The New Atheism
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 54, No. 1 – Fall 2011
Managing Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By Dale S. Kuehne. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009. 235 pages. Softcover, $19.99.
The author is the professor of politics and executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College and pastor of the Emmanuel Covenant Church in Nashua, New Hampshire. His work serves as an analysis of why our western culture has left its traditional moorings (what he calls the “t world”) and sailed boldly and belligerently into the turbulent and destructive seas of individualism (“i world”). His goal is to give guidance for how westerners, including Christians, can reorient themselves so that they can move onto the more solid ground of building and maintaining stable human relationships, as well as one with God (what he calls the “r world”). His effort is to reengineer a worldview that will guide westerners toward a livable and sustainable future.
He does not limit his focus to Christians, but attempts to project the need for and the philosophy to guide a relationship-based lifestyle that encompasses a larger, pluralistic audience. His approach is to invite any who will to enter the conversation on weighing significant values (relying often, but not exclusively on biblical values) and reasonable systems of human, family, and societal engagement. Although he invites all to join the conversation about the way to develop the relational life, he has a decided evangelical presentation in Part 2 of the book, in which he explains the role of having a healthy relationship with God, thus creating a sense of self-identity and worth for having a foundation for all the other relationships in life. His chapter 7, “From Hole Hearted to Whole Hearted: A Love Story,” is a winsome and convincing appeal to postmodern thinkers to consider the potential of experiencing a redeeming relationship with God.
Throughout the book Kuehne challenges the postmoderns to reflect seriously on the weaknesses of individualistic freedom in contemporary sexual conduct. Then, in chapter 8, the author moves to the relationship side of the theme that is suggested in the introduction of the book—r sex: a treatment of how post moderns can reorient their private lives toward creating a stable and dynamically functional set of interpersonal skills that endure and endear them with others for all of life.
