Book Review: The Courage to Be Protestant
By Trevin Wax on Jun 25, 2008 in Book Reviews | 
Print This Post | Share (Twitter, Email, Facebook)
In his newest book, The Courage to Be Protestant: Truth-lovers, Marketers, and Emergents in the Postmodern World (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2008), David Wells launches a stinging critique of contemporary evangelicalism, particularly in its market-driven and Emerging forms. Bundling together the insights from his previous books, Wells advocates a return to doctrinal fidelity and a renewed trust in Scriptural authority.
David Wells reminds me of a curmudgeonly grandfather – a man full of wisdom who is also highly opinionated. The Courage to Be Protestant contains piercing insights into the problems of today’s evangelical movement along with a good dose of “attitude” that keeps the book entertaining. (Take for example Wells’ description of the hip-hop culture “set apart by their getups, their tattoos, their piercings, jewelry, hoodies, off-kilter baseball caps, and pants that look like they were made by a drunken tailor.” [15])
Wells is at his best when offering insight into why our culture is going through its contemporary turmoil. He rightly notices how our terminology has shifted (for example, we no longer look at lost people as “unconverted” but as merely “unchurched” [45].) He sees through the market-driven mentality of many churches, where “the benefits of believing [Christianity] are marketed, not the truth from which the benefits derive. (53)”
Wells’ chapter on God is terrific. He writes: “Culture does not give the church its agenda. All it gives the church is its context. The church’s belief and mission come from the Word of God.” (98) He argues that we have lost our center, and this because we have lost the God that is outside of ourselves. We have misunderstood God’s nearness and immanence as if he were inside us. The truth of the God that stands outside of us is what gives us the Law, defines sin, and makes the cross necessary. Here, Wells calls us to recover God’s transcendence.
In later chapters, he makes his case for the public nature of Christian truth claims. Particularly insightful is the way that Wells shows how many Christians have become both secular and spiritual. “Secularization does not mean that all religion and spirituality must wither away. It simply means that all religion and spirituality need to be kept private.” (187) Wells articulates a robust understanding of the penal substitutionary atonement, and yet he nuances it in all the right places. For instance, he believes we should make the distinction that Christ took upon himself the penalty of our sin, not that he was punished for sin. (201). In other words, God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus; God did not condemn Jesus.
Yet The Courage to Be Protestant has several problems. Wells puts too much stock in surveys and polls. For example, he worries that only 32 percent of evangelicals believe in absolutes (93). I cannot help but wonder if most evangelicals even speak in these categories enough to be able to answer such a survey question accurately.
Other times, he makes sweeping generalizations without the documentation to back up his point. For example, he argues (without any documentation) that the overwhelming majority of evangelical pastors have become seeker-sensitive (44). A brief glance at the layout of the large number of smaller, rural evangelical churches might change that perception.
Or take his common refrain that Americans are “spiritual, but not religious” (60, 185). Researchers are beginning to see how this generalization is not only undocumented, but simply untrue. (See Robert Wuthnow’s After the Baby Boomers for some surprising statistics.)
Throughout the book, Wells advocates a return to the doctrinal convictions of previous eras, but he sometimes conflates doctrinal conviction with the re-adoption of certain forms and traditions not specifically prescribed in Scripture. In a terrific chapter that takes the evangelical church to task for making Christianity “for sale” through the embrace of a market mentality, Wells shows how consumerism has changed American evangelicalism. But the chapter is marred by his lament over the contemporary preacher who sits on a barstool (which replaced the Plexiglas stand, which earlier replaced the pulpit). Wells seems to think the pulpit is the most sacred place for a pastor to stand (29). The absence of pulpits might indeed be due to the market mentality of some mega-churches, but surely the answer to our consumerism is not merely returning to the pulpit!
Other problems surface in some of Wells’ contradictions. For example, on page 80, he argues that “Scripture is… the truth. Scripture is not only a measure, not only a standard, but is also truth.” Two pages later, he distinguishes between Jesus and Scripture by saying “Scripture is true, but he is the truth.” And then, “…only of Christ can it be said that he is the truth.” Without further elaboration, the reader is left wondering what the relationship between Jesus and the Bible might be.
The Courage to Be Protestant is a book that should be read and digested by evangelical leaders today. Most of Wells’ analysis is correct. He puts his finger on many of the foundational problems that are corroding our evangelical identity. Though his tone is often pessimistic and he offers little evidence or hope for a resurgence of biblical orthodoxy, Wells’ counsel and instruction are worthy of receiving and hearing. Readers may disagree at times with the “grumpy Grandpa,” but I, for one, am glad that the wise curmudgeon had the courage to write such a book.
written by Trevin Wax. copyright © 2008 Kingdom People Blog.
Check out SaidatSouthern.com for a chapter-by-chapter analysis of The Courage to Be Protestant.
© Copyright by Trevin Wax | Print This Post | Share (Twitter, Email, Facebook)
Hi Trevin,
really appreciate your blog. Enjoy checking it out whenever I can.
Thanks for your helpful review above. Sorry if this comment is somewhat negative but this latest Wells book sounds exactly like the same stuff he’s been writing about for the last 20years. I’ve read a number of his other books and this latest one sounds like yet one more rehash of his ideas. He only has the one point. Our culture and the church have gone down the tubes and our only hope is a good dose of his own Calvinistic Reformed theology. He really does sound like a grumpy old relative longing for a return to the “golden days” of the church/culture (as if they ever existed). He is a church historian after all. I don’t say this to dismiss him but just to point out where he’s coming from and why his conclusions might in actual fact not be surprising at all in light of his own context.
In you conclusion you say “..his tone is often pessimistic and he offers little evidence or hope for a resurgence of biblical orthodoxy…” this is exactly the same take home message you would have got from his earlier books. If you’ve never read Wells before you’ll enjoy this book but if you have then it’ll all be depressingly the same. IMHO not what we need if we’re ever going to live out and proclaim the good news of Jesus in our world today.
Cheers
Rob
Rob Downunder | Jun 25, 2008 | Reply
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the feedback. The Courage to Be Protestant is the first book of Wells that I have read. Actually, he admits that its a synthesis and summary of the previous books he has written.
I agree with much of Wells’ analysis. However, I am not convinced that evangelicalism was ever as doctrinally-centered as he seems to think. Yes, there were some core doctrines that all evangelicals agreed upon, but I do not believe that what actually united evangelicals fifty years ago was something else – namely, experience. We are reaping today the harvest from the bad seeds that are in our root system.
Wells’ book is worth reading though. Much of what he says is spot on. He is a keen observer of trends.
trevinwax | Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Hi Trevin,
I first chimed in on your blog out of appreciation for your great review of True Story . Thank you also for this even-handed treatment of Wells’ new book, which many wary of the seeker-sensitive and emergent movements will endorse uncritically. However, in the past year-plus I have moved from hostility to amity w.r.t. reformed curmudgeonry, driving me to recommend softening some of the criticisms listed in the review.
1. Wells puts too much stock in surveys and polls.
I haven’t read the book, of course, but is it possible that when Wells cites such results, he allows for ambiguity in explaining them? For example, with the absolutes survey, could it be that whether the results reflect moral relativism, epistemic confusion, or sloppy gut sensitivity to cultural differences in a diverse world (not that these are mutually exclusive!), Wells sees this as a disturbing trend?
2. The absence of pulpits might indeed be due to the market mentality of some mega-churches, but surely the answer to our consumerism is not merely returning to the pulpit!
When I read this, I thought you had misunderstood Wells. I think that, for him, Plexiglas stands and barstools are symptomatic of culture dictating the church’s agenda, of churches falling over themselves to lure and please a clientele. Pulpits on the other hand, are associated with a reverence for teaching from the Bible, reminding the congregation that “the church’s belief and mission come from the Word of God.” I think he would admit the point that pulpits do not inherently guard against consumerism, though; too much of traditional evangelicalism has stunk of spiritual consumerism in a different garb!
3. Though his tone is often pessimistic and he offers little evidence or hope for a resurgence of biblical orthodoxy, Wells’ counsel and instruction are worthy of receiving and hearing.
Striking a wise balance between hope and concern is difficult. Without drawing the issue out, I believe that biblical teaching, historical testimony, and contemporary observation can collectively inform a legitimately bleak outlook on the future of the western church.
Thanks again for the review. Great points about unsupported generalizations, the myth(?) of resurgent secular spirituality, and muddiness about the relationship between God and the Word of God. This blog is a gem.
Mike Odlyzko | Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for the comments, Mike. I did enjoy Wells’ book. It’s well-written, highly insightful, and rightly acknowledges the weaknesses in evangelicalism.
Perhaps he is leaving to others the difficult job of deciding where to go from here.
trevinwax | Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Hi Trevin!
Thanks for your review. In it you said:
“…he believes we should make the distinction that Christ took upon himself the penalty of our sin, not that he was punished for sin. (201). In other words, God condemned sin in the flesh of Jesus; God did not condemn Jesus”
I don’t really understand what is meant by this distinction or why it’s necessary. Would you mind explaining it to me? Feel free to e-mail me if you’d prefer not to write something here.
Thanks a lot
Ed
Ed | Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Hi Ed,
The point I made in the review was that Wells affirms penal substitution the way the Bible affirms substitution. He chooses to use the same language of Scripture. The Bible does not speak of God the Father condemning the Son, but of the Father condemning sin in the flesh of Jesus. (Romans 8:3) That is why in 2 Corinthians 5:21, we see God the Father making Jesus to be sin – the Son who knew no sin.
It might not make much of a difference to some, but I always a appreciate it when a writer seeks to be faithful to the Bible, not only in the concepts it affirms, but in the way the Bible itself describes those concepts.
trevinwax | Jun 26, 2008 | Reply
Hello Trevin,
Thanks for your work on this web site. I Appreciate the book reviews, especially the work with N.T. Wright. How did you land that interview?
Anyway, to the comment at hand. I appreciate your take on Wells. He is quite Old School Reformed, but a needed voice in the midst of the contemporary Church. One thing, you note, “Other times, he makes sweeping generalizations without the documentation to back up his point. For example, he argues (without any documentation) that the overwhelming majority of evangelical pastors have become seeker-sensitive (44).” Wells notes at the beginning of the book that he has intentionally NOT documented this particular book. The reason? This book is a summary of his previous three books (No Place For Truth; God in the Wasteland; Losing Our Virtue; and Above All Earthly Pow’rs.” I assure you, the previous books are documented to the hilt.
Thanks again. And, if you get a chance, do pray for the Presbyterian Church (USA). I was a minister commissioner to that just completed Assembly. You think you have problems in the SBC!
In Christ,
Rev. Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith | Jun 29, 2008 | Reply
Trevin, I always enjoy your critical reviews. I’m not a big fan of blog book reviews that sound like extended blurbs. I appreciate your more critical remarks.
fyi, I added you to my small blog list (that no one reads anyway) as an expression of my appreciation for your contributions to theological reflection
Bradley Cochran | Aug 8, 2008 | Reply