A generation ago, Francis Schaeffer prophetically lamented that the West had lost its spiritual moorings in its pursuit of prosperity, personal peace, and affluence. Now, as Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter Tanous suggest in their recent book The End of Prosperity, it appears that this prosperity is fast slipping away, too (though, as will become clear later on, while I agree with their diagnosis, I believe their solution does not nearly go deep enough). In fact, the current economic crisis is global in scope, and the depth of the recession increasingly approaches the magnitude of the Great Depression. The major economic indicators paint an exceedingly dismal picture, as the following sampling of relevant information illustrates. Consider this disturbing set of data.

The unemployment rate in the US is currently 8.1 percent; it is projected to rise to 9.4 percent by 2011. The total number of unemployed Americans as of February 2009 is 12.5 million. Almost two million jobs were lost in the last three months alone (the highest number since 1945). Since the Obama inauguration, the stock market declined by 32 percent; the decline since October 2008 is 62 percent. The projected budget deficit for 2009 is $1.752 trillion (12.3 percent of the GDP). By comparison, the deficit in 2007 was $162 billion (1.2 percent of the GDP), and the total federal spending in 2000 was $1.79 trillion! (i.e. in nine short years we went from what amounted to the total spending per year becoming equivalent to the annual federal deficit).

The recent federal government bailout for the US banking system totaled over $700 billion; the price tag for the bailout for the auto industry stands currently at $17.4 billion and is likely to rise to at least $40 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2008, the GDP declined by 3.8 percent, the worst performance since the first quarter of 1982. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2008 trade deficit with China amounted to over $266 billion. Housing starts were down 15.5 percent in December 2008 compared to the same time the previous year and are at the lowest level since 1991, while foreclosures increased by 81 percent from 2007 to 2008. 2.3 million American homeowners face foreclosure, and 860,000 properties were repossessed in 2008 (more than double from 2007).

The rapid economic decline, in turn, coincides with the growing moral malaise in our culture. This includes the increasing fragmentation of the family, divorce and teenage pregnancy rates, and the number of abortions. While simplistic cause-and-effect relationships are to be eschewed, this economic and social data is hardly unrelated. In fact, the moral dimension of economics has rarely been clearer than in recent months. Reckless, irresponsible lending practices by financial institutions, corporate greed, especially by the executives of large corporations, and a mentality of mortgaging the future of coming generations underscore that this economic crisis is at the center a spiritual and moral crisis of major proportions.

Will economic policy be the likely cure? This, of course, seems to be the conviction exuded by political operatives and other economic talking heads in the media. When in trouble, turn to the experts, and they will figure out and fix the problem. But how do we know that a given course of action will really take care of the issue and not merely be a stopgap measure? How do we know, for example, if increased government spending, or tax cuts, or a combination of measures to stimulate economic activity will turn the economy around? For some of us who are skeptical, Ronald Reagan’s famous quip comes to mind: “Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” What is more, as Milton Friedman once remarked, and as recent efforts at the federal level to revive the economy seem to confirm, “The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem.”

On the whole, even though it is of course true that economic trends are cyclical in nature, it seems increasingly naïve to assume that mere economic solutions, no matter how ingenious (even those proposed by the authors of The End of Prosperity!) will reverse the course of our nation. In my opinion, at least, we ought not to overestimate the ability of specialists to remedy a problem whose root cause is ultimately beyond their grasp. However, the economic downturn has been good for at least one (albeit very minute) segment of our population: economists. On this point John Kenneth Galbraith had it exactly right: “Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.” (One may be forgiven the thought that this is the only thing some economists are useful for.) In this increasingly dire situation, gallows’ humor may be one of the few things still left to alleviate the situation.

In all seriousness, when all is said and done, my conclusion, as one whose first Ph.D. is in economics, is this. As with the social crisis in our society, only a return to the biblical foundations will prove to have a lasting positive impact (for a similar diagnosis with regard to marriage and the family, see my book God, Marriage & Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation; see also the late Harold O. J. Brown’s provocative volume Sensate Culture). On a larger societal scale, short of a spiritual revival this is unlikely to happen. On a personal level, biblical values ought to guide and undergird the way we live and the way we spend our money once again. With regard to the church’s proclamation, the current crisis presents us with a golden opportunity for presenting the gospel. Do we trust in the economy or in the Lord Jesus Christ? Is our confidence in our 401(k)s or in the blessed hope of his return?

For those who built their houses on the shifting sands of the American economy, the gospel stands ready to help with an eternal message of good news: faith in Christ is recession-proof, and where profits fall, faith may rise. As Jesus stated, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done” (Matt 16:24-28). For those with ears to hear, this is good news indeed.

Note: This post first appeared as an Editorial in the March 2009 issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Two weighty volumes recently landed on my desk, The New Testament in Antiquity: A Survey of the New Testament within Its Cultural Context by Gary M. Burge, Lynn H. Cohick, and Gene L. Green and the 3d edition of A Survey of the Old Testament by Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton (both by Zondervan, 2009). Hill and Walton’s Survey of the Old Testament has proven its value along with Dillard and Longman’s survey. Hill is professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College, and Walton teaches at Wheaton College Graduate School. Their work reflects the authors’ commitment to sound study in the ancient Near Eastern background as a means to help students understand God as revealed in the Old Testament texts.

In this third edition, the work has been expanded and redesigned in order to make it even more student-friendly. There are full-color maps, photos, timelines, and charts illustrating the points made in the text. There are also discussions of major theological themes, questions for further study and discussion, and suggestions for further reading. The first two editions sold over 100,000 copies and influenced thousands of Bible students. The author and the publisher are to be commended for a beautifully produced work that promises to extend the influence of this volume for another generation.

The New Testament in Antiquity is a brand-new work, also written by a team of faculty at Wheaton, all of whom are professors of New Testament in the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College and Graduate School. The back cover features strong endorsements by Craig S. Keener, Darrell L. Bock, Scot McKnight [spelled McNight!], and Craig L. Blomberg. Gary Burge and Gene Green in particular have decades of demonstrated interest in using background study to illumine the New Testament. After introductory chapters including “Studying the New Testament,” “The Historical Setting of the New Testament,” “The World of Jesus in His Jewish Homeland,” “The Mediterranean World of the Apostle Paul,” “Sources for the Study of Jesus,” “The Story of Jesus,” and “The Teachings of Jesus,” chapters are devoted to the various books of the new Testament, with a concluding chapter dealing with the “Preservation and Communication of the New Testament.” On page 11, readers are told who among the three authors wrote which chapter. As one has come to expect from Zondervan, this volume, too, is beautifully presented, with many full-color photographs, charts, and other illustrations. There are Scripture and subject indices but no author index. The date of my John commentary is listed as 2003 (should be 2004). This would be the ideal text for a class in New Testament backgrounds or a supplementary text for a New Testament survey class. I am very grateful for its existence and look forward to using it both in my personal study and in my classroom teaching.

I also received three new publications from John Piper (all published by Crossway). Most important is This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence, of which I say in my endorsement, “An instant classic. It is biblical and devotional, the fruit of seasoned theological reflection and four decades of ‘momentary marriage.’” The book also carries endorsements by Chuck Colson, Dennis Rainey, D. A. Carson, Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Larry Crabb, Wayne Grudem, and Ray Ortlund. Piper and I continue to differ on the Matthean exception clause, and consequently on the indissolubility of marriage, but what unites us is much greater than what divides us, and I am always grateful when a new book on marriage comes out that is not merely pragmatic and operating on the human plane but biblical and theological. The book is not scholarly but pastoral. It is fairly comprehensive, including chapters not only on marriage and the family and sex but also on singleness and divorce. Piper also published Velvet Steel: The Joy of Being Married to You, a selection of some of his poems; and Rethinking Retirement: Finishing Life for the Glory of Christ.

On a personal note, I am currently working on two major manuscripts which are in the final stages of production. The first one is The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament, co-authored with L. Scott Kellum and Charles L. Quarles, due out with B&H in August. J. I. Packer says about this volume, “Among available New Testament introductions for theological students this one stands out for meticulously thorough coverage, bibliographical fullness, attention to canonical issues, juicy pastoral reflections, and lashings of masterful common sense. I recommend it highly, as a leader in its field.” I hope you will consider this book as a classroom text for courses in New Testament Survey and Introduction. If you are a pastor, this will be a helpful volume to keep at hand in your sermon preparation.

The other volume is The Theology of John’s Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the Son of God, due out with Zondervan in October (click here to view a  promotional video ). This is the inaugural volume of the Biblical Theology of the New Testament series (BTNT) and the first of two volumes on Johannine theology. John’s theology is so rich and creative, and this book represents an effort to probe John’s theology with careful attention to its historical setting, narrative embeddedness, and theological interconnections. I am currently using a draft of this volume as a classroom text and am thoroughly enjoying interacting with my students on it.

Other volumes due at the publisher on July 1 are a second edition of God, Marriage & Family (Crossway), The Heresy of Orthodoxy (with Michael Kruger, also Crossway), and Invitation to Biblical Interpretation (with Richard Patterson and Scott Swain; Kregel).