology could prove effective in evangelism so long as the theological content is kept pure. Similarly, the upcoming generations of seminarians, whom Wells considers vital, are being raised in the culture of modernity. These generations have been trained by culture to need practical, explanatory solutions with easily targeted applications. If these are the men and women who must be taught to become counter-culture and pursue God’s burning purity, then they need to be given practical applications in order to begin a path of change, but Wells’ book fails to provide the application of his theoretical solution.

Published criticism is relatively split in regards to Wells’ text. Amos Yong, in his review of Wasteland, makes two interesting points. Wells’ central solution is to revert backwards to a “classic Reformed” theology , and we have seen that he uses ‘theology’ to include ‘methodology’. Yong pointedly references Wells’ failure to make the connection that the methodologically conservative Calvinistic churches are those experiencing the least amount of growth and apparent revival Continuing the issue of Wells’ vocal Calvinism as it relates to Wells’ thesis, Yong questions how the extremely pessimistic idea of the failing church can align with the deterministic nature of God’s relationship to Christianity. Other critics find extraordinary value in Wells’ eloquent, occasionally poetic, exposition and his “powerfully compelling” message.

God in the Wasteland: The reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams does carry a powerful message that Christians and the Christian leadership need to address. Wells brilliantly conveys the tragedy of our omnipotent God being made weightless in our lives and churches. His passionate attempt to portray the dangers that await Christianity if changes are not made causes him to frequently paint with too broad a brush, and his failure to provide applicable methods of change is a significant limitation in his text. However, other scholars, pastors, and teachers may use Wasteland to evaluate the problem and Wells’ theoretical solutions in order to develop a wide variety of applications with which they can bring about reformation and inspire that so desired burning purity.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bolt John, "God in the wasteland: the reality of truth in a world of fading dreams." Calvin
Theological Journal, 31 no. 1 (April 1996): 264-267.

Wells, David F. God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams.
Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994.

Yong, Amos. "God in the wasteland: the reality of truth in a world of fading dreams." Pneuma
18, no. 2 (Fall 1996): 239-243.





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