The Courage to Be Protestant

Here is a simple rule to keep in mind: When David F. Wells writes a book, buy it with no hesitation. I bought his book The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Eerdmans, 2008) two days ago. It’s his fifth book to analyze how the church has been attacked and corrupted by Postmodernism (outside) and new forms of liberalism (inside) and what the Church should do in order to let God be God over the Church. If you want to know why the church has been losing her distinctive role and prophetic function in society, Well’s book can definitely offer you a critique.

An excerpt:

“Evangelicalism had two flaws that have been there from the beginning in its post-World War II phase. The first flaw is that evangelicalism has an inclination to allow its biblical core to shrink. In parts of the evangelical world today, it has shrunk so much that virtually nothing remains. This was so initially because evangelism has been a populist movement that owes much of its temper to democratic impulses. When it also became a marketing phenomenon, further emptying-out happened.”

“Second, and alongside this, evangelicalism’s inherently para nature asserted itself that it increasingly became parachurch to the point where the local church, in biblical terms, became increasingly irrelevant. Once these things began to happen, I believe, evangelicalism was on its way to decline.” (p. 210)

The first point is about Christian historic doctrines being de-centered and lost in the church. Christian doctrines no longer offer direction and set moral boundaries for Christians. The second point is about the church being marginalized by para-Christian organizations. Christians no longer think within the church, but apart from the church.