The Courage to be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers And Emergents In The Post-Modern World

David F Wells

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844742784 ISBN 13: 9781844742783

Publisher: IVP, 2008

'It takes no courage to sign up as a Protestant.' With these words, David Wells opens his bold challenge to the modern church.

In this volume, Wells offers the summa of his critique of the evangelical landscape, as well as a call to return to the historic faith, one defined by the Reformation solas (grace, faith, and Scripture alone), and to a reverence for doctrine.

Wells argues that the historic, classical evangelicalism is one marked by doctrinal seriousness, as opposed to the new movements of the marketing church and the emergent church. He energetically confronts the marketing communities and what he terms their sermons-from-a-barstool and parking lots and après-worship Starbucks stands'. He also takes issue with the most popular evangelical movement in recent years - the emergent church. For Wells, many emergents are postmodern, postconservative and postfoundational, embracing a less absolute understanding of the authority of Scripture than he maintains is required.

'The Courage to be Protestant' is a dynamic argument for the courage to be faithful to what biblical Christianity has always stood for, thereby securing hope for the church's future.

Review:

Preaching Magazine, "Books Every Preacher Should Read"(2009)
"Calvin Theological Journal"
An importantly different book.
"Theological Book Review"
"The Courage to Be Protestant "is an engaging and interesting book and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the current state and development of American evangelicalism.
"Choice"
Recommended.
"Bibliotheca Sacra"
Fascinating and alarming. . . . [Wells ] warning should be taken seriously by all thinking Protestants.
"Reformed Theological Review"
In an age that is awash with the desire to be relevant and post-confessional, David Wells book is a necessary and brave corrective.
"

Preaching Magazine, "Books Every Preacher Should Read"(2009)"Calvin Theological Journal" An importantly different book. "Theological Book Review" "The Courage to Be Protestant "is an engaging and interesting book and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the current state and development of American evangelicalism. "Choice" Recommended. "Bibliotheca Sacra" Fascinating and alarming. . . . [Wells ] warning should be taken seriously by all thinking Protestants. "Reformed Theological Review" In an age that is awash with the desire to be relevant and post-confessional, David Wells book is a necessary and brave corrective. "
Preaching Magazine, Books Every Preacher Should Read (2009)

Calvin Theological Journal
-An importantly different book.

Theological Book Review
-The Courage to Be Protestant is an engaging and interesting book and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the current state and development of American evangelicalism.-

Choice
-Recommended.-

Bibliotheca Sacra
-Fascinating and alarming. . . . [Wells'] warning should be taken seriously by all thinking Protestants.-

Reformed Theological Review
-In an age that is awash with the desire to be relevant and post-confessional, David Wells' book is a necessary and brave corrective.-

From the Author:

This book started out as a simple summary of the four volumes that had preceded it. All books, however, develop a life of their own, and this has been no exception.

I needed to update what had been said in the previous volumes because some of it had been begunmore than a decade ago. In addition to this, I had to compress these volumes into a single account. How does one reduce 1,100 pages to 250?

Once this work got under way I found myself not so much compressing as recasting all that I had done and then updating it.

The result is that this book is less a summary and more an attempt at getting at the essence of the project that has engaged me over the last fifteen years. And, hopefully, it will be more accessible than the previous books, not to mention less taxing on readers!