Total Truth

I just finished the book "Total Truth--Liberating Christianity From Its Cultural Captivity", by Nancy Pearcy. Pearcy was an agnostic who became a believer after attending Francis Shaeffer's retreat school in Switzerland. This is an excellent book that challenges Christians to engage in worldview analysis and cognitive discussion. Here are some quotes:

"The aura of worship dissipates after Sunday, and we unconsciously absorb secular attitudes the rest of the week. We inhabit two separate 'worlds,' navigating a sharp divide between our religious life and ordinary life."

"The hubris of the Enlightenment lay in thinking that Reason was just such a transcendent power, providing infallible knowledge. Reason became nothing less than an idol, taking the place of God as the source of absolute Truth."

"Sadly, many Christians live much of their lives as though the naturalist were right. They give cognitive assent to the great truths of Scripture, but they make their practical, day-to-day decisions based only on what they can see, hear, measure, and calculate. When confessing their religious beliefs, they sit in the supernaturalist's chair. But in ordinary life, they walk over and sit in the naturalist's chair, living as though the supernatural were not real in any practical sense, relying on their own energy, talent, and strategic calculations. They may sincerely want to do the Lord's work, but they do it in the world's way--using worldly methods and motivated by worldly desires for success and acclaim."

"Nonbelievers try to suppress their knowledge of God, Romans goes on to say, by inventing all sorts of alternative explanations for the world. Yet none of these explanations is adequate--and as a result, at some point the nonbeliever's account of the world will be contradicted by his lived experience....The term 'without excuse' (vs 20) literally means 'without and apologetic.' The task of evangelism starts with helping the nonbeliever face squarely the inconsistencies between his professed beliefs and his actual experience"

This book does a very good job of examining how the American "populist" mindset has sometimes clouded our view of Truth. I'm probably not doing the book justice, but it does an excellent job of looking at the American religious experience and then challenges some of the biases that have resulted from that experience.