Top 5 Christian Theologians: Thomas Aquinas

THOMAS AQUINAS

Dates Lived:  1225-1274

Most important works:

• Summa Theologica (1274)
• Summa Contra Gentiles (1264)

Biggest Contributions:

• Believed that a combination of Faith and Reason led to true knowledge of God
• Sought rational proofs for the existence of God
• Greatly influenced the Catholic notions of mortal and venial sins
• Popularized the rising view of the Lord’s Supper known as “transubstantiation”
• Apologist for Christianity in a time in which Islam was increasing rapidly

Favorite Quotes

“All the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly.”

“The sole way to overcome an adversary of divine truth is from the authority of Scripture.”

“Reason contains certain likenesses of what belongs to faith, and certain preambles to it, as nature is a preamble to grace.”

“In God there is pure truth, with which no falsity or deception can be mingled.”

“If the only way open to us for the knowledge of God were solely that of reason, the human race would remain in the blackest shadows of ignorance.”

“Knowledge must be through faith.”

“All the good that is in a man is due to God.”

Book Review: Simple Spirituality

American life today is increasingly cluttered. We live in a fast-paced society that claims the answer to our insatiable appetites is in the unfettered pursuit of more stuff. Unfortunately, the church has often become complicit in this lie, offering us tips to better our lives rather than grace that transforms our vision of reality.

No wonder that many are now issuing a call for simplicity – a spirituality that shuns the materialistic impulses of our culture and finds true satisfaction in the way of Jesus.

Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World (IVP, 2008) is written by Chris Heuertz, international director of Word Made Flesh, an organization that reaches out to the most vulnerable of the world’s poor. In Simple Spirituality, Chris shares the insights he has gained while working with the poor and encourages the church to capture his vision of ministering to the less fortunate.

Shane Claiborne writes in the foreword:

“This is a book about a spirituality that leads us all to life - about how the poor need the rich and the rich need the poor, and how all of us are in need of God.” (11)

In his call for a simple spirituality, Chris centers his book on five principles:

• Humility
• Community
• Simplicity
• Submission
• Brokenness

Throughout his narrative, he speaks about how he has found Christ in the faces of the poor:

“As we look upon the faces of our friends who are poor, as we see the children, friends begging on the streets, and those in need, we are being confronted by Christ. He is placing before us an opportunity to love and serve him through the needs of the impoverished. He is offering an invitation to his community.” (70)

There is much in this book that I relate too. I know what it is like to see people digging through your trash. Having ministered among the poorest of the Romanian Gypsies, I can identify with Chris’ desire to wake the American church out of its slumber of complacency. Some of my most joyous times in Christian ministry have been with the poorest of the poor.

And yet, I differ from Chris in that I do not claim to have found Christ in the “poor” in some generic sense. I have seen the face of Christ in the Christian poor people that I have encountered – impoverished Christians who give out of their poverty to help other poor people.

For Chris, poverty=Christlikeness. I agree that we in the West can and should learn from the poor, but we should make a distinction here. As Christians, we see Jesus in our brothers and sisters – not merely in any poor person.

I appreciated the emphasis that Simple Spirituality places on the nature of unmerited grace. The poverty that Chris has witnessed has deepened his appreciation for grace - both receiving and showing it. But Chris never bases grace in the cross. Grace as unmerited favor is held in high esteem, and yet personal salvation and evangelism goes unmentioned.

The best chapter in Simple Spirituality is the one that calls us to simplicity. Christians would do well to read and implement Chris’ insights in this chapter. As more and more people bow down to the idols of success, entertainment, and money, a return to simplicity in an effort to follow the way of Jesus is timely. I relate to Chris’ difficulty in wrestling with the disparity of excess versus extreme poverty or the question of how to treat beggars.

Chris’ chapter on power is the weakest. He does well to show the radical nature of power being focused through service, yet he fails to take biblical authority into account. At one point, he skips over a few biblical texts on submission and merely asserts a strong egalitarianism.

While the illustrations are memorable and much of Chris’ advice helpful, Simple Spirituality is severely hampered by poor theology that leaves little room for the nature of true salvation. However, Chris is right to seek to wake us up to the realities of the world we live in. He writes:

“We want to let God in, but usually on our terms. We want to make room for Christ to reign on the thrones of our hearts, but only a clean Christ, who doesn’t make a mess of our lives.”

Absolutely. That’s why Simple Spirituality, despite its many flaws, still serves as a good reminder that the way of Jesus is narrow, messy, and difficult – but its rewards are incalculable.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog 

Top 5 Christian Theologians: Augustine

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Dates Lived:  354-430

Most important works:

• Confessions (398)
• On the Trinity (416)
• On Christian Doctrine (426)
• The City of God (426)

Biggest Contributions:

• Articulated the doctrine of original sin and God’s grace through divine predestination over against Pelagius’ emphasis on free will and innate human goodness
• Proposed a distinction between the “church visible” and the “church invisible”
• Popularized the amillennial view of the End Times, which has become the most dominant throughout church history
• Wrote about the relationship between church and state; he was the first to advocate the idea of a “just war”
• Developed a sacramental theology that would form the foundation of the practices of the Roman Catholic Church

Favorite Quotes

“You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” (Confessions I, i, 1)  

“Give what You command, and command what You will.” (Confessions X, xxix, 40)

“Man’s maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast;
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey;
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood;
that Strength might grow weak;
that the Healer might be wounded;
that Life might die.” - (Sermons 191.1)

“Excess is the enemy of God.”

“If you believe what you like in the Gospel, and reject what you don’t like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself.”

“To sing once is to pray twice.”

“Love God, and do whatever you please.” Sermon on 1 John 7, 8

“Works not rooted in God are splendid sins.”

Related Posts:
A Look at Augustine’s Confessions
Augustine: The Early Years
Augustine’s Fruitless Pursuit
Augustine’s Conversion
Augustine: Let Me Know You

Gospel Definitions: Pope Benedict XVI

“The term has recently been translated as ‘good news.’ That sounds attractive, but it falls far short of the order of magnitude of what is actually meant by the word evangelion. This term figures in the vocabulary of the Roman emperors, who understood themselves as lords, saviors, and redeemers of the world…. The idea was that what comes from the emperor is a saving message, that it is not just a piece of news, but a changing of the world for the better.

“When the Evangelists adopt this word, and it thereby becomes the generic name for their writings, what they mean to tell us is this: What the emperors, who pretend to be gods, illegitimately claim, really occurs here - a message endowed with plenary authority, a message that is not just talk but reality…. the Gospel is not just informative speech, but performative speech - not just the imparting of information, but action, efficacious power that enters into the world to save and transform. Mark speaks of the ‘Gospel of God,’ the point being that it is not the emperors who can save the world, but God. And it is here that God’s word, which is at once word and deed, appears; it is here that what the emperors merely assert, but cannot actually perform, truly takes place. For here it is the real Lord of the world - the Living God - who goes into action.

“The core of the Gospel is this: The Kingdom of God is at hand.“

- Pope Benedict XVI, from Jesus of Nazareth, pgs. 46-47.

Top 5 Christian Theologians: Athanasius

ATHANASIUS OF ALEXANDRIA

Dates Lived:  298-373

Most important works:

• On the Incarnation (317)
• The Nicene Creed (325)

Biggest Contributions:

• Untiring advocate for Trinitarian theology against Arianism. In fact, much of the way we think about the Trinity goes back to his efforts.
• A biography of Anthony the Great that inspired the monastic movement
• First to identify the 27 books currently in our New Testament
• Main author of the Nicene Creed, unarguably the most important creed in Christian history.

Favorite Quotes

“The Jesus whom I know as my Redeemer cannot be less than God.”

“The Son of God became man so that men might become sons of God.”

“You cannot put straight in others what is warped in yourself.”

“[We believe] in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the essence of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one essence with the Father, through Whom all things came into being, things in heaven and things on earth, Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down and became incarnate, becoming man, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended to the heavens, and will come again to judge the living and the dead…” - from the 325 version of The Nicene Creed 

 

Saddleback Forum Video & Transcript: Obama / McCain with Rick Warren

For those of you who missed the Leadership and Compassion Forum, hosted by Rick Warren at Saddleback Church on Saturday, August 16… here are the videos from the evening, featuring both John McCain and Barack Obama answering questions from Pastor Rick Warren. (You can access the full transcript here.)

BARACK OBAMA WITH RICK WARREN AT SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

JOHN MCCAIN WITH RICK WARREN AT SADDLEBACK CIVIL FORUM

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Related Posts:
Clinton Lashes Out at Pro-Lifers
Why We Are Pro-Life
Social Security Crisis’ Dark Side: Abortion
Letter to Bill O’Reilly Regarding the Desecration of the Sacrament
Death of a Dictator

Jesus Makes Morning and Evening Rejoice

“Jesus Christ
who makes morning and evening rejoice,
shed in my soul your light, and love, and life,
so that I may be as pure and radiant
as alpine heights at dawn, and noon, and evening.”

- F.B. Meyer

No Such Thing as “The Culture”

“Finding our place in the world as culture makers requires us to pay attention to culture’s many dimensions. We will make something of the world in a particular ethnic tradition, in particular spheres, at particular scales. There is no such thing as ‘the Culture,’ and any attempt to talk about ‘the Culture,’ especially in terms of ‘transforming the Culture,’ is misled and misleading. Real culture making, not to mention cultural transformation, begins with a decision about which cultural world - or better, worlds - we will attempt to make something of.

“Some people choose a set of cultural ripples that was not originally their own. When they do so in pursuit of economic or political opportunities, we’ve traditionally called them ‘immigrants’; when they do so in pursuit of evangelistic or religious opportunities, we’ve called them ‘missionaries.’ But as wheels within wheels overlap more and more in a mobile world, most of us have some choice about which cultures we will call our own. We are almost all immigrants now, and more of us than we may realize are missionaries too.”

- Andy Crouch, from Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling, pgs. 48-49.

Who Are the Most Important Christian Theologians?

Who are the most important, most influential theologians in Christian history?  If you had to narrow down your list to five, who would you choose?

After having discussed this question with several seminary students, professors and theologians, I have chosen the five theologians who I believe have left the most lasting influence on Christian theology and practice.

Beginning on Monday of next week, we’ll look at one theologian a day. I’ll provide a brief biographical sketch, some major contributions to Christian theology, and then some of my favorite quotes.

But until Monday, let’s open up the lines of discussion. Which five would you pick? And why?

In the Blogosphere

Robbie Sagers reflects on his recent visit to the Church Basement Road Show “revival” meeting with Emerging Church leaders.

Michael Spencer is dead-on. Some of our enthusiasm for “engaging Hollywood” is just a mask to cover up how much we love to be entertained.

Check out this preview for Mark Driscoll’s new book, Death by Love.

Is there Ageism in the Southern Baptist Convention?

This church in Tennessee is hosting a conference centered on renewing traditional churches.

Top Post this Week at Kingdom People: Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King Live (Video)

Coming up next week: Look for a list of the top five most important Christian theologians; I’ll also be reviewing a new book advocating simplicity in spirituality.

Interview with Red Mountain Church

A couple of years ago, I was browsing the LifeWay bookstore at Southern Seminary and came across an odd-looking red CD called The Gadsby Project by a group called Red Mountain Church. I listened to a couple of tracks and was intrigued by the forgotten hymns that were included on the project. I bought the CD and went home to listen some more. The next day, I went back to the bookstore and bought all their CDs.

You might be unfamiliar with Red Mountain Church. The group is based in Birmingham, Alabama. They take old hymn texts and put them to new music. They have five CDs available (and one on the way) - all of which are worthy of attention.

I recently recorded a podcast interview with three of the main musicians/singers for Red Mountain Church: Brian Murphy, Clint Wells, and Ashley Spurling (the main vocalist… listen to a couple of her songs and you’ll realize why). The interview also includes snippets of some of their songs.

Some of the questions I ask:

• Why the Gadsby hymnbook?
• How do you come up with the new melodies for the old hymns?
• What’s the writing process like?
• What project is coming up next?

Download the interview here: (Right-click, and then choose “Save Target As…” to your computer).

Visit their website to hear more clips.

Check out some of their lighter stuff on YouTube.

Book Review: Who Gets to Narrate the World?

One of the last books from Robert Webber, Who Gets to Narrate the World? Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals (IVP, 2008) may become one of his best-remembered. Though the book is brief (137 pages), it is a substantive work that addresses the fundamental spiritual issue of our day: Whose worldview will triumph? Or as Webber puts it: Who gets to narrate the world?

Written during Webber’s battle with cancer shortly before his death, Who Gets to Narrate the World exhibits a personal urgency that stands out among his other books. The ideas flow freely and quickly here, with Webber pleading for renewal of Western Christianity in the face of the challenges of our day.

Webber sees both an external challenge (Radical Islam) and an internal challenge (Christian accommodation to culture) facing the church. He believes we should respond to these two challenges by embracing the fullness of God’s meta-narrative. Webber passionately pleads for the restoration of God’s narrative - a restoration that will bring change to our churches, reinvigorate our worship, and refortify the pillars of Western civilization.

Who Gets to Narrate the World describes the rise of early Christianity in the context of pagan Rome, and how a biblical worldview formed the foundations of Western civilization. Webber then seeks to explain how the Christian story was lost through its accommodation to culture. Today, secular relativism and pluralism cannot uphold our postmodern, post-Christian, neo-pagan world. The foundations of Western civilization are crumbling under the threat of radical Islam. Webber’s urgent tone is buoyed by the strong hope that God story can revive the West and reinvigorate the life of the Church.

Webber’s book at times resembles the later thought of Francis Schaeffer (though Webber replaces “worldview” terminology with “narrative”). He argues that reason and science in the modern world have become the enemy of God’s narrative through the separation of the secular from the sacred. Turning to the historic understanding of the incarnation, Webber seeks to show that life cannot be separated into sacred/secular distinctions. He rightly claims that the Christian Story (worldview) stands against the other stories. It is “the Holy Spirit versus jihad” (88).

Also Schaefferian is Webber’s solidly pro-life stance (92), his approval of exclusive Christian truth claims, and his belief that the Western culture has moved into a cycle of decay. Webber makes the case for democracy as the most superior form of government devised by humanity. He even applauds Democratic efforts to restrain Radical Islam.

But Webber rightly refuses to equate democracy with the Christian story and forcefully argues against the dangers of civil religion. He compares September 11, 2001 to the Fall of Rome in A.D. 410, and writes:

“In a world that has no story, new contenders are emerging to narrate the world their way” (99).

In the past, Webber has been dismissive of the penal substitutionary understanding of the atonement in favor of the Christus Victor model. But in Who Gets to Narrate the World, Webber seems to have softened his stance towards penal substitution, allowing the substitutionary nature of Christ’s death to peek through in many places. He affirms that Christ gave himself as a propitiation for our sins and that he came to be damned for us all. “In Jesus, God comes in human skin to reverse the human condition and reconcile humanity to the Father” (32).

Webber’s description of God’s narrative emerging in a pagan Roman world is very insightful. Roman culture was one of moral decadence, philosophical relativism, and religious pluralism. By pointing back to the Christian faith in the Roman cultural setting, Weber finds the tools necessary to sustain Christianity in today’s world. The similarities between ancient Rome and contemporary Western society are striking.

Yet for all of its brilliant insights, Who Gets to Narrate the World does have a few problems. Webber tends to create false dichotomies. In an overreaction against rationalistic apologetics, he turns to “narrative truth” instead of propositional truth. And yet, he seems to miss the very propositional nature of the creeds he himself quotes and affirms (27-28). 

Webber’s reduction of his vision into false distinctions undermines some of what is good in this book. At times, he seems to endorse a type of fideism. In his rush to throw out rationalistic apologetics, he does not properly take into account the complexities of the early church, especially the work of the early fathers to prove the Christan Story by using the philosophical tools of the time.

The idea that the comprehensive story of God stands on its own and does not need external support is helpful in one sense (we do not need science in order to believe) and harmful in another (after all, if Christianity is true, it is true in every sphere). Webber overlooks the fact that we should be able to find testimony to the Christian truth claims from both inside and outside God’s narrative.

At times Webber overestimates the importance of the church’s liturgy. He never fully proves his point that an emphasis on proper liturgy will help us hold onto a proper understanding of God’s narrative. He writes of the ancient church:

“The church building, the liturgy itself, with all of its attending signs and symbols and especially the words of the Eucharistic prayer, clearly portrayed who gets to narrate the world” (68).

Does proper worship necessarily guard against losing God’s narrative? The empty cathedrals of Europe seem to indicate otherwise. And how important is the Eucharistic prayer really?

In other places, Webber resorts to soundbites that are never fully explained. For example, he says that “God invites us to enter his narrative by faith and live out his vision of the world” (116). What does it mean to enter into God’s narrative? How does one do so? How does this description relate to the Kingdom? To conversion? Left in soundbite form, Webber’s terminology is undefined and rather vague.

But the overall thesis of Who Gets to Narrate the World is fundamentally sound. The Christian message is a single, universal narrative of everything. It is interesting to me that in the final weeks of his life, Webber sounded less and less like the Emerging Church advocate he had become in recent years and more and more like an apologist in the school Francis Schaeffer. It is often said that foreseeing one’s own death can be clarifying. Surely this is the case with Who Gets to Narrate the World.

Webber’s final work marks the end of an illustrious career, but more importantly, it issues a passionate call to the affirmation of the Christian Story in the face of its challengers.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

Related Articles:
Book Review: Ancient-Future Faith
In Honor of Robert Webber: An Interview
15 Must-Read Books on Worship

Bedtime Prayers with our Children

Do you ever feel you are failing to teach your children to pray?

The days are hurried. The more kids you have, the more difficult it is to gather everyone together for family prayer. When your child does start to pray, it’s the same prayer every night. You wonder how much he or she is praying from the heart and how much of their prayer is merely a formality. You yourself are exhausted from your efforts. Sometimes, it just seems like taking a few minutes every night to pray is too much.

Let me encourage you. Young children soak in everything we say to them. Don’t be frustrated if they’re not reciting the catechism by the age of 4. Don’t be frustrated if they seem to be disinterested when you pray. Don’t be frustrated by their lack of attention span.

Pray anyway.

Our son has learned the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and other Psalms merely through repeating certain prayers each night. No, we have not tested his memory or promised him certain rewards for praying fervently. Mere repetition does it all.

Quote Psalm 23 to your children every night for two weeks and you’ll be amazed at how quickly they can say it with you… word for word. Rather than seeing repetition as something that stifles prayer, we’ve discovered in our home that repetition is the best way to pray with a young child.

If this is any help at all, I’m including our usual nightly prayers that we say over our children:

Our Nightly Prayers

We gather as a family in our son’s room, turn the lights down, and kneel by his bedside (most of the time). By the way, I recommend you have these prayers memorized before you start teaching them. It will be more effective than reading them from a book. Furthermore, it will spur you on to greater efforts in memorizing.

1. Apostles’ Creed (with motions) - We quote the updated one (click here), and we use hand motions as well. Our son loves the story of Christ, especially “on the third day, he ROSE AGAIN!!!” (insert brief moment of bed-jumping here.)
2. May the Lord Almighty grant us and those we love a peaceful night and a perfect end.
3. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 124:8)
4. Confession: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you, through our own fault, in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. For the sake of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us all our offenses, and grant that we may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your name, Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)
5. Gloria: Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever, Amen.
6. Bible Memorization: Choose a psalm or a Bible passage you want your kids to know by heart. Quote it here for a few weeks.
7. The Lord’s Prayer: We use the ESV.
8. Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, for you have redeemed me, O Lord, O God of truth. Keep me, O Lord, as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 17:8, 31:5)
9. Personal, spontaneous prayers: Each member of the family prays for a minute or two whatever is on our hearts.

It may seem like such a prayer program would take a long time. It doesn’t. Usually, we’re finished praying within 5-10 minutes. But the impact on our family has been great. When I was away from home last month, my son asked my wife to call me, put me on speakerphone and let me lead the family in prayers long-distance before he went to bed.

What kinds of prayer practices have you found effective with your children?

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

Following Christ

“Follow Me.”
- Jesus speaking to Matthew (Luke 5:27)

One of the greatest realizations a person can come to in the early stages of Christian faith is that Christ’s command to follow him means we should follow him and him alone. His call is one of unconditional surrender and total allegiance to his Name.

Yet, even in the name of Christ, we are often, even unknowingly, influenced to follow another master:

• Religion may have us follow forms of tradition that we have grown comfortable with.
• Churches may have us follow charismatic pastors and preachers and the teachers whose words and concepts tickle our ears.
• Popular culture will court us to follow singers, glitzy stars, and the writers who entertain us.
• Evangelicalism might want us to buy into the latest fad in the Christian subculture.

Yet, Jesus didn’t say, “Follow them”; he said quite clearly, “Follow me.” The true disciple puts his loyalty, not with a group or another human or a new idea, however good those things may be, but only with his master who has called him by name.

The truth is, the moment we follow someone other than Christ is the moment we set ourselves up for huge disappointment. People fail. They sin no matter how holy we might think them to be. The greatest Christian leaders have everyday struggles and sins that the public never sees. The Christian fad today may be in the dustbin of history tomorrow.

Only Christ remains the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Only Christ is the perfect Lamb of God – the single Person worthy of all our devotion. Once we put all of our hope and faith in him, we can truly fulfill His command as disciples.

When the disappointment brought about by other Christians comes (and it will come), the disciple who has truly heard his Master’s call, “Follow ME,” will be able to see through the tears of disappointment to his loving Savior that remains unblemished through it all.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog 

Help Us Do Right

Grant to us, Lord, we pray,
the spirit to think and do always
those things that are right,
that we, who cannot exist without you,
may by you be enabled to live according to your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

- The Book of Common Prayer

The Community of the Cross

“The world, for all its beauty, is hostile to the truth. Witness without compromise leads to worldly hostility.

“The cross is not a sign of the church’s quiet, suffering submission to the powers-that-be, but rather the church’s revolutionary participation in the victory of Christ over those powers.

“The cross is not a symbol for general human suffering and oppression. Rather, the cross is a sign of what happens when one takes God’s account of reality more seriously than Caesar’s. The cross stands as God’s (and our) eternal no to the powers of death, as well as God’s eternal yes to humanity, God’s remarkable determination not to leave us to our own devices.

“The overriding political task of the church is to be the community of the cross.”

- Stanley Hauerwas and William H. Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony, page 47.

Steven Curtis Chapman on Larry King Live (Video)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

In the Blogosphere

Michael Patton has a very long post that is worthy of a good, long look. He seeks to bring some sanity into the discussion of the Emerging Church. Will the Real Emerger Please Stand Up?

An inspiring story about the oldest living graduate of Southern Seminary, still preaching on his 100th birthday.

Do Baptists believe in “Once Saved, Always Saved?”

Tullian points us to a primer on cultural literacy.

An interview with one of my favorite SBTS professors: Jonathan Pennington

Top 13 reasons that unchurched people choose a church

Check out Charles Spurgeon’s hymn about the Lord’s Supper

Top Post this week at Kingdom People: Lessons from a Blog Sabbatical

Next week at Kingdom People: We’ll take a look at Robert Webber’s Who Gets to Narrate the World? … I’ve got some advice on establishing a nightly prayer tradition with your children… And we’ll be releasing a podcast interview with the great musicians that are Red Mountain Church.

Interview with Rabbi Derek Leman

Today, I am interviewing Derek Leman, author of a new LifeWay Threads Bible Study called Feast: Finding Your Place at the Table of Tradition. Derek is a rabbi and serves at Tikvat David (Hope of David) in Roswell, Georgia. Derek hopes to bring the vision of Moses and the prophets where it belongs into New Testament theology. He believes that a Judaism not centered on Jesus is like a tree without life. But Christianity without its Hebrew foundation is like a tree without roots. 

Trevin Wax: In Feast, you come across as strongly pro-tradition. Why do you think that keeping ancient traditions can help strengthen us spiritually?

Derek Leman: When I was in high school, I asked my teacher why I should prefer to read a classic rather than a contemporary novel. Her answer was that the classics have been proven by the test of time.

The kind of traditions that interest me must pass three tests:

1. They were widely used by a community of like faith to mine
2. They are strongly tied to biblical practices and truths
3. They have endured and are being used in present communities.

I’m not saying I would completely rule out a tradition that didn’t meet all these tests, but these are guidelines. Jewish traditions frequently meet these criteria. When I keep Jewish traditions, in many cases I can see that I am living in a manner similar to people at the time of Scripture. I think that many Christian traditions meet these criteria also, provided pagan worship and gnostic ideas do not lie behind them.

Trevin Wax: What do you do with Jesus, who spoke very negatively about the Pharisees who were elevating tradition to the same level as God’s revelation? In Feast, you argue that Jesus was not against all tradition. Having learned from Jesus’ example, what are the promises and dangers of keeping ancient Jewish traditions today?

Derek Leman: I think we should be more nuanced in how we say Jesus responded to tradition.

• Jesus objected to tradition that overruled divine command (Mark 7:11, when giving to the temple became an excuse to neglect duties to parents).
• He objected to traditions that reversed divine priorities (Matthew 23:24, tithing on garden herbs while neglecting love).
• He objected to traditions being pushed as commands without the wide acceptance of the community (Mark 7:5, hand-washing was not yet a widely accepted tradition).

Yet notice that some of Jesus’ disciples and Jesus himself apparently practiced this tradition (Mark 7:2 says that “some of” Jesus’ disciples did not do it). For a modern Christian wanting to incorporate some Jewish traditions in worship and lifestyle, the key is to get information from reliable Jewish sources. The best source is a person who lives in the Jewish community.

Trevin Wax: You write that the Jewish Passover was a meal with ceremony, not a ceremony without a meal, as the Lord’s Supper has become in contemporary days. What are ways that we as Christians can revitalize our observance of the Lord’s Supper?

Derek Leman: It would be radical, but I would love to see Christian communities consider eliminating the juice-and-cracker communion. Jude and perhaps 1 Corinthians 11 mention agape feasts. Remembering Jesus’ body and blood might not fit in a church auditorium, but could be moved into the dining hall or even into homes.

Trevin Wax: You write that on the night of Passover, the Israelites “needed faith and obedience, to believe God’s Word and act on it. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world calls for action as well as faith.” Are you saying that salvation in some sense depends upon our obedience to Christ?

Derek Leman: Absolutely. I believe (and so did the Reformers) that there is no salvation apart from obedience. There is a classic popular religion myth that faith apart from works has any value. Not only would James disagree, but so would Paul and Luther and Calvin. Paul said, “God will render to every man according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:6-7).

Biblical faith is transforming faith, always. Calvin said, in Institutes of Religion, “Still, however, though the whole of Scripture is against them, they dogmatically give the name of faith to a persuasion devoid of the fear of God.”

Trevin Wax: You write that “the traditions of Judaism have mysterious shadows of Messiah in them.” What are some of these foreshadowings of Christ? How can we be better trained to see Christ in the Old Testament feasts?

Derek Leman: Both the Old Testament and later Jewish tradition have shadows of Messiah in them. There is a rather complex theological argument I could make for Messiah being in Jewish tradition, but here I will simply assert: Jesus has not been absent from his people from the time of the cross until now. Examples from Jewish tradition are too numerous to catalogue.

One of my favorites is the liturgy we recite after reading from Torah, “You implanted eternal life within us.” How true that within the Jewish people eternal life was implanted: his name is Jesus. Of course examples from the Old Testament must number in the thousands as well.

My basic advice to people is to read the Bible in its correct order, studying the Old Testament and understanding the New in light of the Old (instead of the all-too-common reverse). This will lead to the discovery of numerous glorious shadows.

Trevin Wax: You write about worship being about “survival,” not just attending weekly services, since the people’s survival depended on a good harvest. How can we restore that sense of total dependence on God in our day and age where food and necessities are so accessible?

Derek Leman: The only way I can think of for relatively prosperous Westerners to regain a sense of worship-for-survival is to be involved heavily in the plight of less prosperous people. If we are frequently made aware of and link communities with people who struggle to fill their bellies even though they worship the same God, then we will begin to understand.

Trevin Wax: What is the greatest lesson that Christians can learn from Messianic Jewish congregations?

Derek Leman: The greatest lesson is that God still has a people, the descendants of Jacob, and is at work fulfilling his promises to and through these Jewish people. Jews must remain Jews in Messiah. In Acts, the intention was not for Jews and Gentiles to join in such a way as to eliminate identities. Jewish followers of Jesus need to be allowed to form communities in union with, but separate from churches. Unity is not uniformity.

Check out Derek Leman’s Threads Bible Study here.

Interview with Derek Leman © 2008 Kingdom People blog

Book Review: Worship Matters

Books on worship are almost as numerous as worship CDs. Good books on worship are almost as rare as good worship CDs. Thankfully, Bob Kauflin’s new book Worship Matters: Leading Others to Encounter the Greatness of God (Crossway, 2008) is not just a good book on worship; it’s great! Kauflin serves as the worship leader for Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland and the director of worship development for Sovereign Grace Ministries.

“Worship matters. It matters to God because he is the one ultimately worthy of all worship. It matters to us because worshiping God is the reason for which we were created. And it matters to every worship leader, because we have no greater privilege than leading others to encounter the greatness of God. That’s why it’s so important to think carefully about what we do and why we do it.” (19)

Whereas many books on worship emphasize skill and performance while other books stress the fervency and sincerity of the leader’s heart, Kauflin refuses to pit one against the other. He spends considerable time speaking to the skill and excellence of the leader, but he also reminds leaders that “the greatest challenge is what you yourself bring to the platform each and every Sunday: your heart” (21).

What I found most helpful in Worship Matters was the dual emphasis Kauflin places on worshipping with the head as well as the heart. He stresses the importance of knowing God through his Word. He critiques worship leaders for rarely reading theology books (29) and says:

“The better we know God through his Word, the more genuine our worship will be. In fact, the moment we veer from what is true about God we’re engaging in idolatry. Regardless of what we think or feel there is no authentic worship of God without a right knowledge of God.” (28)

But Kauflin does not advocate a mere head-knowledge of God. He insists that “mind and heart belong together. Strong passionate desires for God flow from and encourage the faithful, thoughtful study of God - his nature, character, and works” (32). Rarely do you find worship leaders who so easily bring together fervent emotion and a passion for theology.

Kauflin defines the worship leader this way:

“A faithful worship leader magnifies the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by skillfully combining God’s Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the Gospel to cherish God’s presence in to live for God’s glory.” (55)

He then spends most of the book unpacking each phrase of this definition. He devotes two chapters to music, helpfully teaching that “it’s the gospel that blends us together, not music” (105). He divides worship songs into four categories:

1. “Don’t Use”
2. “In Private”
3. “Could Use”
4. “Should Use”

Regarding the Regulative Principle that teaches us to only do in a worship service that which is explicitly commanded in Scripture, Kauflin offers three nuanced and balanced principles:

1. Do what God clearly commands
2. Don’t do what God clearly forbids.
3. Use Scriptural wisdom for everything in else.

Perhaps the most helpful section of Worship Matters comes toward the end. Kauflin lists what he calls “healthy tensions” in worship. For example: “Transcendent and Immanent. Head and Heart. Planned and Spontaneous. Rooted and Relevant. Skilled and Authentic.” He shows how these tensions are good when they are properly balanced in pastoral wisdom and Scriptural teaching.

The last section of the book focuses on the worship leader’s relationships. Regarding the role of the pastor, Kauflin says,

“God has given the pastor, not the worship leader, the ultimate responsibility for the direction of the church. That includes the musical portions of the meeting. When we are at odds, Scripture is clear: I am the one who needs to submit.” (242)

Worship Matters is one of the best books on worship I have come across in recent years. Kauflin’s wisdom and passion shine through on every page. If you had to read just one book on worship this year, choose Worship Matters. You won’t be disappointed.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

Related Articles:
Romanian Worship: Rediscovering “Awe”
Newsflash! The Key to the Twenty-Somethings is NOT Musical Style
Youth Worship: Worship Bands and Song Choice

Lessons from a Blog Sabbatical

My month-long sabbatical from blogging has come to an end. I am glad that I took the time off, as the month of July proved to be even more demanding and tiring than I had expected. I am coming away from my sabbatical with a few lessons that I am glad to have learned.

1. The blog is not the center of my life.

After nearly two years of blogging, I enjoyed the time off, and was surprised to discover that I hardly missed blogging at all. Before the sabbatical, I was beginning to worry that I was becoming too interested in blogging (my stats, my posts, my links, etc.). The month of July convinced me, happily, that such is not the case. There were no symptoms of “blog withdrawal.” My time away from the internet simply reminded me that there was life before blogging and life continues just fine without it as well.

2. I enjoy writing.

Several times in July, I experienced the urge to write. But interestingly enough, my desire to write was not tied specifically to blogging. In fact, I found that my joy in writing was refreshed during the sabbatical, since I was not writing for the blog. Come to find out, I enjoy writing. Pure and simple. The fact that blogging gives me an outlet with which to (hopefully) encourage and challenge other believers is merely icing on the cake. My true joy in the blogging experience is writing.

3. Time away gave me some perspective.

In the blogging world, it is so easy to overestimate your importance and your readership. Seeing the number of visitors or subscribers in any given day might give you the impression that you have a large number of devoted readers. Such is not the case. A Google reader does not a thoughtful reader make. Taking July off helped me to gain some perspective. For me, blogging is a tool in which I can improve my writing skills and (hopefully) provide some insights that might be of some value to other believers.

4. I would be just fine if I never blogged again.

The sabbatical helped me see what it would be like if I were to close down Kingdom People one day. I’m not sure I would miss it! That doesn’t mean that I plan on stopping. It only serves as a reminder that I truly hope, first and foremost, to be a godly husband and father, a faithful minister of the gospel, and only after that a “blogger.” Blogging is farther down on my list of priorities.

5. The way I have blogged in the past is the way I should continue blogging.

I did not miss blogging because I have never been a daily blogger anyway. Usually, I spend one day a week (for about two hours) crafting and scheduling my posts for the upcoming week. Confining my regular blogging time to one period of two hours a week helps me stay disciplined and keeps me from posting something too hastily.

If you are a regular blogger, let me encourage you to take some time away. You might learn some different lessons than the ones I’ve learned. But I guarantee you that a vacation from blogging will provide you with some perspective.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

How a Little Becomes a Lot

“How many loaves do you have?”
- Jesus, to the disciples (Mark 6:38)

The dilemma intensified as the fading daylight signaled nightfall’s approach. Thousands had followed Jesus out into the countryside to hear Him teach. The disciples saw they had a hungry crowd on their hands and no possible way to feed them.

During the day, they hadn’t thought to mention the concern to Jesus. But now, their worry got the best of them. They were helpless, stranded without the money or resources necessary to fulfill the people’s need.
While the disciples were fretting over the money they needed and didn’t have, and thinking about the food the crowds needed and couldn’t find, Jesus remained calm. He pierced the air of worry and gloom with a simple question: “How many loaves do you have?”

Often, when God calls us to serve Him, we worry about resources and finances. Can we afford it? Do we have the time? Will it be too costly? Then, when we are sure that we have heard God’s voice, we respond by dangling before Him a list of needed items, as if we were headed to the supermarket with a grocery list.

Jesus didn’t ask the disciples what they thought they needed. Neither does God ask us what we think we need in order to serve Him. He asks us to look at what we already have! In response to our rattling off a list of necessities for ministry, God replies, “Fine. What do you have?” God waits to see what we do with what we have before He intervenes and brings the miracle.

Jesus sent the disciples out to find the loaves and fishes already available. Then, with those loaves and fishes, He performed the miracle. Too often, we think that our inability to earn our salvation means we are unable to do anything even after we are saved. Yes, we are often people of little faith, but God wants to transform our little faith and small resources into a big miracle with limitless possibilities.

A little can become a lot in the hands of Jesus.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

Three Kingdom Blessings

God has given our family three major blessings during these summer months - three blessings that I pray will bring fruit for the kingdom of God in unique ways.

A Baby

This summer, Corina gave birth to our second child - a daughter, Julia Karis Wax. We live in a culture that sometimes downplays the importance of children, often seeing them as burdens and heavy responsibilities. As Christians, we see our new daughter as a blessing from God - a blessing to be treasured, cherished, and trained up in the way of the Lord. A godly woman of faith can do tremendous things for God’s kingdom, and we pray that our investment in this little girl will one day reap kingdom benefits that we would never think to imagine.

A Book

The second summer blessing has been the opportunity to work on a book, scheduled to be published by Crossway in January 2010. I have spent the last two months working on the manuscript, and I plan on spending the month of August making final revisions and receiving feedback from some friends. I am humbled that the Crossway team would want to publish this project, and I am excited about the opportunity to labor for the kingdom in a new way.

A Mission

A third summer blessing has not yet arrived. I plan to take a small mission team to Moldova (the country that borders Romania) in September. This will be my first trip to this Eastern European country, and I am looking forward to teaching/preaching again in Romanian and having the opportunity to train bivocational pastors. I have long believed that when the time is right, we will do additional work in Eastern Europe, and it excites me to think that we will soon have a foretaste of future ministry.

My 31-day blog fast was needed in order to direct my attention to the three summer blessings that God has given us. But it is good to be writing regularly again. Next week, I plan on sharing a few lessons I learned from taking a blog sabbatical.

written by Trevin Wax. copyright © 2008 Kingdom People Blog.

A Blog Sabbatical

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a personal sabbatical from blogging. No new material will appear at Kingdom People during the month of July. On August 1, I will resume blogging here at Kingdom People. I will also be making an announcement that my regular readers may find exciting!

I know that the short-term nature of the blogosphere makes an extended absence unwise from a blogger’s standpoint, but I have several good reasons for taking a 31-day hiatus this summer:

1. Need for Spiritual Refreshment
I look forward to directing some of the time I would have spent blogging to more prayer, Bible study, and devotional reading.

2. Other Important Responsibilities Vying for My Time

• Less than a month ago, my wife gave birth to our second child. I believe I will better serve my family if I devote a little extra attention to my wife, son, and new daughter during this month.
• Also, my parents-in-law have just arrived from Romania. They are staying with us for the next five weeks, and I look forward to some quality time with them.
• My responsibilities at church this month are many: including the preparation for a renewed discipleship emphasis in August as well as a mission trip to Moldova in September.
• I will be taking a J-Term in Louisville this month - a class which demands much of my reading time.
• I am also planning to attend a conference at the end of the month.

3. Blogging can be addictive.
I do not want to be constantly concerned about blog statistics, comments, and links. The best way to avoid the danger of caring too much about a blog is by taking a break from it for awhile.

4. Blogs are also inherently self-promoting.
My blog may have good and helpful content in the short-term, but if I ever view the blog as a way to promote myself before others, I will become a self-centered, self-absorbed person whose contributions to the Kingdom will be diminished in the long-term. Having blogged consistently for almost two years now, I think it would be wise to take a step back and evaluate the spiritual effects (both good and bad) that blogging has on me.

I appreciate the readers who subscribe to Kingdom People and those who visit this site regularly. If you happen upon this site during the month of July, you might enjoy looking through the archives. I believe you will find some articles, interviews, or devotional thoughts that may be helpful.

So, until August 1… I pray you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

Display in Us Your Grace

O. Father of glory, this is the cry of our hearts -
to be changed from one degree of glory to another,
until, in the resurrection, at the last trumpet,
we are completely conformed to the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Until then, we long to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord,
especially the knowledge of his glory.
We want to see it as clearly as we see the sun,
and to savor it as deeply as our most desired pleasure.

O merciful God, incline our hearts to your word and the wonders of your glory.
Wean us from our obsession with trivial things.
Open the eyes of our hearts to see each day
what the created universe is telling about your glory. 
Enlighten our minds to see the glory of your Son in the gospel.

We believe that you are the All-glorious One, 
and that there is none like you.
Help our unbelief.
Forgive the wandering of our affections
and the undue attention we give the lesser things.

Have mercy on us, for Christ’s sake,
and fulfill in us your great design to display the glory of your grace.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen

- John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, pgs. 17-18.

C.S. Lewis on Overcoming Temptation

“I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience et cetera doesn’t get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the very sign of his presence.”

- C.S. Lewis, in a letter to Mary Neylan, January 20, 1942

The Importance of Wise Counsel

A few days ago, I wrote about a period during my Romanian sojournings that I refer to as the “Letdown.” My responsibilities in the village church had been dramatically reduced, mainly because of a fall-out between my home church and the village pastor.

During this stressful time, I rarely spoke of my feelings regarding the issues between me and the village pastor or between my church at home and my church in Romania. At times, keeping quiet was a challenge. But I did not want to cause problems or dissension in the church.

Eventually, some people began asking questions. Some began asking why I was not as involved. Realizing that I could not avoid at least some discussion of the events, I decided to meet privately with the most prominent elder of the church. He was one of the most devout and spiritually minded men that I’d ever met - never one to cause dissension. Never one to lend an ear to gossip or talking. I knew if I were to speak to anyone, he would be the one. 

My feeling “underused” in the village, and also the possibility of being seen as “money” brought this unofficial and undisclosed meeting between the two of us. He was wise and knew something was wrong, but he had not been filled in on what exactly had transpired between the churches.

What encouraged me most about our brief meeting was that neither of us spoke negatively about the pastor. It was not my intention to question the leadership, even though I felt hurt by some of the pastor’s actions that spring. It was not my intention to speak badly of anyone, only to address my concerns to the elder, who had been asking me why I was no longer speaking in church. I knew that I would have to explain to him the fall-out between my church and his pastor. My purpose for working in the village was not to bring money. My purpose was to work with the youth. It needed to be clear.

The elder quickly realized what was going on. There were some problems sweeping through the church, and I was getting bogged down into issues that were not really mine to begin with. He encouraged me and told me to continue on in the work, to not let these problems take away our joy and courage, and to continue in our work with the youth, for God was truly working among the young people there. “Do what you can, Trevin,” he said. “Leave the money issues aside and just do what you can.”

The elder’s words sustained me during the upcoming months of village work. The relationship between my home church and the village church was never quite the same. The relationship between me and the village pastor needed some work too, but we pressed on together toward a common goal. By this point in my Romanian ministry, I felt like I was in over my head. That’s why the counsel I received was so beneficial. No one should underestimate the importance of wise counsel.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

In the Blogosphere

I’m quoted in this Washington Post article about a new version of my favorite game, Stratego.

Pray at the Pump: A Meditation on Jesus and Economic Discipleship

Christianity Today interviews Tim Keller about his book The Reason for God.

Mark Seifrid’s “fresh response” to N.T. Wright. (PDF)

The Gentleman’s Guide to Tipping

Check out Jared’s terrific picture of Yosemite Valley.

How you can keep your car running at peak fuel efficiency.

Al Mohler on how a Canadian court is undermining parental authority.

Top Post this week at Kingdom People: Book Review - The Courage to Be Protestant

Romanian Letdown

Even though I blended into the church and the village, living just like the Romanians and now speaking the language fluently, I was still seen as the American. Try as I may, I could never totally assimilate into Romanian culture. One of the reasons I did not want to be seen as American was the tendency for Romanians to view all Americans from a financial perspective. American equals Money.

During my first six months in Romania, it seemed like my responsibilities in the village church were endless. The pastor of the church had me preaching once a week, sometimes even more than that. I was active in the Friday night Bible studies. We held Saturday youth meetings, and I had several Sunday youth meetings as well.

But during this time, the village church leadership mistakenly expected my home church in the States to help finance their new building campaign. This led to misunderstanding and then to a fall-out between my church in America and my church in Romania. I was caught in the middle, unaware of how to handle the situation.

Due to external circumstances and internal misunderstandings between me and the pastor of the church, my leadership in the church changed drastically in the next few months. I still actively participated on Saturdays in the youth service, but my opportunities to preach on Sundays disappeared. The pastor suddenly stopped giving me opportunities to minister to the church as a whole.

My first year in Romania could be divided into two parts. The Fall and Winter months had me almost overused in the village, involved in everything possible! The Spring months had me underused. Other than the Saturday Bible study, I was hardly involved in anything.

The fall-out between my church in America and my church in Romania affected my ministry opportunities in the village. I was no longer utilized in any public fashion at all. During this time, I had to work to keep a good attitude and avoid becoming bitter. It would’ve been easy for me to just shake it off and say, “I’ll go somewhere else,” since other pastors had been inviting me to work with the youth in their churches. But I loved the youth in this village too much to simply shrug my shoulders and try to find a church that would better benefit from my ministry. It would have been wrong to see things that way. Instead, I decided that I would serve God in whatever capacity He gave me, even if that meant that my role would be minimized.

Through this situation, I came to understand that not all ministry is up-front, speaking in church. Much of what constitutes important ministry takes place behind the scenes, in one-on-one conversation with the youth, and in being an example.

I understood my role during the Spring as being behind-the-scenes while my friend and co-worker in the village quickly took on responsibilities that put him in front of the church. While he was given the pulpit more often on Sundays, I dedicated myself to discipling the youth through one-on-one ministry over the course of the entire weekend. We sought to complement each other as a team. He could do what I could not. I could do what he could not.

Despite the discouraging feeling of being “underused” during those difficult months, I learned some valuable lessons about what it means to reject the “seat of honor.” Christian servants must be willing to be “last” and behind the rest, to not seek the credit for the ministry successes and to accept blame for ministry failures.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog 

Book Review: The Courage to Be Protestant

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.