The Wages of Spin

I recently finished reading Carl Trueman's The Wages of Spin. It's a collection of short essays which cover a wide array of topics. In this work, Trueman provides a witty and penetrating analysis of the early 21st century church. This is not just some academic hyper-critical work aimed at solely criticism though as Trueman (a church historian) clearly has a love for the church and the Lord of the church. One gets the sense that he desires to see Christ's church built up (Eph 4:12) as a display of God's glory (Eph 3:10). On the surface the articles don't appear to have much in common, but a close reading gives away the fact that they have a certain unity. Trueman describes the over-arching unity in the first few pages. He says, "If they [the essays in this book] have a unity it is perhaps that provided either by my concern to avoid selling out our evangelical birthright to every wind of cultural criticism or trendy new idea that comes our way - I am convinced that Christianity, as an historical religion, needs to listen very carefully to its history in order to build on past strengths and avoid repetition of past mistakes" (pg. 9). If all of these essays have a thesis, that's it!

Now, before your eyes gloss over and scroll down to the football highlight below, think with me (and vicariously Trueman) for a minute. Is what Trueman is arguing (no pun intended) true? Do we (the church) have a tendency to always be looking for what is new, different, or "relevant?" We say things like, "If our church just did _______________, then we'd be a cool church, more people would want to come, I'd grow more in my spiritual walk, and more people would trust in Christ as their savior." The new thing (_____________) solves all of our problems! Now don't hear me wrong, I'm not against new things and neither is Carl Trueman, but his point is we've got to be mindful that we don't just except things because they are new, different, or someone somewhere supposedly found it to be 100% effective. Trueman's argument is, that churches and individual Christians have alot to learn from the past. The past isn't infallible, but that's exactly the point. We need to learn from the history of the church, from those who have gone before us - they have strengths we can build on and past mistakes we should avoid.

Then, that's where Trueman takes us. Stay tuned in the coming days for a few of the lessons Trueman offers from the past and their implications for us today. In the meantime, why don't you find a good Christian biography to read. As you do, you'll start to get a feel for what Trueman is saying. Below are some of my favorite Christian biographies. Read, learn, grow, enjoy!

Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography by Iain Murray
To the Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson
Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan
Here I Stand by Harold Bainton
Legacy of Sovereign Joy by John Piper