Book Review
by Darold H. Morgan
Dr. Darold H. Morgan is active in preaching, teaching, board memberships, and churchmanship. The former pastor of such churches as the First Baptist Church of Sulphur Springs, Texas, the Hunter Street Baptist Church of Birmingham, Alabama, and the Cliff Temple Baptist Church in Dallas, he was President of the Annuity Board, SBC, until his recent retirement. He is a graduate of Hardin-Simmons University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he earned the Doctor of Theology degree with a major in Church History. He now lives in Dallas and is an inveterate reader. Oh, he is also a world class Scrabble player.
The Trivialization of God
Donald M. McCullough NAV Press,
Colorado Springs, CO 1995 — $16.00
A well-known Presbyterian minister has written a compelling volume which vividly points to one of the major weaknesses in church life today — the lack of an adequate concept of Almighty God. He is to be commended for producing a refreshing antidote to the strange resurgence in many evangelical circles today of an unbalanced Calvinism. McCullough is an intelligent conservative theologian, possessing the background which qualifies him for acceptance by mainline Christians. Few things are needed more today than a balanced understanding of both the Scriptures and the world in which ministry must occur. One does not get far in the book until the conclusion is apparent that one of the reasons for shabby ethics both in the ministry and church practices is a watered-down version of biblical insights into the doctrine of God. The title, The Trivialization of God is excellent and its sub-title goes even further, “Our Illusions of a Manageable Deity.”
The strengths of McCullough’s book are plain. His writing style is engaging; the book itself is readable. How rare this is on this subject! Superb and vivid illustrations throw good illumination on profound ˆ themes. Quotations from master writers are profuse and timely. All of this makes for convincing conclusions.
The Trivilization of God is strong stuff? We are brought face to face with the superficialities of preaching and the shallowness of worship today which have trivialized God. It corresponds in some measure to Bonhoeffer’s concept of “cheap grace.” This lack of awe in contemporary worship has stripped Almighty God of His glory and reverence. Gone is the concept of transcendence; and in its place is a selfish individualism, a value system based on introversion. This is not soil in which Christian ethics can be expected to flourish.
The volume is neither negative nor simply an analysis of the problem.
With skill the author gives an accurate picture of the situation which has produced this massive “lack of awe” in contemporary society and church life. But he goes on to develop his thesis that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God whom we meet in the witness of the Scriptures, is more than adequate for our needs.” This holy God is not “manageable” (one of :he author’s favorite words). Our urgent need is to recover this biblical message of a holy, transcendent God who loves us in Jesus Christ, for in this recovery comes the balance we need in redemption, ethical behavior, and the sheer joy of worship, community, love, and communication.
The book is timely, creative, and interesting as it speaks directly and positively to a major weakness in American Christianity. If this issue is left unresolved and if the trend continues in this rampant individualism, McCullough’s conclusion of incalculable damage is right on target. There is hope, however, in that honest disciples of the holy God will read and react quickly to this timely appeal. Then, and then only, can the ethical imperative of our Christian faith find its rightful expression.
