A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
by Fred G. Zaspel
You live in a world vastly different from your parents – even more different than that of your grandparents. Do you know how to thrive here? According to Aaron Renn’s Three Worlds thesis, Christians have experienced rapid descent in public opinion over the last 30 years. The men in these chapters push that thesis into the corners as they consider what evangelism, the moral order, higher education, church strategies, and more might look like in Negative World.
If Christians want to win the 2020s and beyond, it’s time we learn to be effective in the time God has placed us.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Response to Negative World – Douglas Wilson
1 The Three Worlds and the Tao – Joe Rigney
2 A Paradigm Shift for Defeating Negative World – Jared Longshore
3 Toward a Cultural Insurgency – Clifford Humphrey and Timon Cline
4 Seizing the Opportunity in Negative World – Ryan Visconti
5 Negative World and Education – Benjamin R. Merkle
6 In the Era of the Judges – Stiven Peter
7 Response to Contributors – Aaron M. Renn
Selected Quotes
- When our thoughts correspond to the objective order of reality, we speak of truth. When our emotions correspond to the objective order of reality, we speak of goodness. The Tao then is the objective order of the universe, and the human way of life that corresponds to it. (21)
- “What constitutes a Christian civil order?” A brief answer is that a Christian civil order is one in which the political life of a given society itself acknowledges Christ as Lord, be it a city, state, or nation. Such an acknowledgement includes the citizens, their leaders, laws, customs, and traditions. (47)
- American Evangelical Protestants are no longer in control of the nation in which they live. They do not own the space culturally, economically, or legally. In this sense, their enemies are external, not internal. (66)
- In Negative World, the most productive biblical teaching is clear, challenging, and comforting. This type of preaching flows from a heart filled with humility and love. A humble heart accepts that God’s ways are higher, His Word is useful, and His principles are eternal. (95)
- Given that the entirety of the teaching of the New Testament was composed to a church that lived deep in the Negative World, is it possible that Negative-World strategy is just biblical Christianity? (105)
- More recently, Evangelical parents have begun to see these colleges for the secular indoctrination machines that they are. Unfortunately, rather than seek out godly Christian colleges, or commit to building them, they have just given up on college altogether. (109)
- The apologetic techniques used in Neutral World strategies, while perhaps able to attract those who are distrustful of or hesitant toward Christianity, ultimately reinforce this flawed paradigm. They allow the preferences of individuals to dictate what the church is willing to say and what it chooses to leave out. (135)
- As I’ve said many times, the Negative World is new, dynamic, and above all uncharted territory for American Protestants. It will take many people trying many things to find an effective way to navigate it. (160)
Buy the books
WELCOME TO NEGATIVE WORLD: HOW TO READ THE TIMES YOU'RE IN, edited by Joe Rigney