As the Western world loses its grip on the biblical narrative, other narratives arise in ascendence. Webber is particularly concerned about the growing Muslim population, especially in light of the fact that "of the forty-six Muslim majority nations in the world, only three are free" (14).
Having lost our grip on a defining story, we are left only with the present self: "When the past is lost, as it now is in our Western world, there is nothing left to focus on except the self. We live in a culture of disbelief regarding our Christian heritage. However, when it comes to our personal well-being and future, we live in the culture of belief in the self" (17).
Our situation is strikingly similar to the environment the early Christians found themselves in: "Christians in the Roman world found themselves in a cultural setting of moral decadence, philosophical relativism and religious pluralism. However, they narrated the world in a new way. They did not accommodate the faith to culture but set forth the faith in a countercultural way" (51). We should do the same!
This is Webber's final book. Last year, he died of pancreatic cancer. Webber has been such a positive influence in my life and in the evangelical world. It is a shame that all the good in this book is partially obscured by its continued "face off between Islamic and Christian ideology" (102). I recommend his superior book, Ancient-Future Faith as a better introduction to Webber's thinking.
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