Book Review: Stockholm Syndrome Christianity
By John G West
Discovery Institute Press
ISBN: 978-1-63712-070-5
This is a good and useful book for Christians to read. Mr. West goes through the struggles of todays evangelicalism against culture and how so many failures have come about. These compromises are viewed through the lens of the “Stockholm syndrome” where a captive begins to believe his captors. In our case, it is where Christians identify too closely with the culture around us.
The book is written in a language and style that anyone can pick up and read. It is not filled with academic jargon that would discourage readers. It is also filled with a coverage of events and conditions of both church and culture that the reader will easily see how we got to where we are today.
The strength of this book is that the author is uncompromising and the material is complete. Too few, it seems are willing to maintain a consistency in their faith. I applaud Mr. West for that.
There is one point of disagreement that I would have with Mr. West and that is the question of authority. But this is not a matter of principle but of application. For instance, should any science inform the Bible? He would seem to say no, notably on the matter of creation. On that I would agree. But how about mathematics? I Kings 7:23, while not intending to calculate pi, is taken by skeptics as an error in the Bible because it appears as a miscalculation. We know, of course, that this is but the language of estimation. The Bible is not a math book. Yet in order to do that, because we know that pi = 3.14…, we are allowing mathematics to inform the text of Scripture. This does not detract from the Word in any way.
There are some areas where the Christian ethic holds sway over the values of the world. The life ethic stands out. In its various forms it stands against, most notably, the wrongs of the abortion, infanticide, euthanasia. Adjunct positions would include unjust war and unjust legal and civil punishments. Though our applications have not been consistent over the centuries, the principles of the world around us have fallen far short and are to be challenged by Christians. In this area we cannot compromise with the world.
In other areas, like the arts, should a Christian find that the world might hold sway in some areas? I think so. We know that the Bible is not an encyclopedia. We can use its system of thought to develop a worldview that does not compromise with the world. But the standards for the development of a coherent philosophy require some outside interaction.
The Bible is also not a music book. One might enjoy and even present Sor, Tarrega, and Barrios, whose wholly secular compositions present no necessary compromise for the believer. And while they are not worship pieces, they still maintain value as artistic composers. Haven’t we turned the Irish tune Danny Boy or the music of Caruso into some beautiful worship music? I’m waiting for someone to do the same with Lagrima.
The question of standards outside of Christian thought and practice is not a question of necessary compromise. In some specific areas it is and in other specific areas it is not.
Yet even with this criticism, this is but a correction to what Mr. West intends. He is looking to eliminate compromise. “Live not by lies” would seem to be a guiding principle. So … read the book and learn from it. It would be a find addition to any church for adult discussion.