Book Review: Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World

C. J. Mahaney, ed. Worldliness: Resisting the Seduction of a Fallen World. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008.

The pastors at Sovereign Grace Ministries have collaborated on this excellent little book on how to (and how not to) live in a fallen world. The topics are very practical and the counsel is thoroughly biblical. The book includes discussion questions in the back, making it quite useful for both private and group study.

After a typically excellent foreword by John Piper, Mahaney opens the discussion with a good definition of the problem of worldliness.

Craig Cabanis next considers the problems presented by media, particularly films and television. Included in his chapter are good questions I can ask myself as I seek to evaluate my watching habits.

Bob Kauflin follows up with a chapter on music that avoids the shallow this beat is evil analysis that so often shows up in examinations of music. It’s a thoughtful consideration of the content, context, and culture-setting aspect of what we listen to.

Dave Harvey has a chapter on “my stuff” that questions modern consumerism and materialism, and includes practical suggestions for escaping the snare of materialism. 

C. J. Mahaney comes next with a chapter on clothing and dress, particularly focused on modesty as a reflection of the heart of a godly woman. The book also includes two helpful appendices on issues of modesty. This material alone is worth the price of the book, and should be considered by every woman who desires to honor Christ and to serve her brothers in Christ.

The final chapter is my favorite: Jeff Purswell’s piece on How to Love the World. He develops the chapter in terms that modern postmoderns can identify with, by explaining the grand story (meta-narrative) of redemption, and then proposing that we have three tasks in our calling to love the world as obedient servants of Christ: enjoying the world, engaging the world, and evangelizing the world. He includes practical suggestions as to how we can accomplish these three tasks. 

Purswell poses and answers the final question in a memorable one-page summary at the end of the book.

“How are you and I to view our existence in this world? Through the prism of Christ’s saving work on the cross. The cross transforms all the categories of our lives. It answers the central questions of the human predicament” [170]. 

Purswell then lists four specific aspects of the cross that impact how we view the world. But I’m not going to spoil them for you. You’ll have to read the book.

In summary, this is an excellent, popularly-accessible book that addresses a vital question for the believer: how can I be in the world, but not of it?