Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance

Year 2003
Type Book
Genre cultural criticism
Tradition Evangelical
Original language English

For For pastors and Christians anxious to be relevant; a short, pointed critique, not a programme for ministry.

Should I read this?

For the general reader: 4 of 5 strongly recommended
For the researcher: 3 of 5 worth your time
Difficulty: 2 of 5 moderate

A short, sharp argument that the church's chase after relevance has made it irrelevant, and a call to faithful untimeliness.

How it proceeds

Philosophic 3 of 5
Scriptural 3 of 5
Experiential 1 of 5
Sociological 4 of 5
Historical 3 of 5

Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.

A short book published by Baker in 2003. Guinness argues that the church's pursuit of relevance has made it irrelevant: that by chasing what is current it has been captured by the spirit of the age and lost the prophetic distance from which it could speak to it. His own site describes his alternative as resistance thinking, a faithfulness that is willing to be out of step with the times. It continues the critique of evangelicalism's accommodation to modernity he began in Dining with the Devil and Fit Bodies, Fat Minds.

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Catalog IDW.HBGGFZ.E

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