This book is a jeremiad
against “new” versions of
evangelicalism — marketers and
emergents — and a summons to return to
the historic faith, defined by the
Reformation solas (grace, faith, and
Scripture alone) and by a high regard
for doctrine.
Wells argues that historic, classical
evangelicalism is 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 their tendency to try to win
parishioners as consumers rather than
worshipers, advertising the most
palatable environment rather than
trusting the truth to be attractive.
He takes particular issue with the
most popular evangelical movement in
recent years — the emergent church.
Emergents, he says, are postmodern and
postconservative and postfoundational,
embracing a less absolute
understanding of the authority of
Scripture than traditionally held.
The Courage to Be Protestant is a
forceful argument for the courage to
be faithful to what Christianity in
its biblical forms has always stood
for, thereby securing hope for the
church’s future.