No Place for Truth

Or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?

By: David F. Wells

Narrated by: Steven Crossley

Has something indeed happened to evangelical theology and to evangelical churches? According to David Wells, the evidence indicates that evangelical pastors have abandoned their traditional role as ministers of the Word to become therapists and "managers of the small enterprises we call churches". Along with their parishioners, they have abandoned genuine Christianity and biblical truth in favor of the sort of inner-directed experiential religion that now pervades Western society.

Specifically, Wells explores the wholesale disappearance of theology in the church, the academy, and modern culture. Western culture as a whole, argues Wells, has been transformed by modernity, and the church has simply gone with the flow. The new environment in which we live, with its huge cities, triumphant capitalism, invasive technology, and pervasive amusements, has vanquished and homogenized the entire world. While the modern world has produced astonishing abundance, it has also taken a toll on the human spirit, emptying it of enduring meaning 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. They have been co-opted by modernity, have sold their soul for a mess of pottage. According to Wells, they have lost the truth that God 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 a godless world.

The first of three volumes meant to encourage renewal in evangelical theology (the other two to be written by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. and Mark Noll), No Place for Truth is a contemporary jeremiad, a clarion call to all evangelicals to note well what a pass they have come to in capitulating to modernity, what a risk they are running by abandoning historic orthodoxy. It is provocative listening for scholars, ministers, seminary students, and all theologically concerned individuals.

©2017 David F. Wells (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Prophetic

This book written in the 90’s perfectly mapped not only evangelical culture but the broader culture taken to its ultimate end. The author can be longwinded at times but the information contained is very useful for any christian interested in maintaining a biblical worldview. Highly recommended.

A very Timely Reading 🕛

Recommend to all church folk. Especially those whom this work may be Pertaining to. Excellent !

Modernity and its impact on theology

No Place For Truth is an analysis of Western culture and that culture’s impact on the learning and teaching of theology.

Wells argues that instead of the Church impacting society for the better, during the modern period it has primarily been society impacting the Church for the worse. One point made that I found very interesting is that large swaths of modern evangelicalism have essentially accepted classic theological liberalism - what the Liberals failed to force on the church has infiltrated the church through the influence of modern society.

The book is several decades old now, and it’s references to society are occasionally a bit dated. However, the points made have not diminished in their relevance, rather with the rise of the internet many of the points made are even more relevant.

The voice actor did a phenomenal job. Personally, I listened to the audio slightly sped up, but that’s just preference.

Where Has This Prophet Been

This book has more bookmarks than any of my others! A must read for any ministry leader in the modern day.

We should have listened then

this book was written sometime in the early '90s and unfortunately everything that Mr Wells postulated and saw the effects of have only continued to our day. I really enjoyed getting a deeper historical understanding how our culture has stripped theology from the church as a whole.