David Wells on the Disappearance of Theology
In No Place for Truth, sociologist-theologian David Wells answers what has happened to evangelical theology (that being the subtitle of the book). Part of his answer, to be simplistic, is that evangelical theology has disappeared. But it has disappeared in this way: “The disappearance of which I am speaking is not the same as the abduction of a child who is happily playing at home one minute and then is no longer to be found the next. No one has abducted theology in this sense. The disappearance is closer to what happens in homes where the children are ignored and, to all intents and purposes, abandoned. They remain in the home, but they have no place in the family. So it is with theology in the Church. It remains on the edges of evangelical life, but it has been dislodged from its center." (Wells NPFT 106)
His point is that many important traditional beliefs are not denied by evangelicals (as the latest Barna and Gallup polls continue to tell us), but that these beliefs have been moved from the center to the margins of evangelical life. So while most affirm God’s existence, life after death, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and the effectiveness of prayer, these beliefs have little to no impact in their lives. Wells faults modernity with much of this, claiming it as the source for the polarization of our public and private lives. To give an example of this, “evangelical Joe” may have a Bible in his home and even believe it is God’s revelation, but this revelation does not determine Joe’s ethics or operations in how he conducts his financial business. For Joe, as for many evangelicals today, theology has become absent by being pushed to the margins, where its authority and effect are minimized.
Theology is “disappearing in the sense that while its articles of belief are still professed, they are no longer defining what it means to be an evangelical or how evangelicalism should be practiced. At its center there is now a vacuum into which modernity is pouring, and the result is a faith that, unlike historic orthodoxy, is no longer defining itself theologically." (Wells NPFT 109)
“It is in this sense that it is proper to speak of the disappearance of theology. It is not that the elements of the evangelical credo have vanished, they have not. The fact that they are professed, however, does not necessarily mean that the structure of the historic Protestant faith is still intact. The reason, quite simply, is that while these items of belief are professed, they are increasingly being removed from the center of evangelical life where they defined what that life was, and they are now being relegated to the periphery where their power to define what evangelical life should be is lost. This is not the sort of shift that typical polling [such as Gallup or Barna polls] will discover, for these items of belief are seldom denied or qualified, but that does not mean that the shift has not occurred. It is evangelical practice rather than evangelical profession that reveals the change." (Wells NPFT 108)
David Wells teaches Systematic Theology and Church History and by trade is both a theologian and a sociologist. This means not only does he know how to interpret the Word of God, but he also knows how to interpret the world wherein we live. For that he is a wise voice worth having his words heard and considered.
So consider what he has said in these brief quotes I extracted from one of his chapters. Consider it for yourself individually and consider it for the context which you live in. Some important questions that may need to be asked are where is evangelicalism today and how has it gotten there? (If you desired an answer to that question, No Place For Truth would be a good start.) Is theology and God’s Word [I see the former as being the church’s interpretation and explanation of the latter] at the core of my life, giving direction and definition to everything else, or has it been swept into the margins, not thrown away but put in the corner where it has no effect? As a Moody student, is it really at the center, or is it merely that thing that assists us in our academics and occasionally in our church life? Are your Christian family members, friends, or your church suffering from the diagnosis Wells makes of evangelicalism today, or do they remain part of the faithful few where the Lord still stands at the center exercising His rightful Lordship? If they are part of the first group, those who profess but do not practice their theology, how should and can you respond? And also, how do we live in a place where theology has disappeared and yet not let that happen to ourselves? (Wells just recently published a new book, Above All Earthly Powers, that helps with that question.)
What David Wells has said even in these few paragraphs deserves, no, it demands our attention. For if theology, which is the attempt to understand God based upon what He has told us about Himself in His Word, disappears from evangelicalism or from our own lives, then the result soon thereafter will be that God Himself will also disappear into the margins. Oh for God to remain at the center of our lives and at the center of our churches lives, where He is not inconsequential but is all encompassing and all determining. Friends, do net let theology disappear!
His point is that many important traditional beliefs are not denied by evangelicals (as the latest Barna and Gallup polls continue to tell us), but that these beliefs have been moved from the center to the margins of evangelical life. So while most affirm God’s existence, life after death, the inspiration and authority of the Bible, and the effectiveness of prayer, these beliefs have little to no impact in their lives. Wells faults modernity with much of this, claiming it as the source for the polarization of our public and private lives. To give an example of this, “evangelical Joe” may have a Bible in his home and even believe it is God’s revelation, but this revelation does not determine Joe’s ethics or operations in how he conducts his financial business. For Joe, as for many evangelicals today, theology has become absent by being pushed to the margins, where its authority and effect are minimized.
Theology is “disappearing in the sense that while its articles of belief are still professed, they are no longer defining what it means to be an evangelical or how evangelicalism should be practiced. At its center there is now a vacuum into which modernity is pouring, and the result is a faith that, unlike historic orthodoxy, is no longer defining itself theologically." (Wells NPFT 109)
“It is in this sense that it is proper to speak of the disappearance of theology. It is not that the elements of the evangelical credo have vanished, they have not. The fact that they are professed, however, does not necessarily mean that the structure of the historic Protestant faith is still intact. The reason, quite simply, is that while these items of belief are professed, they are increasingly being removed from the center of evangelical life where they defined what that life was, and they are now being relegated to the periphery where their power to define what evangelical life should be is lost. This is not the sort of shift that typical polling [such as Gallup or Barna polls] will discover, for these items of belief are seldom denied or qualified, but that does not mean that the shift has not occurred. It is evangelical practice rather than evangelical profession that reveals the change." (Wells NPFT 108)
David Wells teaches Systematic Theology and Church History and by trade is both a theologian and a sociologist. This means not only does he know how to interpret the Word of God, but he also knows how to interpret the world wherein we live. For that he is a wise voice worth having his words heard and considered.
So consider what he has said in these brief quotes I extracted from one of his chapters. Consider it for yourself individually and consider it for the context which you live in. Some important questions that may need to be asked are where is evangelicalism today and how has it gotten there? (If you desired an answer to that question, No Place For Truth would be a good start.) Is theology and God’s Word [I see the former as being the church’s interpretation and explanation of the latter] at the core of my life, giving direction and definition to everything else, or has it been swept into the margins, not thrown away but put in the corner where it has no effect? As a Moody student, is it really at the center, or is it merely that thing that assists us in our academics and occasionally in our church life? Are your Christian family members, friends, or your church suffering from the diagnosis Wells makes of evangelicalism today, or do they remain part of the faithful few where the Lord still stands at the center exercising His rightful Lordship? If they are part of the first group, those who profess but do not practice their theology, how should and can you respond? And also, how do we live in a place where theology has disappeared and yet not let that happen to ourselves? (Wells just recently published a new book, Above All Earthly Powers, that helps with that question.)
What David Wells has said even in these few paragraphs deserves, no, it demands our attention. For if theology, which is the attempt to understand God based upon what He has told us about Himself in His Word, disappears from evangelicalism or from our own lives, then the result soon thereafter will be that God Himself will also disappear into the margins. Oh for God to remain at the center of our lives and at the center of our churches lives, where He is not inconsequential but is all encompassing and all determining. Friends, do net let theology disappear!
posted by dustin at 12:36 PM
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