By John Stott
Marshall Pickering. 478 pages. £9.99
ISBN 0 551 03172-7
When the first edition of this book was issued in 1984, evangelicals were catching up on interaction with the social and moral issues of contemporary society.
The introductory section of the revised edition still reflects that, but also contains some useful new material on witnessing in a pluralistic society where Christians have little natural right to be heard.
The three main sections of the book deal with global issues (war, environment, inequalities, social justice), social issues (work and unemployment, industrial relations, multi-racialism, poverty and wealth), and sexual issues (feminism, marriage and divorce, abortion and euthanasia (a sexual issue?), same sex relationships). Since this is a revision there are historical topics and references, which might not be included in a totally new work. In all, there is the steady realism of biblical thinking that is typical of all Stott's writings.
It is encouraging to read this book alongside his recent biography. We are not here encountering a man who only theorises about right Christian behaviour, but one who has also sought to live through his understanding of the Scripture. It is exciting to discover that one, who writes about caring for the poor, has personally provided breakfasts for tramps; that one who urges celibacy to homosexuals, has himself found the grace of enforced heterosexual celibacy.
The problem with publishing a book on contemporary issues is that by the time it has made its way from the author's mind to the booksellers, other issues have captured the public's imagination. GM crops/foods and human cloning are current issues that haven't made it into this book. All readers will have a list of topics that they would like to have seen discussed. I looked in vain in the section on 'poverty, wealth and simplicity' for serious debate about the Christian stewardship of financing elitist education for our children.
Previous editions have become useful guides how to think through various issues and to relate them to the gospel and good discussion-starters for house groups. This new edition will continue this ministry. It is a good resource tool for further research, but in these days of computer-produced manuscripts there would seem to be no excuse for the publisher not giving us the index and bibliography that would have made a useful book even better.
