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

David F. Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

Wells loudly throws down the gauntlet to the evangelical church in this perceptive analysis of our culture in crisis. Painting a vivid description of societys moral and spiritual confusion, he explains how the church can regain its effectiveness and influence in our postmodern world. A challenging look at social reform vs. spiritual transformation.

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 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802846726
• ISBN-13: 978-0802846723
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 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: #134,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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32 of 33 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 (Mt. Orab, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

rodboomboom (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (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.

18 of 19 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 (Dearborn, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Losing Our Virtue: Why the Church Must Recover Its Moral Vision (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.