Very refreshing view of evangelistic work, and one that will be worth revisiting more slowly and prayerfully later on.

(I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review)

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e-ARC. Whilst it wasn’t quite what I expected it was a fascinating look at evangelism in the 21st century by exploring church history through the lens of a fictional case study. It was illuminating and astute standing against the shiny prosperity evangelism with one of consolation to meet people where they are. Brain and heart stretching!

When I first saw this book I thought it would contain various contemporary tools and techniques for sharing the Gospel with others, instead Andrew Root’s Evangelism in an Age of Despair contains an eye opening overview and analysis of how we arrived at our culture’s current guiding principles and a call to rethink how we understand evangelism.

Roots shows the reader that people in “our times are so sad because, paradoxically, we are over committed to happiness” (5) and that “both sides (and many more in less extreme forms) claim that the gospel is in tune with, adding musical texture to, the happiness seeking that is grounded in immanent contentment. The gospel becomes another (the best!) tool to find real happiness. The gospel becomes the best device to finally find the true blessing of immanent contentment. Salvation is assumed to be happiness, and peace is seen as contentment” (117). Ultimately this book is about salvation “but not as a point of decision – which evangelism is often reduced to. Rather, salvation and the work of evangelism will be seen as the point, the occurrence, where we turn over our sorrows to God (always with the help, with the ministry, of a community)” (8).

In order to change our understanding of evangelism, Root traces the flow of philosophical thought which brought us to our current moment where “happiness becomes so important for us late moderns because it is the test or gauge of how near I am to realizing my own self-fulfillment” (39). While this overview brings the reader through Charles Taylor’s lectures, Blaise Pascal’s mathematics, both Woodstocks, Martin Luther’s theologian of the cross, and many other influential thinkers and moments in history Root ultimately ends up in Montaigne’s cottage as the influential moment that our culture of immanent contentment began. “What truly matters, Montaigne believes, is peace with yourself – contentment. The height of life, the fullness of existence, is found not in arcane religious pursuits or even in the power of conquest – look where that got France! – but in the contentment of self-reflective happiness” (107).

As we feel this pressure from searching for our self-fulfillment in our happiness, Root shows how that has left our souls ignored and our self’s tired. “We’re lonely, finding so few to join our sorrow, because others too are busy with their all-out pursuit of happiness. There is no time to join sorrow, no payoff to giving consolation. Most people assume that too much secondhand sorrow will taint their own reservoirs of happiness” (30). It is into this confession of lonely exhaustion that Root believes the church can bring hope. “Confession invites another to come and minister to us by joining us in our sorrow or shame, walking with us to see what might be met in this sorrow. This is the heart of evangelism as consolation” (163). The Church can show that “Christ’s humanity is no curtain behind which an impersonal and immobile God hides, but rather it actually expresses God’s heart, the innermost essence of God Himself” (236). Rather than an evangelism which has a lot of the same undertones of the cultural promises around us, Root challenges the reader to allow the church to be counter-cultural and not shy away from moments of sorrow but to use them as opportunities to enter into the sorrow of another and introduce them to the suffering Savior, Jesus Christ.

There are books which explain things you know, others which teach things you do not know, and others which put language to things you did not know you knew. Root’s book is one of those books. As Root gave language to these driving forces in culture and showed their interconnectedness, I kept seeing these strings of the pull of happiness and pushing away of sadness all around me. Soon every conversation included a “So I’m reading this fascinating book which…” as the worldview influences which Root had clearly pointed out continued to show themselves.

Each chapter begins and ends with a fictional narrative about different familiar sorrows that are felt by people in a community. Each moment of sorrow is entered into by a church member who ministers to them in their loneliness under the weight of their tears (or lack of them). This narrative allows Root to show how some of the different ideas he explores later in the chapter play out in real situations, and it allows him to show what it looks like for the church to enter into sorrow rather than just tell the reader about it. I did not realize how much I appreciated these sections of the book until I began trying to explain Root’s worldview observations and suddenly had real life examples I could use to show how these ideas were presently influencing people’s lives. Ultimately it is in this narrative section that Root gives his best defense for the book’s argument for a new approach to evangelism.

While Root does an excellent job of laying out the ideas he is explaining, this book does not have enough space to give full explanations of every philosopher or idea which is referenced, so it is helpful to have a general overview of philosophy, but it is not necessary to appreciate this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to understand some of the driving forces of culture better or who are in church leadership and wondering how to best engage with the culture around them.

Thank you, Baker Academic, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.