How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin (May be purchased at Amazon.com
The early church catechized people meaning they rigorously trained those interested in following Christ to adopt a scheme of the world/life/God/ourselves/others consistent with the gospel. One of the markings of catechism was to inoculate people from the dominant strains of thinking. What Watkin is proposing is a kind of catechism; a reframing of our picture of the world that is dominated by secularism. Bottom line is how can we expect people to think and act biblically when the air that they breathe is secular (no aid or partnership with the Divine)? We are fools if we think an hour a week will do the trick or even a “quiet time” a few minutes a day will solve the problem. Critical theory is pervasive and we have Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Freud, Marx and so on to thank for modern day skepticism. People poke and prod to get underneath everything only to find that there’s nothing real. What Watkin demonstrates so well is it’s the Bible that’s the original critical theory, dismantling everything that culture so subtly foists on us to get us to act in particular ways, only to find out that there’s ultimate reality – a real God underneath it all. What’s fascinating is his theory of diagonalization that allows us to hold things in tension. The gospel is not the middle of the road between two ditches. It’s a completely different road than religion or non-religion…. (Submitted by J. Nitta (from comments on Amazon.com)