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A Lover's Quarrel with the Evangelical Church
- 08/13/09
- 19
“My name is Warren, and I’m a recovering evangelical.” There are plenty of books today that begin in roughly this way—biographies by Franky Schaeffer and Bart Ehrman come to mind. But Warren Cole Smith is different in that he remains an evangelical, he remains a professed Christian. His recovery from evangelicalism does not involve tossing away the faith, as others have prescribed. His recovery involves reformation, not of the Christian faith but of its evangelical (and largely American) expression. His quarrel with evangelicals is a lover’s quarrel, not a pitched battle. A Lover’s Quarrel with the Evangelical Church is “intended primarily for Christian believers, particularly those who might generally fit into the category of theologically conservative, evangelical believers. Though much of what follows is highly critical—on both practical grounds and theological grounds—of the current state of the evangelical church, it is criticism aimed to build up, not to tear down.” It is intended as, and proves to be, a constructive quarrel.
This book comes from a man who has been an insider, an evangelical, for several decades. And it comes from a man who loves the church, not one who wants to phase it out or move on to the next thing. He spends the bulk of this book diagnosing problems within evangelicalism saying that once we are able to name a problem, we are equipped to deal with it. He begins by dismantling evangelical myths (bigger is better, being the foremost of these) and then turns to his description of The New Provincialism. This is a term he coined to describe evangelicalism’s obsession with now at the expense of the past and the future. “We act with no regard to consequence,” he says. “Effects admit no cause. The result is that we live in an age of ideology. We can make up any theory we like about how the world operates, and we look for data to support it.” Here he looks to the Great Awakening and compares it to the revivals and revivalism of our day. He looks next to The Triumph of Sentimentality, his way of describing evangelicalism’s alternative and subjective vision of the world. This brings about discussion of Willow Creek and one of its great successes, Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church.
Borrowing and adapting a well-worn phrase, Smith dedicates a chapter to The Christian-Industrial Complex, the seedy relationship between the Christian church and the Christian retail industry. Next up, he looks at Body-Count Evangelism, looking to the rise of the parachurch organization and its role in evangelistic techniques that count success with something as potentially meaningless as a signed commitment card. In The Great Stereopticon Smith begins to channel McLuhan and Postman, pointing out the folly of this, the “one fundamental idea of modern evangelicalism that trumps all others… that method, techniques and technology are morally and theologically neutral.” Through these chapters he powerfully points to many of evangelicalism’s most pressing, most immediate problems.
Smith’s response to all of this may seem weak to some, and especially those who have succumbed to the evangelical spirit of the age. This response, though, is firmly rooted in the local church (which is rarely a local megachurch) so is bound to appear weak. How could it be otherwise? Yet with Smith I believe firmly that the local church really is the hope of the world. The local church is God’s Plan A. Perhaps just a little bit ironically, Smith uses Gospel for Asia as his primary example of an organization that is doing things right (though it is a parachurch organization, its work is planting churches). Ultimately, the solution is to plant churches—reproducing churches that gauge success in ways rooted in Scripture. Though the solution may seem to lack the punch of the chapters detailing the problem, I am convinced that Smith is largely right.
Whether or not you are inclined to agree with the proposed solution to these problems, I am convinced that most Christians will agree with most, even if not all, of Smith’s analysis of the problem. And for that alone, it is well worth the read. This book combines some of the best of the likes of Neil Postman, Richard Weaver and David Wells and also carries shades of Os Guinness and Michael Horton (in Christless Christianity and The Gospel-Driven Life). It is powerful and convicting and, perhaps best of all, it displays a wide and diverse range of influences; there is something different about it, something that sets it apart from so many Christian books today. I highly recommend it.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (19)
I’m impressed with this. I don’t often go with book suggestions that talk about doing away with evangelicalism, but this seems to be pretty good. I am glad he thinks that going with the local church is the way to go because that is really the only model we have in scripture, so it’s worth a try in our Christian body.
Thank you for the recommendation. I think this is worth a shot.
“the local church (which is rarely a local megachurch)”
I’m becoming more and more convinced of this. We currently attend a megachurch that has a reputation of being alive, but…
I got this book as a give-away at a Christian conference in the UK a few weeks ago (Keswick). After I got into the book I’m finding it a really helpful read. As a Brit, I found some of the political stuff quite hard going due to not understanding the American political system that much and I have to confess, not caring that much about it either. But after that the book really started to move. I like the critique that gets to the point and names names and movements but at the same time doesn’t say slanderous things to hurt, but truthful words to help.
Due to the fact that we get what the wind blows over the Atlantic blended into our Christianity, this is a good read for Brits as well as Americans.
Looks like an interesting book. I am a lot more interested in the solutions someone proposes instead of the problems they point out. Everyone can look around and see there is something wrong. The question becomes what do we do about it? Often the answer is more of the same, only better. Rarer is the answer that asks the really hard questions that go beyond superficial stereotypes and pat responses.
(I would quibble with “local church really is the hope of the world”. The Gospel is the hope of the world and the local gathering of the church is the result of the Gospel.)
”..it is criticism aimed to build up, not to tear down.”
If a Christian understands grace, the Cross, and the unholiness of his own soul, then I believe the criticism can be, and will be to edify. But when there’s just a smidgen of self-righteousness, then there’s nasty tearing down. Been there and done that, and had it done to me as well.
Thanks for another well written review. Looks like a book I’d love to read, and pass on.
As someone who grew up in an ‘evangelical’ church and is now in a reformed charismatic church I really appreciate the premise of this book. I have had much confusion from what I grew up seeing and what I now believe and trying to meld the two. I am so thankful for theology and doctrinal teaching. I’m looking forward to reading this book.
I know Warren and although I haven’t read this book, I highly respect his thinking and commitment to Jesus, the church and his family. Very good man.
It seems that every time one of these books comes out I have yet another person who stole my idea! But In this calse I’m glad. If this person is thinking along the lines of a Postman or Mcluhan, the church is in DIRE need to hear it. If more and more congregations will hear it, then we will be all the more helped by such criticism. I was definitely drawn in by the title and hope to pick this up soon.
I’m glad this book got a good recommendation. About a month ago I heard an interview w/ the author on an AM station, and since then I have added this book to my amazon “wish list”. This book seems to echo much of the problem we face in evangelicalism today and I’m eager to read it. You can check out his website here http://loversquarrel.net/
Thanks for a good review and recommendation, Tim.
I don’t follow Tim around the way I probably should, given the scope of his influence. However, anyone who wants to quibble about the value of the local church in God’s eyes and therefore how we should seek to see it is simply a theological malcontent. Going primitive and saying “well, it’s really the Gospel which is the hope of the world” ignores that the Gospel has to live someplace. It’s not merely the philosophical daisy-freshness which we might accidentally sniff — or even the scent of death for that matter.
The Gospel does have a necessary consequence in this world which is both already the Kingdom and also not yet — and that is the local church which lives together, worships together, and raises up its members (of diverse gifts) to maturity. That is the fount of the Gospel to the world; that ios the place — the only place — from which is can be truly and seriously be declared.
I’m looking forward to this book. Thanks to Tim for recommending it and reviewing it.
Thanks for recommending great books Tim. I just finished Christless Christianity by Michael Horton and thought it right on (and dare I say relevant?) in most respects. If this book is along the same lines then bravo but the problem is those of us who already agree are the ones who read these books. We need those still caught up in “other than the gospel” churches to read them and see what is amiss and that the Bible always holds the answer to how to fix it.
Yeah but…I haven’t read it of course but is planting churches the answer? I belong to a denomination (AOG) which is into planting churches all right. But, it seems to me that they put a church in a town where there already is another church or several of the same denom, not to mention many similar churches of different or non denoms. Sounds like more niche marketing to me. Yeah, we have an oldies church but 20 somethings or people with kids or whatever don’t like it so we’ll plant another one. And another one. Or vice versa. Is niche marketing the way to go with churches? I don’t know.
The evangelical numbers game is older than mega churches. I remember when I first visited evangelical type churches a long time ago and they always had a counting board of how many people were there last Sunday and what the collection was. I always thought that was weird. That and the flags.
Thinking about megachurches I remember reading Cardinal Mindszentys biography and when he first became a bishop his first task was breaking up the big old parishes into smaller entities. He thought a church with 20,000 parishioners was not a good idea. Was that church planting? Sort of?
It’s nice to see a book say constructive things to improve the evangelical church rather than tear it down. I’m tire of hearing people going negative and feel more impassioned to talk about what’s going right these days.
I heard about this book several months ago, but I still cannot find it in a local Christian bookstore (Dallas, TX area).
How sad.
Frank,
A theological malcontent? Well, I have been called worse. We could use a few more theological malcontents and a few less rigid traditionalists in the church to shake the Body of Christ out of its apathy.
“The Gospel does have a necessary consequence in this world which is both already the Kingdom and also not yet — and that is the local church which lives together, worships together, and raises up its members (of diverse gifts) to maturity. That is the fount of the Gospel to the world; that ios the place — the only place — from which is can be truly and seriously be declared.”
That is ridiculous on its face. Did Phillip not “truly and seriously” declare the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch? Did Peter not “truly and seriously” proclaim the Gospel on the day of Pentecost because he did so outside of the local church? What about Peter in the house of Cornelius or Paul preaching the Gospel to Lydia by the riverside? Were those not “truly and seriously” Gospel declarations because they didn’t take place in the context of the “local church”? You seem to suffer from the same recency bias that is so prevalent that sees the tradition bound definition of the local church to be the way it has always been and should be.
There appears to be a reversal of the order here. The local church is a result of the Gospel, not the fount of the Gospel. The rigid traditionalist sees the local church as the answer to almost any ill in the church and in many ways has made an idol of the local church, making of it simultaneously both more and less than was intended. Chanting “the local church” over and over like a mantra is not going to help unless we are willing to ask the hard questions and be willing to accept the unsettling answers. It is not a denigration of the local church to place it under the Gospel, it is simply the recognition of the proper and Biblical role of the gathering of the Body of Christ. The Gospel will spread with or without the local church but invariably the spread of the Gospel will result in a local gathering of the church. The local church is not the answer to all of our problems, the Gospel is and if you can’t understand that, might I suggest you don’t quite understand the purpose of the local gathering of the church in the first place.
Frank,
I think you were overly harsh to Arthur. His response was overwhelmingly favorable to the book review, and he only added a self-described “quibble”, which means a minor argument. Even if one disagrees, can’t we leave it as a minor argument; rather than turning it into name calling?
Hey Tim, not sure if you already know this or not: Michael Horton at the latest broadcast of White Horse Inn, interviews Warren about this book.
I guess we all, as christians and as a church, need to go down to the Kerith Ravine and be fed by the ravens for a while.