21 April 2008

The Courage to Be Protestant

Reading David Wells' The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-Lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Eerdmans '08), which is a distillation and reworking of his previous 4-book series (No Place for Truth, Losing Our Virtue, God in the Wasteland, and Above All Earthly Pow'rs). An extremely insightful handful of books. He has reflected long and hard on both the Bible and on the world and culture around us--helpful in ways similar to D. A. Carson in this respect. So if you don't want to read all 4 in the series, I suggest reading this most recent one.

At times I wish he would spend less time diagnosing and more time medicating. The good news must always outshine the bad news, and I don't think Dr. Wells always keeps this in view. But the book/s are tremendouly helpful nonetheless. The bottom line is that I am learning tons. Read this tonight, as he describes what is needed in the American church:

A due and weighty sense of the greatness and holiness of God, a sense that will reach into our lives, wrench them around, lift our vision, fill our hearts, make us courageous for what is right, and over time leave behind its beautiful residue of Christlike character.

--p. 133

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