“This book was highly critical of the Evangelical church in America for abandoning its historical and theological roots, and instead embracing the philosophies and pragmatism of the world.” In his 1994 book, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams, Dr. David Falconer Wells presents suggestions to remedy the present problem of modernism in our churches by calling for reform in the evangelical churches. He is the author of several books in which his evangelical theology engages with the modern church and world, and presents the present failings of pastors and churches that pursue a modernistic approach to theology. This is the second of a four-series book. BRIEF SUMMARY In God in the Waste, Dr. Wells presents solutions, or suggestions to resolve the issues described in his book, No Place for Truth, Or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology (Eerdmans, 1993). Wells states; “This book [No Place for Truth] produced only half the picture I wanted to present, however.
“Identify the key principles behind situation ethics” Situation ethics is a Christian ethical theory that was principally developed in the 1960’s by a priest called Joseph Fletcher and expanded by Bishop John Robinson. It is a teleological theory, but in contrast to utilitarianism; it is based on Christian principles, and primarily the promotion of agape. The moral worth of any action is judged on its consequences, not on the action itself. The judgement is made on how much love is produced by the action. In the 1960’s the traditional Christian Church was going through massive change.
Harold Cronk brings us the sequel to God’s Not Dead, and it is better than its predecessor. This inspiring, based on a true story film shows how religion, in this case, Christianity, must deal with the fact that the right to express their beliefs is up to be criticized, and discouraged. We see characters that carry over as well as some new faces. Grace Wesley’s life is in shambles when her teaching credentials are put under a microscope after answering a question about religion. She stays true to her faith and proceeds with a hearing to decide what her future holds.
Where once there was only religion to explain the immediate world, now there is the concept of rationalisation as Weber suggested where science, technology and global media help to build an idea of why and how things happen away from religion and its beliefs based on magic and the supernatural. Many argue that religion and the church is losing its power in society as we no longer depend on it to answer the unanswerable questions as Parsons suggests and now it is just something we go to in times of great need where there is no other rational, scientific answer. This process is known as disenchantment whereby the old Protestant ideas in society which believed God to be existing beyond the world as and all-knowing figure, have been erased by the development of the scientifically proven facts and technology for the answers to questions that were previously unknown. However, many do still turn to religion in the traditional sense to answer their questions when all else fails so it is still performing traditional functions to a degree. Davie takes this idea of the religion losing power and becoming less prevalent in society and attributes it to the idea that faith and religion has become privatised – we can now feel more able to make a personal choice whether we go to church and believe in God because we feel less obliged to do so and therefore he argues
During this same time, the Catholic Church was moving further from the theology of the Protestants. The reformation was also known as the “Protestant revolt from the medieval Roman Catholic Church” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther was active in pointing out the “characteristic differences of attitude, of tendency, and of judgment, as well as of method, exhibited in these modern attempts to portray and interpret the most widely influential of the earliest founders of Protestantism” (Harvey, 1918, p. 321). Luther wanted to stress that there was a need to expunge the “corrupt bureaucracy” within the church, which can only be done when the church returns to the Bible (Owenby, 2011, p. 1). Luther believed that all believers should abide by the words of ‘our Lord and Master Jesus Christ” and repent of our sins (Morris, 1998, p. 56).
Catholics, he found, preferred to master their crafts. He accounted this disparity between occupations practitioners of said religions to the religious atmosphere and the ethics of their community. This changed occurred during the reformation in which there was a switch in the assurance of salvation for followers. In the absence of such assurances from religious authority, Weber argued, that Protestants began to search for extrinsic indications of salvation. Calvinism doctrine decreed predestination for its
Anderson also stated that “the Western world has experienced a massive paradigm shift in its worldview and voiced his concern about the influence of the “kingdom of darkness” (pp. 29-31). Additionally, Anderson (2000) affirmed “that the Christian worldview sees life through the grid of Scripture and not through culture
The author discusses the commonalities between characteristics of a religious cathedral and a local shopping mall. To say his accusations are exaggerated is an understatement. The way malls were designed by Rouse reflects symbols from his Protestant faith. He also claims “businesspeople were the clergy of a new religion that transcended the parochial boundaries of creed and cult” (Pahl 463). His examples of similarities between a church and mall are undeniably overemphasized and seemingly inaccurate.
Within the family structure, adults choose the information that children are permitted to learn (not teaching curse words, etc.). Religions provide theological information important only to each religions doctrine and the State gives or takes information based on what they deem as functional necessity. Postman’s position that the ever increasing technological advances are detrimental to our society is based on information control systems losing their abilities to perform as originally designed; society is losing its traditional (moral and spiritual) values. According to Postman (1992) “when the supply of information is no longer controllable, a general breakdown in psychic tranquility and social purpose
It is not enough to talk the talk but to also live it (James 2:14, New Living Translation). James exhorts the Christian to look for ways to put their faith to work. He also emphasizes the fact that when trials come, their endurance will have a chance to grow. He does not say if, but when. It is through times of trial that the Christian will see how they react under pressure.