Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision [Paperback]

David F. Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1999

Available now for the first time in paperback, Losing Our Virtue offers a bold critique of the moral disintegration taking place in contemporary society and its reflection in today's evangelical church. Continuing the series begun with David Wells's No Place for Truth and God in the Wasteland, this acclaimed volume urges the church to regain its moral weight and become a missionary of truth once more to our relativistic postmodern world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Noted evangelical theologian Wells (God in the Wasteland) weighs in on the perpetual problem of whether the church can retain its moral integrity and still play a vital role in today's culture. Wells argues that, in the postmodern world, the church is in danger of losing its moral character by compromising its teachings about virtue, including doctrines of sin and guilt, by making too many concessions to cultural teachings on virtue. Wells addresses his concerns by examining two kinds of spirituality that, he says, characterize the church. On the one hand, he says, classical or Reformation spirituality is the hallmark of Christianity, and he uses this spirituality to represent a general understanding of the doctrines, devotional habits and moral character of the Christian life. On the other hand, postmodern spirituality, Wells says, is forged in the interaction between biblical truth and the intuitions or instincts of the contemporary world. According to Wells, postmodern spirituality is more concerned with shame (falling short of what others expect of us) rather than sin (falling short of what God expects of us). Wells urges the church to return to classical spirituality and not to allow the message of that spirituality to be diminished by the cultural habits of the modern world. This argument is one that has recurred throughout history, but Wells makes it in plain language accompanied by a straightforward critique of the ways in which, he believes, secular culture's notions of virtue fall short of Christianity's.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802846726
• ISBN-13: 978-0802846723
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #333,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The battle of moral truth versus the exalted self January 13, 2003

By Daniel L Edelen TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

David Wells' "Losing Our Virtue" is a stinging assault on the idolatrous nature of postmodern man. Chock full of astute observations about the utter lack of morality within American popular culture and the creeping destruction of Christianity caused by compromises with that culture, this book is a clarion call to intelligent people who understand that only through the death of self and utter submission to the God of the Christian Bible can the we hold out hope for the future.

Prophetic in its intensity (though similar arguments were voiced by Francis Schaeffer long before Wells), "Losing Our Virtue" discusses how the combination of deconstructionist theology and psychology at the nascence of the 20th century brought us to the point that we call black white and white black. He outlines the rise of self at the expense of traditional Christian views of God, sin, and the cross of Christ, showing how modern culture now exists in a moral vacuum that has in its brazenness supposedly killed God and therefore any guilt that may arise from acknowledging that He transcends us. With self now ensconced as the moral center, absolute truth and morality are jettisoned in favor of each person being his own moral center. That this can only breed relativism and the eventual destruction of all things moral, is a point well covered in the book.

In some ways, perhaps too well covered. The first few chapters and the last chapter are brilliant. At the cost of a star, though, the middle sags as Wells builds his arguments. The problem lies in beating the points along his path to his conclusion to death. This book probably could have been cut down to 120 pages and would have made its point more efficiently. Metaphorically, you can kill the vampire with an effective stake through the heart.... You don't have to then stuff it with garlic, douse it in "holy water", and bury it in a silver coffin lined with crucifixes under a running stream.

The section on the differences between "Guilt" and "Shame" was also confusing since Wells mixed conflicting viewpoints and counterpoints together, making it hard to tell exactly what his point was until the very end of the section. Again, a bit better editing would have made the book a smoother read.

This is an intellectually challenging book that demands close attention. And despite the author's attempt to end on a more upbeat note, it is hard to close this book and think any other outcome than the utter corruption of the entire world and most of Christendom is a foregone conclusion. Hopefully, readers will come away with a burning desire to make a difference rather than conceding that all is lost. Read more ›

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The remnant will maintain the faith January 25, 2001

By rodboomboom HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A true prophet and critic of our times! December 1, 2000

By rodboomboom HALL OF FAMEVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very perceptive - Great book December 19, 2002

By AlexForrest

Format:Paperback

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential November 9, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars an opportunity for the church March 1, 2011

By Steven J. Simpson

Format:Paperback

Try as we may as humans made in the image of God, we cannot run away from the fact that we are moral creatures living in a world of moral dimensions. We may want to think all truth and values are relative, but we still sense some things are right and some are wrong. Although much of what Wells shares is "bad news" for modern man who looks to advertising and therapy for fulfillment, there is hope for the church if it can find the courage to speak about sin (not just about "inappropriate choices" and not having enough self-esteem) and about it having to do with our relationship with God. But if we tailor the Gospel to "fit" with the concerns of modern culture, we'll have nothing of valute to say to the world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Perceptive October 18, 2008

By Brian G Hedges

Format:Paperback

This third book in Wells' series of five books on postmodernism focuses on the erosion of ethics within contemorary culture. This book is, in many ways, a series of contrasts between what was and what now is.

Classical spirituality, which Wells' defines by its doctrinal basis, its devotional habits, its moral character, and its responsibilities in Church and Society" [33] is the backdrop against which the a-theological spirituality of postmodernism is viewed. Wells demonstrates that talk about virtues has given way to clarification of values, that emphasis on character has shifted to a focus on personality, that theology has been displaced by psychology, and that feelings of guilt, which are God-centered in their moral orientation, have degenerated into the emotions of man-centered shame.

Wells gets at his diagnosis of the moral state of the Church and culture in several ways. In chapter one, "A Tale of Two Spiritualities," Wells contrasts the hymnody of the historic Church with the contemporary praise and worship songs of today. The results of his research are somewhat alarming, whatever one's taste in music happens to be. Another chapter, "The Playground of Desire," draws more from a study of sociology, zooming especially on what Wells calls "the competition between law and freedom," the relevance of which to the political realm he unfolds with penetrating insight. In yet another place, Wells examines the ideology of Robert Schuller, Senior Pastor of the Crystal Cathedral. Schuller's view of sin "is really nothing more than poor self-image, and salvation is its reversal," says Wells [200]. But, "where sin has lost its moral weight, the Cross will lose its centrality, Christ will lose his uniqueness, and his Father will no longer be the God of the Bible" [200]....

One of Wells most astute observations is that "much of the Church today, especially that part of it which is evangelical, is in captivity to [the] idolatry of the self. This is a form of corruption far more profound than the lists of infractions that typically pop into our minds when we hear the word sin. We are trying to hold at bay the gnats of small sins while swallowing the camel of self" [203-204]. As can be seen, Wells operates with a sharp surgical scalpel. But let no one think that he is a knife-happy physician, for he not only diagnoses the disease and cuts away the cancer, he also prescribes the medicine that will heal the Church. That cure is nothing less than a recovery of the Gospel, with its high view of God's transcendent holiness.

This is a must read for Christians who are serious about engaging the culture on a philosophical or theological level. And those who are not interested in such an engagement may need this book most of all. Read more ›