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One of the strengths of the evangelical tradition is its passion for the Great Commission that flows from its passion for Christ and the world. Fitch embodies an evangelical passion for the postmodern world with insight into the culture and concrete direction for the church. None of us ever gets the balance between Christ and the world quite right, and so we give mutual support and correction to one another in the body of Christ. Fitch is right in his reading of the cultural situation, in his critique of the church's giveaway, and in the practices to which we are called. But his account does not sufficiently proclaim that it is the gospel and not postmodernity that provides the hermeneutical key to culture and guides faithful practices of the church

Jonathan R. Wilson is Professor of Theology and Ethics at Acadia Divinity College. In June 2006 he will become Pioneer McDonald Professor of Theology at Carey Theological College.

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The Great Giveaway: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church from Big Business, Parachurch Organizations, Psychotherapy, Consumer Capitalism, and Other Modern Maladies is available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

Also posted today is an excerpt from the book.

More information is available from Baker Books and the book website.

David Fitch blogs on the themes he dealt with in The Great Giveaway.

Fitch is pastor of Life on the Vine.

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March (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50