What It Means to Be Protestant

Description

These days many evangelicals are exploring the more sacramental, liturgical, and historically-conscious church traditions, including Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This hunger for historical rootedness is a welcome phenomenon--but unfortunately, many assume that this need can only be met outside of Protestant contexts.

In What it Means to Be Protestant, Gavin Ortlund draws from both his scholarly work in church history and his personal experience in ecumenical engagement to offer a powerful defense of the Protestant tradition. Retrieving classical Protestant texts and arguments, he exposes how many of the contemporary objections leveled against Protestants are rooted in caricature. Ultimately, he shows that historic Protestantism offers the best pathway to catholicity and historical rootedness for Christians today.

In his characteristically charitable and irenic style, Ortlund demonstrates that the 16th century Reformation represented a genuine renewal of the gospel. This does not entail that Protestantism is without faults. But because it is built upon the principle of semper reformanda (always reforming), Protestantism is capable of reforming itself according to Scripture as the ultimate authority. This scholarly and yet accessible book breaks new ground in ecumenical theology and will be a staple text in the field for many years to come.

About the Author

Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) serves as the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ojai in Ojai, California. He is the author of numerous books, including Anselm's Pursuit of Joy, Retrieving Augustine's Doctrine of Creation, Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't, and Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals. He runs the popular YouTube channel Truth Unites. He and his wife, Esther, have five children.