The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, marketers and emergents in the postmodern world
by David F. Wells
(IVP, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84474-278-3. £14.99
by Peter F. Whyte, 7 Sep 2008 (updated 13 Oct 2008)
I decided to have one substantial book to read this summer, and this was it. If you're not familiar with Wells's previous books, don't let the title put you off, for it's probably not about what you might expect, living in Northern Ireland. It is not a polemical book against Roman Catholicism, as the subtitle makes clear. Rather it is a summary, and an extension, of Wells's previous four detailed books that look at contemporary culture and Christian belief.
He begins with a survey of modern evangelical Christianity, hence the subtitle. In it he identifies three important strands, and critiques them in a helpful fashion. This survey puts much of what is happening in the evangelical world into context.
The main part of the book comprises chapters on five important themes: truth, God, self, Christ and the Church. For each in turn he examines current cultural and Christian ideas about them, critiquing them from Scripture. Wells is engaging, so this is no dry and dusty treatment of culture and philosophy. He outlines the major cultural trends in each of the areas succinctly and clearly. In each case he points up the flaws in non-Biblical ideas and in some evangelical thinking. Throughout there is a clear call to return to biblical thinking, which Wells sees best exemplified in historic Protestant/Reformed theology.
I came away from the book with a much clearer idea about postmodernism, and how it has affected biblical Christianity. The book will stimulate you to think biblically about many contemporary issues in the culture and the church. Throughout the book Wells grounds his arguments in Scripture, which makes it much more than simply a cultural commentary.
Living as we do in an age when so much effort is devoted to rethinking the church, Well's final chapter is a timely reminder that "the church, in fact, was never our idea in the first place. No. It is not the church we need to rethink. Rather it is our thoughts about the church that need to be rethought. It is the church's faithfulness that needs to be re-examined. It is its faithfulness to who it is in Christ, its faithfulness in living out its life in the world that should be occupying us. The church, after all, is not under our management but under God's sovereign care, and what he sees as health is very often rather different from what we imagine its health to be." (p. 223).
Although this book is pitched at a more popular level than his previous four books, it is not a quick read. To get the best out of it you will probably have to read it a second time. I certainly intend to. If you have time to read just one serious book on the interaction of Christian belief and contemporary culture during the next 12 months, make it this one. You will not be disappointed.
Read other reviews and recommendations of this book:
- Tim Challies, 22 Apr 2008
- Nathan Pitchford, Pitchford's Ramblings, 4 Jun 2008
- Group Book Review, Said at Southern
- Justin Taylor, Between Two Worlds, 10 Apr 2008
David Wells was a guest on The White Horse Inn on 5 October 2008, when he discussed The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells.
Peter F. Whyte, “Review of The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-lovers, marketers and emergents in the postmodern world by Truth-lovers, marketers and emergents in the postmodern world ”, 7 Sep 2008 (updated 13 Oct 2008), Gilnahirk Baptist Church Web site. http://www.gilnahirkbaptist.org.uk/resources/study/book-tctbp.php (accessed 7 Jan 2009).
