KIRKUS REVIEW
A spirited call for Evangelicals to take a collective stand against abortion.
Debut author den Bok argues that the contemporary prevalence of abortion—both its widespread acceptance and performance—constitutes a moral catastrophe of the highest order. He scours the Bible to adduce evidence of its moral turpitude—the authentic Christian has an absolute duty to not only avoid murder, but also to actively defend the innocent from harm. And while the Evangelical Church has always been doctrinally opposed to abortion, it has only lethargically fought to end the practice. “What I am claiming is that the Church is guilty of failing to recognize that the plight of the preborn is an emergency that calls for extraordinary action.” Den Bok attributes the apathy of the church, what he considers a collective sin of omission, to a lack of leadership within the ranks and a profoundly pessimistic capitulation to the mainstreaming of abortion. Also, many in the church wrongly believe that political activism only saps energy away from the more spiritual aspects of religious life. The author, however, contends that modern abortion is as morally disastrous as the Holocaust, and the church’s dithering on this score as condemnable as its failure to more aggressively oppose the Nazis. The author also avers that an exploration of the church’s mission—understood from the perspective of its scriptural grounding and tradition—attests to its obligation to engage in social work in general and to take up the cause against abortion in particular. Den Bok concludes by briefly surveying the positions of well-known Evangelical leaders who also consider abortion a modern crisis and provides answers to hypothetical objections to his thesis. The author writes with great clarity and vigor, skillfully combining rational argument with a passionate call to action. This is a very short book—really more an essay than a full-length monograph—and den Bok’s ability to condense his positions without any sacrifice of clarity is impressive. This is, however, as the author concedes, a book written by an Evangelical to other Evangelicals, and those who are not at least Christian are unlikely to find its biblically based arguments persuasive.
A lucid and meticulous analysis of abortion certain to be helpful to Evangelicals.
