Don't Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day

by Russell D. Moore, Tullian Tchividjian, Tim Challies

Unites some of todayOCOs most promising young evangelicals in a bold assertion of the stability, relevance, and necessity of Christian orthodoxy, and reasserts the theological nature of evangelicalism.

Genres: Theology, Christian Living, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Church, Discipleship

155 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 6, 2011

About the author

Russell D. Moore is President of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s official entity assigned to address social, moral, and ethical concerns.

Dr. Moore earned a B.S. in history and political science from the University of Southern Mississippi. He also received the M.Div. in biblical studies from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Ph.D. in systematic theology from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

He blogs frequently at his “Moore to the Point” website, and is the author or editor of five books, including Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches, and The Kingdom of Christ: The New Evangelical Perspective. In addition to these, Dr. Moore is also the author of dozens of academic articles and essays within the field of systematic theology and Christian ethics. He also serves as Senior Editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity.

Reviews

[John Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review first appeared at Honey and Locusts

I've read several multi-author books before, but this was something new: 22 authors in under 240 pages! It was a whirlwind of topics and voices, but was edited together with surprising cohesion and clarity.

There's an awful lot to like about  Don't Call It a Comeback . I loved the concept of the project, which had the aim of introducing "young Christians, new Christians, and underdiscipled Christians to the most important articles of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life". This book delivers on that promise, and is an excellent introduction to a wide variety of topics — ranging from church history to systematic theology to contemporary issues such as social justice, gender confusion, and abortion — for those who have not read widely or deeply (which describes many, if not most, of the professing believers in my generation).

The book also has a secondary benefit in that it introduces readers to a lot of pastor/blogger/authors (all of whom were under 40 at the time of publishing) who represent an up-and-coming wave of leaders for the Church. Each chapter ends with a short selection of books suggested for further study on the topic. In short, if a young, new, or underdiscipled Christian were to want to delve into a serious study of theology and cultural issues, he would do well to start with the books, authors, and blogs mentioned in this book.

Though the writers have a variety of styles and approaches, each chapter is very accessible for inexperienced readers. The authors do not assume that readers have prior knowledge of the terminology and historical figures typically mentioned in books of a theological nature, yet the tone is never condescending. Neither does it come across as elementary; experienced and knowledgeable readers have much to learn here as well!

While it is a given that in any book by multiple authors some chapters are going to be better than others, there were no chapters that felt sub-par. Even the "weakest" link (and I couldn't tell you who that might be) is pretty darn strong! But there were a few chapters that stood out to me as favorites. Kevin DeYoung's chapter "The Secret to Reaching the Next Generation" is worth the price of the book all by itself, and Russell Moore's chapter on the Kingdom ("Heaven after Earth, Heaven on Earth, or Something Else Entirely?") is predictably excellent given his work on the equally excellent book The Kingdom of Christ.

Overall (as you can probably tell), I loved the book, but it wasn't perfect by any stretch. Sometimes one of the most difficult things to do in a book review is to judge the book that was written, rather than the book I wish had been written. I've tried to do that, but there are a few things I really wish had been a little different.

The nature of this book required brevity on each topic, leading to a necessary lack of depth. As I said, it's meant to be an introduction. Still, in many instances I felt adding just one clarifying word, phrase, or sentence would have made a big difference without adding to the length or readability of the book. For example, Tullian Tchvidjian's chapter "Worship: It's a Big Deal" (which appeared previously as an article by the same title at worship.com) is a truly great introduction to the value of corporate worship. However, it says nothing about expressions of worship as a way of life outside the context of the Body of Christ gathered on the Lord's Day. Granted, Ted Kluck's chapter largely dealt with this side of worship earlier in the book, but given this book's intended audience, I would like to have seen something to the effect of telling readers that "worship" is a concept not limited to Sunday services. Honestly, simply adding the word "Corporate" to the front of the chapter's title probably would have been sufficient to make this distinction.

I also came to the end of the book expecting and hoping for some sort of charge. The foreward by D.A. Carson is wonderful, and I thought it deserved an opposite bookend after the final chapter. Something to tell the young, new, underdiscipled Christians where to go next to continue their studies, and to encourage them to find someone to help with their discipleship. Those things were mentioned in the foreward and introduction, but I would have liked to see them reiterated once more.

These few minor reservations aside, this is a great book. It's one I will gladly place on the short list of books I'd recommend to a young, new, or underdiscipled Christian. Buy it here .

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I saw the list of contributors to one of Crossway's most recent titles, Don't Call It a Comeback: The Old Faith for a New Day, I immediately knew I wanted to read it. With contributors like Tim Challies, Russell Moore, and Tullian Tchividjian, and a forward by D.A. Carson, there was bound to be some great stuff there. So, I was thrilled when I was offered the chance to review it!

A main aim of the book according to editor Kevin DeYoung is,

"to introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdiscipled Christians to the most important articles of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life." (p. 16)

A second aim was to reclaim the term "evangelical" and show that, contrary to it's usage in recent years, it's actually a term with real theological meaning. To accomplish these two goals, the book is divided into three parts.

The first section is historical, looking at the history of evangelicalism and how it should inform upcoming generations. The next section delves into the main tenets of historic, orthodox Christianity, from the nature of God and Scripture, to justification and sanctification, to the Kingdom. The final section applies these basic Christian beliefs to current social issues like "social justice", homosexuality, and abortion, as well as issues like worship and missions. Within each section, each chapter is written by a different contributor.

I appreciated every chapter, but several really stood out for me: sanctification by Owen Strachan (Ch. 8), the Kingdom by Russell Moore (Ch. 9), worship by Tullian Tchividjian (Ch. 17), and missions by David Mathis (Ch. 18). Nearly every chapter had parts that really hit home and spoke to me. A few examples...

I loved Andy Naselli's illustration on Scripture in chapter 4:

"God didn't dictate the whole Bible the way an executive mechanically dictates letters to his secretary. The human authors' personalities are like musical instruments. If I play the same tune on a number of wind instruments, each will sound different even if I play the exact melody in the same key and even though it's all coming from the same breath-mine." (p. 60-61)

I really appreciated Ben Peays' discussion of the new birth in chapter 6:

"Unfortunately, many Christians think of salvation only in terms of getting into heaven and avoiding hell. Christ becomes not a way into life, but merely a way to avoid death, reduced to a get-out-of-jail-free card or-even worse-fire insurance...This leaves many Christians understanding what they are saved FROM, but not having a good understanding of what they are saved INTO. One danger of evangelism that reduces Christianity to making a decision between heaven and hell is that it overlooks the value of the new birth for our earthly life...If evangelism focuses only on what happens AFTER we die, it leaves people wondering what Christians should do UNTIL they die. Salvation is ultimately saving us FROM God’s wrath and judgment, but it also saves us INTO a life with Christ today. This reality changes our priorities, our desires, what we treasure, and how we will spend our time and energy on earth." (p. 91-92)

Or how about Owen Strachan's description of sanctification in chapter 8:

"Sanctification is at base a tenacious grip on the robe of Christ, a wrestling with the Lord to bless us, a sojourn in the valley of death in pursuit of a city we cannot see." (p. 109-110)

I took something away from each and every chapter. Don't Call It a Comeback is a great, accessible overview of historic Christian belief and how it practically applies to our lives. It's the perfect primer for new believers, a great refresher, and offers fresh insights even for those who are well-versed. In other words, anyone can benefit from it!

Thanks so much to Crossway for providing a review copy.

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[Jeanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for all Christians whether you are new to the faith or have been a Christian for many years. I like the continunity of the book that was written by a handful of leading authors and teachers. Starting from Evangelical history, Evangelical Theology, to Evangelical Practice. Each part important to a christian to know the history, the why and the how. You may say to yourself all I know is I love Jesus and I want to serve him. Those are all good intentions, however, we must build our faith on a strong foundation. This book is a tool for that. Scripture is its main source with valuable insight from each author. The importance of the Gospel was the main thread in this book. You don't find that in many christian books any more. You don't even find that in a church message. What is the Gospel, how does the Gospel save, how does the Gospel work in my every day life. That is the main reason why I gave this a 5 star rating. The message was a 5 star, it was a quick read with me marking at least every other page with good insight on how I can be at the feet of Jesus where as Jesus himself put "that will never be taken away".

[David J. Harris · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a rather odd book for several reasons. First, the title was never really explained or alluded to in the book. The introduction stated that the book was written by current evangelical leaders that would introduce younger Christians to the basic doctrines of the faith. But it didn't. It didn't get close to covering the major doctrines of the faith. And what is even more disappointing is that the majority of the authors didn't write anything for this book. There were magazine articles, theological journal entries, and even chapters from other books copied and pasted so that said author could have his name on the front. Some of the articles/chapters were several years old. It gets two stars because at least two of the chapters were good reading, especially Owen Strachan's entry on sanctification. But overall, the book is a failure, as you get the feeling Carson didn't know the title when he wrote the introduction, and the authors didn't read either. This appears to be a shameless attempt on Crossway's part to make money by using big names. And that is really quite pathetic. Don't call it a comeback, because this book will never come back to my personal library.

[Jonathan Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent primer for the new or growing Christian. Excellent reminder for the "veteran."

[Dan Curnutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

D.A. Carson and John Piper were talking and agreed that it's a great time to be sixty. Why do they think that? Because the generation below them actually wants to be mentored, wants to hear and read the expositions and theology of quite a number of sixty-year-olds.

Why is this a good way to start this book? Because it sheds light on the fact that the church is not headed down the path of destruction but the fact is there are many young Theologians /Pastors out there who want to learn from those a bit older and wiser so that they keep Doctrine/Theology well grounded in truth.

Kevin DeYoung the editor of this book summarizes the desire of the writers in two points. One) they want to introduce young Christians, new Christians, and underdiscipled Christians to the most important articles of our faith and what it looks like to live out this faith in real life. Two) they want to reassert the theological nature of evangelicalism.

They acknowledge there are some inherent dangers in tackling this project, but they are approaching it from a humble/servant attitude and truly have a great hope for the future of the church.

In the first chapter Kevin DeYoung relates being asked by many Pastors, "How do you go about reaching the next generation, what's the secret?" His response, "The secret is, there is no secret. . . . you just have to be like Jesus. . . .if you walk with God and walk with people, you'll reach the next generation." That is profound, yet simple. So much so that many of us will discount it, but don't, that is the truth, so grab hold and work on your relationship with God and others.

Another point that DeYoung expresses is this, "Give up on relevance, and try love. If they see love in you, love for each other, love for the world, and love for them, they will listen. No matter who `they' are." I found this personally affirming as I teach a Sunday night class of young people in their twenties. Although I am approaching sixty they want to learn, they want to hear what I have to say and they affirm to me that it is often because I have just shown them that I love them. Today we can try all the right things to try and relate to the modern culture, but what they really want is to be loved. Christ commanded us to `love others as you love yourself'. We need to remember that.

Jay Harvey's chapter on Justification is absolutely wonderful. He brings four major points to light as well as describes two problems that people express regarding Justification. In his summary he states, "Justification matters because there is nothing more essential in life or in death than what God thinks of us. Ultimately there are two options; God looks upon us either as justified or as condemned. Likewise, we look upon God as either our loving Father or a fearful judge." That is a great summary for his chapter.

The next chapter is by Owen Strachan and deals with Sanctification. He states, "we see that sanctification is progressive, meaning that it unfolds over the course of one's life." He reminds us that Justification is a one-time event that God alone extends to us. But Sanctification is an ongoing process that requires a partnership between God and us. He believes that we all are in a battle today in our desire to obtain personal sanctification. He see's it as threefold. 1) We battle the love of self. 2) We battle the love of sports and trivial things. 3) We battle the love of sex.

I don't have the space here to comment on these three battles, but the way Owen unpacks them are profound. You will find yourself examining your own life to see how you have fallen in regards to each of these areas. This one chapter is well worth the price of the book.

Well, I could go on and on but you would probably get bored.

This book is amazing in that you have eighteen young Theologians/Pastors who are each taking a chapter and expounding on the wonders of our faith. They are each new and fresh, yet old and timeless. That is the wonder of this book.

I promise you that you will enjoy every chapter.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, and Reformed came out back in March of 2008, and captured within it the story of many young evangelicals my age. He told stories of the resurgence of faith and zeal among young believers discovering the doctrines of grace, and how they were looking to older generations (John Piper, John MacArthur, etc.) for guidance in their beliefs and practices.

Another movement among young Christians around that time was the Emergent Church, a more liberal, socially-conscientious group of people trying to find new ways to explore faith and “do church” for today’s younger generation. They were full of zeal, but very lacking in biblical truth in many areas. In response to that movement, Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck came out with Why We’re Not Emergent, which articulated traditional Christian doctrine within the context of young modern culture in contrast to the methods of young people in the Emergent Church.

Those 3 authors mentioned are all contributors to Don’t Call It A Comeback, a new collection of essays from some of the most influential, young evangelical pastors and leaders. The book, according to the foreword by D.A. Carson, aims to “unpack what Christians ought to believe and how they ought to act and…articulate the essentially theological nature of evangelicalism.” The result is a spectacular assortment of short essays dealing with everything from the history of evangelicalism (including a discussion of the ways the meaning of the term has changed), the basic doctrines universally believed by evangelicals throughout history, as well as how those beliefs should manifest themselves in areas like vocation, families, worship, social justice, gender, and abortion, among others.

The list of contributors is a virtual who’s who if you’re up to date on the movers and shakers in the young evangelical landscape. Kevin DeYoung, who’s quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, edited the book and contributed the introduction and the fantastic first chapter on reaching this generation with the gospel. Other standouts for me (although all chapters were strong) included Hansen’s historical review of evangelicalism, Jonathan Leeman’s chapter on the holiness of God, Greg Gilbert on the gospel itself, Russell Moore on the Kingdom, Justin Taylor on abortion, and Tullian Tchividjian on worship. Like I said, though, there really isn’t a weak contribution to found here.

The format of the book is great, with each chapter being about 10-12 pages, making it a sufficiently-deep yet quick read. The book does a great job of articulating what it looks like to be a twenty- or thirty-something evangelical, Bible-believing Christian today. I am so grateful for men like D.A. Carson, John Piper, John MacArthur, and others who have faithfully taught and demonstrated the gospel over the years, but I’m also extremely grateful for men like the ones who wrote this book who are stepping up to fill those shoes, ready to teach a new generation how to be faithful men and women of God. I highly recommend this book for anyone under the age of 40, but also for all believers who love reading gospel-saturated truth.

[Justin Lonas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even as we share a faith built around the ancient revelation of God through His Word and we encourage people to delve into the time--tested classics of literature and theology, Christians recognize that truth must be given fresh expression to be fully understood and valued. This is why we exegete and preach the Word in millions of local churches the world over each week—-eternal truth is given a present voice through faithful exposition by preachers.

In the same way, the Church has been blessed with those who put such teaching into writing, crystallizing the truths of Scripture for the community as a whole. Every few decades, it seems the Lord raises up a new set of voices to articulate the pillars of the faith to and for their generation in the language of the day without compromising the timeless Word. Don’t Call It a Comeback represents a sampling of some of those voices speaking for today’s believers.

In this collection of chapters, editor Kevin DeYoung and 17 other contributors (including Collin Hansen, Russell Moore, Tim Challies, Justin Taylor, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Tullian Tchividjian) simply but passionately describe the core tenets of historic orthodoxy and attempt to flesh out several key areas where Christian theology should most clearly shape Christian practice.

The goal of each of these writers is to urge believers to ground their understanding of life in Scripture; one by one, they unpack terms like “Gospel”, “justification”, “sanctification”, “kingdom”, and “exclusivism” from abstracts learned by rote to the vibrant foundations of belief they represent. They show us how vocation, worship, church life, and engaging culture flow from that fount.

Every chapter of Comeback is a loving rebuke of error combined with a biblical rebuilding of truth. In particular, Greg Gilbert’s chapter on the message of the Gospel is probably the most powerful expression of the central truth of Scripture I’ve yet read. His resolute portrayal of the stumbling block of the cross, a bloody instrument of torture and execution, as the only message that can bring men to salvation should be an encouragement to every pastor and teacher to boldly proclaim the full and unadulterated work of Christ.

This book is bold, uncompromising, and clear-eyed. The beauty is that nothing in its pages is new (in a grand sense), but neither can any of it be overlooked. That is the wonder of God’s Word and our faith—it is the only story which grows all the richer through each retelling. Comeback is both a much-needed refresher for those who have long followed Christ and an unparalleled primer for new believers. By those virtues, it is also a forceful and grace-filled apologetic to the unreached.

[Gavin Breeden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a noble goal: introduce core orthodox Christian beliefs to new and/or young Christians and it hits that goal very well. I used several chapters while teaching a Theology 101 class to Christian teenagers this winter/spring and found them to be very helpful. I thought the best chapters were: Scripture, Justification, Kingdom, Social Justice, and Worship. I'd recommend this book to new and/or young Christians because it does a great job of describing the history, theology, and practice of the historic, conservative, Reformed-leaning (as far as I know, almost all the authors are Reformed/Calvinistic-ish) variety of evangelicalism.

Some quibbles:

Evangelicalism has always been very loosely defined. So much so, that the word virtually has no meaning today outside of the marketing and political realms (this is something DeYoung acknowledges in the Intro). In this book the authors attempt to define evangelicalism much more narrowly than its current usage would seem to allow (e.g. the very good "Worship" chapter lays down a pretty cut and dry defense of the Regulative Principle which I don't think has ever been a tenet of evangelicalism, though I certainly wish it were). On the one hand, I admire (and agree with) most of what they write in this book, I guess I'm just a little bewildered by their attempt to rescue a word which seems, to me at least, to be beyond salvaging. At the end of the day, this rant is appropriately labeled as a "quibble."

The problem with books like this (i.e. those that are compiled of essays from various writers) is that the quality varies from chapter to chapter. So some chapters were better than others. But that comes with the territory.

I understand that "Homosexuality" and "Gender Confusion" are distinct (though very closely related) issues, but did each of these really deserve its own chapter? I know that this is a big issue for American Christianity right now, but I'm still not sure why more ink was devoted to homosexuality/gender issues than any other topic in the book. Would've rather seen a chapter on Glorification in place of one of those.

[Tim Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked reading this book in bits and chunks over the past few months. It works well as a resource to take off the shelves every now and then. Kevin DeYoung has a great heart for people and the gospel, and it shows here. His first essay on the secret to reaching the next generation was needed and timely for me. He writes about making sure to grab them with passion, win them with love, hold them with holiness, challenge them with truth, and amaze them with God. It is a good corrective for where much of youth ministry has gone. I also liked Jonathan Leeman's piece about God. He deals with the Moral Therapeutic Deism that is prevalent. He says, But one thing is certain: every one of us, in our natural state, believes that God is pretty much like us." He goes on to show how low our view of God can be and what the truth is. He also quotes Brad Pitt to make his point about our view of God, "Movie actor Brad Pitt, explaining why he abandoned Christianity, spoke for many when he said, 'I didn't understand this idea of a God who says, 'You have to acknowledge me. You have to say that I'm the best, and then I'll give you eternal happiness. If you won't, then you don't get it' It seemed to be about ego. I can't see God operating from ego, so it made no sense to me.' Pitt's operating assumption, as with every fallen human, is that he is "like God.'" Each author provides some resources for further reading after each essay as well. Russell Moore's essay on the Kingdom, Tim Challies' essay on Jesus Christ, and Tullian Tchividjian's essay on worship were my other favorites. Tchividjian quotes G.K. Chesterton to help make his general point about the otherness of worship, "How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it."

I would recommend this book for the reference shelf any believer that wants a quick but not so simple dictionary of the faith.

[Josh Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I originally picked up "Don't Call it a Comeback" because in the past I have appreciated some articles by its editor, Kevin DeYoung. The book was not what I expected.....which is not to say it was bad, just not what I was hoping for (which may partly explain my low ranking of it). In a nutshell, the book is a summary of basic Christian doctrine, divided into separate chapters written by a myriad of authors. In so far as meeting its purpose as a "primer" for the faith, I suppose the book does okay.

As a whole, I found this collection mostly uninspiring. Some chapters were better than others. For my money, the best were chapters 9 (Kingdom by Russell Moore), 12 (Social Justice by Darrin Patrick), and 17 (Worship by Tullian Tchividjian).

If you're looking for a fairly basic introduction to the Christian faith, there are plenty of worse places you could start than here. And if a basic overview of Christianity is what you're looking for, then perhaps this book would meet your needs. It just didn't have a lot in it for me that was new or challenging.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was enjoyable to read, though - as expected - some essays were more enjoyable than others.

I want to recommend this book to someone new in the faith, though I don't know if they'd appreciate it or get as much out of it as someone who knows all the lingo. That said, this book nails it's target audience: those who've grown up or been attending church for a long while but (sadly) don't know or can't articulate what they believe. The book succeeds at achieving this mission statement.

My favourite essays were the introduction, the entirety of part 1, the first essays on Evangelical Doctrine, and the essays on Vocation and Worship.

It's also a great book for when you need a quick reference on a certain subject (ie, justification, abortion, local church life etc)

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways I really enjoyed this book, however I did find that it failed in certain respects, to achieve what it set out to do.

This book is presented as being an introduction of sorts to evangelical doctrine. Part of the promotional blurb reads as follows: "This book introduces young, new, and under-discipled Christians to the most essential and basic issues of faith in general and of evangelicalism in particular." I felt however that this book was far too specific in many areas to be labeled simply "evangelical". To be honest it felt a lot more like an introduction to Reformed theology rather than evangelicalism in general. I guess I was just hoping for a more balanced presentation of the core beliefs that evangelicals hold in common.

[Ian Rees · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does exactly what it sets out to do and acts as an excellent discipleship summary of key Christian teachings from a Reformed perspective. Each of the articles is fresh and lively. What is helpful is that each chapter is limited to about 10 pages, which obviously cuts short discussion on the more complex subjects, But it also compels the writers to be concise and therefore prevents readers from being overwhelmed. The first section looks at evangelical history (probably too briefly to be really useful), before moving on to evangelical theology and then into evangelical practice. This last section has more of a North American flavour to it but is by no means irrelevant for a British/European context. Highly recommended!

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good review and defense of evangelical belief and practice by the younger generation (with the authors all in their 20s and 30s). It focuses specifically on the support of reformed theology, with topics such as the sovereignty of God.

The writing style varies widely with so many authors, just as the topics varied widely. This made some chapters easier to read than others. Some chapters I was chuckling as I read along, and others were more serious in tone. In a rare few to be honest I struggled to stay awake.

Overall I found the book to be very useful, interesting, and worth the time to read.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read, but like every book with multiple contributors, it had its strong chapters and its weak ones. Overall, I felt that the writers did a good job of addressing each theological topic within the short chapters they were allowed. This is an excellent introduction, or review, of the most vital theological positions of the Church. A definite recommendation to read. One caveat to that is that if you are well-read in theology already, there won't be anything innovative here, but there is still some good discussion in light of modern issues.

[David Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice intro theology book. Hard to summarize. Probably my favorite paragraph was one that compared God's writing of the Bible via humans to someone ("Andy") who plays the same melody on several different musical instruments. All of the music is Andy-breathed, but it all goes through the "personality" of the instrument he chooses. So is all the Bible God-breathed, yet still influenced by the actual men who wrote it.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really does exactly what it promises: applying old evangelical values to new controversies and issues. Each chapter is written by a different person ranging from Tim Challies to Denny Burk to Thabiti Anyabwile. It really does a great job of practically arguing biblically through issues like Gender Confusion, Homosexuality, and Missions. The first chapter written by Deyoung is worth the book itself.

[Dwain Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a day when the term "Evangelical" can mean essentially whatever you want it to mean, it is nice to see people coming together to discuss those things that should be considered essential core beliefs that would define what it means to be "Evangelical". I thought that the chapters in the book were well written and thought out. The different topics are covered very well, yet are brief and to the point. I thought, overall, this book did exactly what the authors set out to do.

[Craig Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short introduction to major doctrines of the Christian faith and doctrines that any professing evangelical should believe. There are also a number of ethical and practical issues discussed.

There is nothing necessarily new in this book but the examples are fresh and the writing is inspiring.

[Marshall Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book overall. A few chapters are among the best I've ever read on their subject matter. Additionally, the authors do a nice job expounding the historical tenants of the faith in light of recent attacks and movements against them. Glad to have read it and will keep several chapters handy to share with friends.

[Andy Huette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a superb resource for high school students looking to go more in-depth in a variety of core Christian doctrine. It's theological sound, very readable, and concise. I'm a fan of this book as a resource for theological study that is beyond intro-level, but still very accessible and understandable.

[Jonathan Lilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is so incredibly encouraging to read. The torch has been passed on to our generation and men like Kevin are stepping up to make sure we pass on the priceless truths with which we've been entrusted.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Offers good coverage of some major points and other points that maybe some haven't thought about. I read this with a group of guys from church and there were some good discussions and my thoughts were definitely provoked.

[Glyn Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent. Well worth a read. The collection of authors Kevin has selected for this book are a good choice. An excellent introduction to issues in systematic theology for anyone who is searching for "technical" questions.

[Cbarrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful introduction to various doctrinal subjects. Clearly written.

[Eric Molicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would really like this book to get in the hands of those who are new or young believers as it covers a range of key doctrinal topics in a very solid and accessible format.

[Rusten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very decent intro to evangelical theology. As each essay is written by a different author there are definitely different flavors of writers represented. I especially enjoyed Russell Moore's chapter.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine collection of essays that says a lot of important things about what it means to know God and make Him known.

[Vanessa Grajales · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adapted it when mentoring teenagers