Losing Our Virtue

By David F. Wells

Book Overview

In Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision, theologian David Wells argues that the Church is in danger of losing its moral authority to speak to a culture whose moral fabric is torn.

Although much of the Church has enjoyed success and growth over the past years, Wells laments a "hollowing out of evangelical conviction, a loss of the biblical word in its authoritative function, and an erosion of character to the point that today, no discernible ethical differences are evident in behavior when those claiming to have been reborn and secularists are compared." The assurance of the Good News of the gospel has been traded for mere good feelings, truth has given way to perception, and morality has slid into personal preference.

Losing Our Virtue is about the disintegrating moral culture that is contemporary society and what this disturbing loss means for the church. Wells covers the following in this bold critique: how the theologically emptied spirituality of the church is causing it to lose its moral bearingsan exploration of the wider dynamic at work in contemporary society between license and lawan exposition of the secular notion of salvation as heralded by our most trusted gurus--advertisers and psychotherapistsa discussion of the contemporary view of the selfhow guilt and sin have been replaced by empty psychological shamean examination of the contradiction between the way we view ourselves in the midst of our own culture and the biblical view of persons as created, moral beings Can the church still speak effectively to a culture that has become morally unraveled? Wells believes it can. In fact, says Wells, no time in this century has been more opportune for the Christian faith--if the church can muster the courage to regain its moral weight and become a missionary of truth once more to a foundering world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802846726
• ISBN13: 9780802846723
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Virtue or values?

David Wells is my current favorite b/c he confronts with kind, intelligent, insightful, and helpful language the problems facing the church today. In this volume he discusses how we have gone from the language of virtue (i,e, courage, perseverance, integrity, etc.) to values (fun, amazing, exciting, etc.) in the course of a century. This loss of a moral center has cost not only our culture but the church as we move away from a biblical way of seeing and interacting with our world. The church has become worldly and ineffective. How did we get to this place? How do we get out of it? How do we remain faithful to God and communicate to a world that has does not understand the vocabulary of redemption? Read this most helpful book to help you answer these and other questions raised by the loss of virtue?

Very perceptive - Great book

This was my first exposure to David Wells, and I'm extremely impressed. His analysis of the cultural situation of our time is extremely perceptive, and his description of the consumer-driven church is very good - slices and dices. He certainly covers his bases in terms of research. This book could rightly be called a Jeremiad for our time, and I highly recommend it.

The remnant will maintain the faith

In his final volume of the three, Wells moves from diagnosis to prescription for healing. Here he admonishes the church to recover. Sum his advice up by this quotation: "Does the Church have the courage to become relevant by becoming biblical?" Great read; thorough and provoking.

A true prophet and critic of our times!

Wells is right on with his analysis and diagnostics. While the postmodern, contemporary church will not particularly like his suggestion for change, certainly it has God's mark of approval. Wells sums it up on page 207: "The Church's problem today is simply that it does not believe that, without tinkering, the Gospel will be all that interesting to modern people." Let modern people do whatever, I'm with Wells and the Gospel.

Essential

This book is a great place to start looking at the issues raised today by post-modernism. An eye-opening read!