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Book Review: Don’t Call it a Comeback

First of all, this book has a great title, cover and theme. Don’t Call it a Comeback…Am I the only one who hears (and quietly sings) LL Cool J’s “Mama said knock you out!” when you read that?

The sub-title gets at what the authors are after: The Old Faith for a New Day.

This is refreshing. In this book you have nearly two dozen young evangelical leaders writing on very important topics. The goal is to print and bind that old faith as articulated by young leaders. This, in my view is very encouraging and refreshing. I praise God that many today are not looking inward for creativity and meaning but rather looking outside and even backwards for truth unchanged, tested and strong.

The book is edited by Kevin DeYoung. Himself a very good writer and thinker, DeYoung shows his ability to lead a project and get many different voices to sing in harmony and, well, sound good. Unity of voice is always the challenge with a group writing project. These guys do a good job being different but the same.

Along these lines, you have to admire them for taking such a big chunk of the pie for this book. At the end of the day it’s who we are, what we believe and how we live. This is not an easy task. They do a good job putting in a lot of what really matters.

This is how the book breaks out:

Part 1: Evangelical History: Looking Forward and Looking Back

Part 2: Evangelical Theology: Thinking, Feeling, and Believing the Truths that Matter Most

Part 3: Evangelical Practice: Learning to Live Life God’s Way

In this limited space I will tell you first about some small critiques and then what I really liked.

I really was surprised not to have a chapter on the Resurrection of Christ. I know that you can’t include everything but this is a pretty big one to not include. I also concede that other chapters reference Christ’s resurrection. However, if you are trying to put what is important into the next generation’s back pack, then I believe you should include detailed attention to the resurrection of Christ.

I was really excited to read Darrin Patrick’s chapter on Social Justice. Aside from the clever title: What’s God God to Do, God to Do with It…I really respect Darrin. In particular I have benefited from how he carefully thinks deeply about issues and then comes back up to share widely with so many of us. His book Church Planter is a great example of this. In this chapter however, I was not greatly helped. There is as much of a buzz as there is debate about social justice today. Patrick defined (via Abraham Kuyper) a couple of  terms to help clarify. The institutional church is as you might expect, is the church (think gathering and preaching, etc.). The organic church is the equipped saints that go out into the world and serve and do. My issue, aside from new ways to think about categories that I already have (and need) set, is that the two seemed to really overlap quite a bit. In the end I felt as though the church’s mission was to proclaim the gospel and serve the city (via soup kitchens, homeless shelters, etc). Maybe it’s my own hard-headedness, but as a pastor trying to work through the tension in our context, the chapter seemed to conflate the personal responsibilities and practices of the church and the people rather than help distinguish and clarify the two.

As far as what I liked, the list is quite long so I’ll give a few.

First, Andy Naselli’s chapter on the Scriptures is a must read. He does a fantastic job explaining why and how the Bible is a book like no other. Great stuff here. Kevin DeYoung’s opening chapter on how to reach the next generation was liberating, refreshing and convicting. His answer: Give them God. Awesome. Tim Challies works through the thorny issue of exclusivism vs inclusivism with a fair measure of biblical care and compassion. It is very helpful. Denny Burk tackles the homesexual issue (that’s just fun to write). No seriously, he does a great job thinking through how the gospel answers the current debate about gender confusion. And Thabiti Anyabwile writes about the local church. This is obviously very important to stress to a culture and generation that is so saddled with individualism. Christianity is quite different. And the church is quite beautiful; because it is Jesus’ church.

I really enjoyed the book. I’m thankful that all of these guys worked so hard to put it together and give us something to rejoice in (unity, truth) and pass on to others to read in an accessible volume with a fresh soundtrack.

Discounted copies are available at these sponsors of this site:   WestminsterAmazon | Kindle

I try review books on Fridays. Click here to see previous reviews.

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