Author CRAIG M. GAY
Publisher EERDMANS
ISBN 0-8028-4362-X
Written about fourteen years ago (1998) but still available new, this book is a penetrating analysis of the way modernity has developed and is morphing into what is known as post-modernism and how the resulting secularism is effecting the church. The manner in which God has become, in the eyes of many, an irrelevancy and may not even exist is devastatingly revealed. The level of scholarship that lies behind a book like this is profound, quotations abound revealing a well-researched piece of work. The notes and Bibliography is worth the value of the book. That the church is infected with ‘worldliness’ many thoughtful Christians would agree, but where that worldliness came from, the subtleties of its workings is what this book is all about and how the church is to live in the midst of it. Gay masterfully dissects the roots of secularism as he examines its political, technological, economic, cultural and theological expressions. There is a great deal to digest. Although he delves deeply into these ‘negative’ things there is no misery here, the very unmasking of these things and the way he shows the ancient pathways of God as revealed in Christ that lead to true personhood are successfully shown in a triumphant way. The contemporary church is divided in so many ways, its attempts to combat what is taking place in the world are manifold, but there is no argumentation here as to how things should be changed, no taking sides, simply an unfolding of the grounds of secularism and in the light of that examination the reality of God and the walk of faith shines brightly. Self-help dwarfs the soul and where did it come from? Gay shows us and in so doing reveals that a ‘therapeutic gospel’ peddled by the church will not do the job. The utilitarian spirit that leads to a society dominated by economic consumption in which people become simply a member of the herd, where did it come from? Again Gay shows us and in so doing exposes the superficiality of that manner of living and the gospel of God’s grace shines all the more. There is much profit in this book and if carefully read and the footnotes taken from other authors are used, will lead to further reading.
