Many books on Christian spirituality seem shallow to thoughtful Christians. Titles like “5 Keys to Happiness,” “6 Steps to a Better Marriage,” or a paraphrasing of a secular self-help book often are cross-less, gospel-less, self-righteousness-producing guides to life that sound more like Dale Carnegie than the Apostle Paul.

Here’s an exception and one well worth reading, studying, and discussing.

Dynamics of Spiritual Life: An Evangelical Theology of Renewal by Richard Lovelace challenges, inspires, educates, and dares to undermine sacred cows.

Lovelace is emeritus professor of Church History at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary and brings a keen eye for theology and pastoral insight along with his training as a historian to the writing of this landmark book. Dynamics of Spiritual Life is still used as a seminary textbook in many classes throughout the world. Its purpose statement, from the first sentence of the preface, declares it to be “a manual of spiritual theology, a discipline combining the history and the theology of Christian experience” (p. 11).

The first half of the book is weighted toward personal renewal (although never apart from a corporate context) and the second half shifts emphasis towards renewal in the church. The second half’s discussion of the effect church renewal should have on the surrounding culture is of particular importance to Christians called to academia.

Consider Lovelace’s assertion that the 1970’s “Jesus Movement,” while historically important and individually redemptive for many people, did not truly qualify as a time of true revival or renewal because, unlike the first and second great awakenings and many other revivals, it had practically no influence on the shaping of surrounding culture.

The book quotes often from Jonathan Edwards and Cotton Mather. It looks beyond history, though, to theology for a rootedness for renewal that one hungers for in most of contemporary books on the topic. In the preface, Lovelace lays out an agenda for the church today: “A number of problems which have troubled the church in this century are only solvable if we return to the vital core of biblical teaching dealing with Christian experience, just as the uneasy struggles in the late medieval church could only be resolved when Luther struck through to their spiritual root in his doctrine of justification” (p. 16). But this is not just a work of history and theology. You get the sense that this man has experienced personal renewal himself and wrote as a passionate pastor longing to see the church attain health and avoid apostasy. Again, from the preface, “…it seems to me that much of the church’s warfare today is fought by blindfolded soldiers who cannot see the forces ranged against them, who are buffeted by invisible opponents and respond by striking one another” (p. 18).

The chapter titles might give you a glimpse into this book’s scope:

I. Dynamics of Renewal

1. Jonathan Edwards and the Jesus Movement
2. Biblical models of cyclical and continuous renewal
3. Preconditions of continuous renewal
4. Primary elements of continuous renewal
   1. justification
   2. sanctification
   3. the indwelling Holy Spirit
   4. authority in spiritual conflict
5. Secondary elements in renewal
   1. orientation toward mission
   2. dependent prayer
   3. the community of believers
   4. theological integration
   5. disenculturation

II. Renewal in the Church

1. The renewal of the local congregation
2. The sanctification gap
3. How revivals go wrong
4. Live orthodoxy
5. Unitive evangelicalism
6. The evangelical muse (my favorite chapter – about the role of the arts and music in revival!)
7. The spiritual roots of Christian social concern (perhaps the most important chapter for Christian professors)
8. Prospects for renewal

One final thought. Unlike some of the books I referred to above, this is not a “feel good” book. The painful reality of the church’s lack of renewal and vitality is not far below the surface of each chapter. Sometimes it comes to the surface as in this passage from the final chapter:

When Jews are told that Jesus is the Messiah, it is common for them to look around them with a wry smile and reply that nothing seems to have changed. It may not be legitimate for Christians to evade this objection by saying that the messianic kingdom is a “spiritual” entity only visible to “spiritual” eyes. Jewish people are looking for spiritual splendor and for justice; seldom do they find them in or around the Christian church (427-28).

If you’re willing to wrestle with issues like this, this book might be what you’ve been looking for.

Reviewed by: Randy Newman