This study, moreover, should entail not only the Bible but theology, for at its best theology is commentary on Scripture for the present age. The virus that infects our contemporary worship also contaminates much traditional worship. Evangelicals who are rightly unhappy with the poverty of liturgy in their services would for the most part be equally unhappy with Catholic and Orthodox services, which give the impression of burying the Word in liturgical rites rather than allowing the Word to renew and perhaps transform our ceremony. Perhaps as a means of avoiding the rigorous wrestling with Scripture and theology, we direct our energies to mastering skills in church management and communication. Method looms more important than content.
Religion becomes a flight from the world rather than a catalyst for renewing the world.
Earlier evangelicals like John Wesley sounded the call to social holiness, bringing the Word of God to bear upon every aspect of human life. Calvin saw the world as a theater of the glory of God, the arena in which we are called to work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Much of modern religion turns the soul inward rather than directing it outward to the crying needs of society. An eros spirituality, the desire to possess God and his blessings, predominates over a spirituality of the cross, a willingness to serve both God and our neighbor in God's world. I am by no means discounting the rightful place for the experience of salvation in the life of the Christian.