How, then, Should We Preach to the (Postmodern) World?
Western technology, coupled with its unparalleled abundance, have created a life with more information, more choices, better medical care, and longer life. At the same time, it is a world in which we have fewer connections to place, family, and friends, as well as more emptiness and anxiety. More of our children are more demoralized than ever before. That is the American paradox. Never have we had so much and never have we had so little. This is the world into which we are called to live out Christian faith and to speak Christian truth. How are we going to do this? This lecture explores the question from the point of view of the preacher.
Biography
David Wells teaches at Gordon-Conwell. Before that, he taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and chaired its division of systematic theology. Since arriving at Gordon-Conwell in 1979, he has served in a variety of positions. He moved to his current position in 2008 after having served as the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology since 1991. He was also Academic Dean of the Charlotte campus (1998-2000) and Special Assistant to the President for Institutional Planning (2001-2003). From 2003 to 2005, he directed Gordon-Conwell’s self-study for 10-year re-accreditation. His two last publications are The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers and Emergents in the Postmodern World (William B. Eerdmans, 2008), and Above All Earthly Pow’rs: Christ in a Postmodern World (William B. Eerdmans, 2004).
