God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams

“David F. Wells speaks for a great many commentators inside and outside the evangelical camp when he contends that American evangelicalism is sick at soul. . . Wells's work is being hailed as a bombshell by evangelical leaders who hope it will wake up American evangelicals and alert them to their peril.”

“Continuing the examination of evangelical theology he started in No Place for Truth, Wells expands on the previous work by offering a remedy to the diminished place of theology in the church by suggesting a return to a belief in God and away from culture modernization or worldliness. Wells is convincing in his statements that mass consumerism and self-obsession lead to mega-churches where the 'consumer is sovereign, the product (in this God himself) must be subservient.' . . . An extensive bibliography makes this book a useful addition for more substantial religion collections.”

“Those who have adjusted worship services to make them more appealing to non-Christians or have advertised their churches without reference to Jesus Christ may not want to read this book. But they should.”

“An important and courageous look at how modernityhas caused us to view God as somehow weightless in His influence on the Church. . . This is not light reading, but Wells' capacity for apt phrasing and stabbing insight makes it a rewarding experience.”

“A remarkable and thorough criticism of the contemporary church's relation with modern consumer culture. . . This book will either infuriate or elicit amens.”

“Must reading for understanding what it means to be a Christian in a pagan society.”

“It is a long way back from the wasteland surveyed in Well's groundbreaking examination of American evangelicalism titled No Place for Truth. But God in the Wasteland charts the way, calling for a new radical emphasis on revealed biblical truth and much preaching about the sovereign, holy, awe-inspiring God of the Old and New Testaments. Is God in the Wasteland worth reading? It is mandatory if today's evangelical are to awaken from their contemporary coma and once more become a vital religious force in American life.”

“Wells has done it again. No Place for Truth was the bomb that exploded on the playground of the evangelicals. God in the Wasteland is the battlefield manual for evangelical strategy in the midst of modernity's debris....Well's book demonstrates to his fellow evangelicals that a theologian can look squarely at modernity without capitulation or evasion....A prophetic voice in an unprophetic age.”