Book Review: No Place for Truth (Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology)

I am so stoked that I actually found a big picture of a book.

Anyways...I'm not sure I can do a brief book review for this one. It covers way too many topics; so much so that it's hard to believe that David Wells stuck it all inside this relatively small book. Nonetheless, I shall do my best.

I think maybe the best route would be to do a bulleted list of some of the things he covers, and then I'll say a few words (as if they matter).

-The decline of the church as the center of communities.
-The decline of communities.
-The effects of modernism on society.
-The effects of modernism on the church.

-The disappearance of theology (and thinking for that matter) from the church.
-The rise of "businessmen-as-pastors" and the decline of real shepherds.
-The predicament of our "advancing" society and the type of person it produces.
-Shallowness in the understanding of God in the church (see bullet #5 from above).
-Several ironies:
a) America's people beg for more options (in everything), yet the options leave them overwhelmed and less-productive.
b) The de-emphasis of theology in order to focus on evangelism; yet the de-emphasis of theology makes evangelism disappear (because evangelism is rooted in good theology).
c) The incorporation of secular management techniques in churches that condemn the practices of secular culture.

The list could go on. When I read this book, I felt as though I had a bird's-eye-view of what is going on with the American church. Wells is verbose; but if one takes the book slowly (a must) and follow his lines of thought, his crystal-clear conclusions come into view, leaving the reader dumbfounded at what is going on in everyday life. Sometimes we are so rooted in culture, we are not able to diagnose its maladies. I am thankful for Wells, as he untangles the knots of complication that are the trends of the American church. This book is the first in a four-part series. Be looking for book reviews of the other in the future, and hopefully I can tie them all together.