In A Lover’s Quarrel, Warren Smith has given America’s modern church a bitter pill to swallow. In a skillful show of research and analysis, he lays out the destructive habits and trends of today’s Evangelical church. However, rather than proposing to be rid of the system altogether, he calls the church to a reaction that follows the patterns of the Bible and Jesus: Repentance. Pointing to a few churches and ministries that have evaded the various problems he pinpoints, he believes in a positive turn for the Evangelical church.
Smith has two main focuses in his work: The phenomenon of new, unbiblical ideas and a false idol in money. The first is focused on such organizations such as the megachurch and what he titles “parachurch” organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ. The second he humorously titles “the Christian-Industrial Complex,” concentrating on the huge conferences and the Christian music industry.
In both, however, the root cause is exactly the same. Heavily leaning on Richard Weaver’s book Ideas Have Consequences, he claims that the root problems in the decline of Evangelical Christianity are exactly the same as the root causes of decline in modern culture today: a postmodern disdain for history and an untempered use of media.
Along with philosophical speculation, Smith also provides various studies and statistics. These contain, among others, the non-existent statistical growth of the church since the explosion of the movement in the 1970s, the slim percentage of Christians that have a correct theological view of God, and the declining number of churches in the United States.
The only place that Smith neglects in his study is the analysis of the reported cause of the Evangelical movement: the claims of spiritual “dryness” that the movement was supposed to cure. Whether or not there is any truth in either of those claims, the argument goes almost completely untouched. After all: the movement supposedly began because people wanted to know God in dynamic, life-changing ways.
A Lover’s Quarrel is a frighteningly accurate look at the failings of the Evangelical Church, even though it might be lacking in accurate documentation the movement’s pre-1960’s causes. Smith takes the right approach in calling the church to repentance and change rather than sacking the movement altogether.
Verdict: Amazing analysis, good sources. Go read it!
Smith has two main focuses in his work: The phenomenon of new, unbiblical ideas and a false idol in money. The first is focused on such organizations such as the megachurch and what he titles “parachurch” organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ. The second he humorously titles “the Christian-Industrial Complex,” concentrating on the huge conferences and the Christian music industry.
In both, however, the root cause is exactly the same. Heavily leaning on Richard Weaver’s book Ideas Have Consequences, he claims that the root problems in the decline of Evangelical Christianity are exactly the same as the root causes of decline in modern culture today: a postmodern disdain for history and an untempered use of media.
Along with philosophical speculation, Smith also provides various studies and statistics. These contain, among others, the non-existent statistical growth of the church since the explosion of the movement in the 1970s, the slim percentage of Christians that have a correct theological view of God, and the declining number of churches in the United States.
The only place that Smith neglects in his study is the analysis of the reported cause of the Evangelical movement: the claims of spiritual “dryness” that the movement was supposed to cure. Whether or not there is any truth in either of those claims, the argument goes almost completely untouched. After all: the movement supposedly began because people wanted to know God in dynamic, life-changing ways.
A Lover’s Quarrel is a frighteningly accurate look at the failings of the Evangelical Church, even though it might be lacking in accurate documentation the movement’s pre-1960’s causes. Smith takes the right approach in calling the church to repentance and change rather than sacking the movement altogether.
Verdict: Amazing analysis, good sources. Go read it!