Truth Unites - I Wrote A Book About Protestantism

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

More About The Book: https://www.zondervan.com/p/what-it-means-to-be-protestant/ Gavin Ortlund shares about his new book, What It Means to be Protestant: The Case for an Always-Reforming Church (Zondervan Reflective, 2024). Truth Unites exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville. SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://truthunites.org/

Hey, everybody. I have a new book coming out. It's called What It Means to Be Protestant, the case for an always reforming church. I'm so excited to release it out to the world. I remember I was standing in my backyard in Ohio when I decided, I need to write this book. And I had time in my schedule. I realized, okay, I'm going to commit myself to this, drawing together from some of the work I've done on YouTube and in my scholarship and elsewhere, try to make what I hope is a helpful and accessible, basically just case for what is Protestantism, which is not a question that everyone necessarily has the clearest answer to already, it seems. So it's being published by Zondervin in their Zondervin Reflective series, which is a great series.

Zondervin's a great publisher. They've done a great job. We put up a couple of pictures of the book here. And if you're interested in buying it, you can check out the video description for this video and see a link to do so. Basically here, just real quickly, I want to explain why I wrote this book and then who it's for, and then just talk through a little bit of the contents. One of the things I've become more aware of is this dynamic of what I call ecclesial angst. Do you pronounce it, angst or angst? Who knows?

Ecclesial angst, let's go with. Sounds more formal. Ecclesial angst. What is Ecclesial angst? So the word ecclesial has to do with the church. And I think the angst is the sense of fear, apprehension, dread. And a lot of people are afraid they're in the wrong church. A lot of people are afraid they've made the wrong decisions about the church. and some people, even to the point of fearing, I will not be saved because I'm not Roman Catholic or I'm not Eastern Orthodox or I'm not Protestant or whatever other option.

Or just I'm missing out on the fullness of the church. I'm missing out on the fullness of the sacraments. And of course, these claims come at us a lot. A lot more people than I realized are in that place. They're feeling this deep sense of anxiety. I also call it anxiety at times. I've also discovered there's a huge interest right now. When I got onto YouTube, I did not. expect to get into quote unquote Protestant apologetics but there's a massive amount of interest in this right now it's really interesting many people I put out videos on things like apostolic succession or the papacy or solo scriptura or whatever it might be and I'm just flooded with comments saying oh I was looking for resources on this it's interesting despite the fact

that we've been having these disagreements for so many hundreds of years and there's so many huge quantities of people on the different sides actually we don't have enough resources. I know that's shocking, but especially, and then here's the other thing, the historic Protestant voices have largely been forgotten. In this book, I draw a lot from classic Lutherans like Martin Kemnitz, classic Anglicans like William Whittaker, John Jewel, many others, Richard Hooker, classic reformed theologians like John Calvin and Francis Turriton and many others, the Puritans. And I'm drawing from these historic voices, they've written these wonderful books that have largely been forgotten. What I've basically realized is,

there's an enormous amount of interest in these sort of ecumenical questions, what kind of church should I join? It's just amazing how many people are wrestling with that. But then there's an under-resourcing of it, and especially the historic Protestant voices are just not out there. So what I'm trying to do in this book is just draw together kind of a classic case for a Protestant position and articulate that. But it's also, it's not exhaustive. This book does not cover every issue, and it's trying to be accessible. So it's not an academic book. So if you're looking for something that will, you know, be 500 pages and combed through every issue,

that's not this book. This book is a brief articulation designed to be given. So let me get into this second question now of who is it for. It's designed for a broad audience. So I hope that it will be interesting to specialists, and I hope it could be relevant. But I really think it is a little bit more for, I will say, a popular audience, but people who do have some interest. You know, it's not an extremely, the Zondervin reflective series is a great series

because it does books that are a little bit more mid-level. So it will have some footnotes, and it's, you know, here's the kind of people I'm thinking of. A lay person who's never been to seminary, they're not theologically trained, but they're theologically curious. They're watching debates on YouTube. They're talking about these things. Maybe there's a parent of a child who's made a big change from one tradition to another,

and they're trying to figure out. I want to learn about this. So they're motivated, they're curious, they're studying. Maybe it's somebody who is in one of the non-Protestant traditions. I'm really honored that people from outside of Protestantism watch my videos on these topics, and maybe they're saying, I've heard this a lot, they're saying, well, I just want to see an articulation of the Protestant side and understand that position on its best terms. I appreciate that. Maybe someone like that could benefit from this book. Maybe there's a college pastor who is seeing students leaving one tradition for another, or they're wrestling with whether they should do that, and they're trying to look for resources or a pastor of a church. I hear from pastors all the time,

saying, oh, someone in my church converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, I don't know a lot of bodies to orthodoxy, how do I learn more? And again, there's a gap of resources in this area, it seems. And of course, seminary students and Bible college students and others as well. A lot of the people who watch my YouTube videos are young people who are just curious. So I hope it will be accessible and helpful for people. By the way, one of the people that's really influential in this book, as we'll talk about next, is Philip Schaff, and there's very little out there. That which is out there that's defending a Protestant view tends to be more sectarian, as you'll see if you read chapter one of this book. In fact, let's get into the contents now. Philip Schaff had a much more

sort of ecumenical vision of Protestantism. So you'll see that if you read chapter one of this book. Let me put up a picture of the table of contents, and you can see the book comes through three sections. Okay. So in section one, this is the most introductory section. Here I'm talking about Catholicity, which means the wholeness of the church, and I'm basically making a case that Protestantism is best positioned for Catholicity. And that's counterintuitive because many, because of some street-level Protestant practice, which is very sectarian, and just wants to write off everything outside of its own little tribe. That happens. But historically, Protestantism wasn't like that, and I basically go through and I show

that is not how Luther and Calvin thought. That is not how historic Protestant lights like Turriton and Richard Hooker thought. And I especially draw from Philip Schaff. Philip Schaff was essentially, and here you get into the question of what is Protestantism, Philip Schaff, he was a 19th century reformed church historian and theologian. If you've ever heard the phrase Mercer'sburg theology, that's associated with Schaff and his colleague, John Nevin. But basically, Schaff was a great church historian. If you've done any work in the church fathers, you've probably heard his name. He thought a lot about Protestantism, and he basically cast Protestantism as a renewal or reform effort within the church. So it's not rejecting the rest of the church. It's not saying there

is no church outside of us, saying, no, the church has always been there, the church has never died, but this is an effort of reform and renewal within the church. And that basic idea, though most people will have heard of it, I actually think it rewards careful reflection, because it's actually a beautiful vision and a more generous posture, I think. And what I do in that in chapter one of this book is show how Shaft's vision of Protestantism is in line with that of the original reformers. And so then the next few chapters in section one, I'm basically just sort of describing the nature of this renewal movement. So I'm showing that Protestantism is different in chapter two from the major alternatives, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy,

Oriental Orthodoxy, the Assyrian Church of the East, all of which claim to be the one true church. And there are differing implications drawn from that claim, depending on who you talk to, but they all have this core institutional exclusivism. The one church is manifested in one institutional hierarchy, and what is underneath that hierarchy. Protestantism has a different vision, I think, a more realistic vision based upon how we see the church today. So that's really chapters one and two. Contrasting Protestant vision versus other visions of Catholicity. What does it mean when we say the church is Catholic or universal? Chapters three and four are then describing the nature of this renewal movement, and I'm talking about some of the abuses that were going on in the late medieval

West prior to the Reformation that prompted it. I talk about indulgences and financial abuse. I talk about persecution. I talk about some of the ugly realities of church history. And then I talk about the Protestant recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, which, and I make the case that this was a great service to the broader church to recover and re-centralize this doctrine and its insight into the gracious heart of God and the way we become put into a state of friendship with God on terms of pure grace by faith alone. And I talk about where we agree, there's a lot of agreement, actually. There's been a lot of ecumenical progress in talking about those things, but there are still some points of disagreement as well, and I chart that

out in chapter four. Section two of the book gets into questions of authority. This is where it always funnels down to, because immediately the question arises, well, if Protestantism is a renewal work within the church, how do you tell the difference between a genuine renewal effort and a spurious one? What makes Protestantism different from Mormonism? For example, we have this kind of charge put against us sometimes. Now, there's actually a lot of differences between those two. Mormonism claims a new revelation and so forth. Protestantism is nothing like that. But nonetheless, to make these kinds of distinctions, you have to get into the question of basically, how do we determine what Christianity is?

You know, what's our sort of theological method or our chain of authorities that we look to to answer questions like that? And so in these chapters, I make a case for the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura. So one of the things I'm arguing early on in the book is that really at the heart of what unites the different Protestant traditions together are the five solas. And really the two that are absolutely at the nerve center of what Protestantism is and what unites all different strains of Protestantism are Soloscriptura and Solofidae. Solo scriptura is the how. Solofidae is the what.

So that were made right with God by faith alone, Solofidae. This is the material concept that was really re-centralized by the Reformation and really gave it its energy. in Luther's own heart and then reverberating out from there. Sola Scripura is the method, or it's the how. It's the formal principle of the Reformation, as opposed to material. That is to say, this is the basic conception of how authority works in the church. And all it means is that the scripture is at the top. We have nothing like the scripture.

It's uniquely infallible with respect to the rule of the church. Sucinctly stated, Sola Scripura means the scripture is the only infallible rule that the church has. So I make a case for Sola Scripura. I respond to lots of different objections in Chapter 6, like, well, what about the canon of Scripture? Sola Scripura was invented by the reformers in the 16th century. It's a theological novelty, lots of these countercharges that we often hear. And then in chapters 7 and 8, I look at alternative visions of authority in the church, focusing especially on questions of apostolic succession, and then I look at the papacy as one, probably the largest and most visible alternative way of conceptualizing authority in the church,

and the whole ecclesial system that comes with the papacy in Roman Catholicism. So that's really at the foundations of where Protestantism differs from alternatives. And I go through that in Section 2 of the book. section three is the one I almost wanted to start the book with this because I think here is where in some cases the most powerful arguments can be made but I ultimately and others encouraged me in this and I think they were right ultimately I think it helps to start a little more broadly with just sketching out what Protestantism is which is what I'm trying to do in section one and then and then get to these arguments last so section three is about church history and

So we've got Catholicity, authority, history, these three sections. So section three, I'm working through the charge against us from Cardinal Newman, that to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant. And I'm pushing back against that. I'm saying, now I get into the question of what does that mean to be deep in history? How are you defining the word deep there? Actually, some of the ambiguities in what Newman said in its context are sometimes lost upon people when we just use this quote too much. But basically I'm saying, no, I'm showing the historic

Protestant appeal is precisely to be deep in history, precisely to go back to the earliest foundations, looking to the teaching of the apostles, but then going out from the apostolic age, looking at the witness of the ages. And basically, as Protestants, we don't think that the mere fact that something might come into being and have a widespread attestation is necessarily a sign that it is true or correct. So there's things I use the word accretions a lot. This is in reference to a slow build-up, something that's slowly coming along, but it doesn't have an authentic relation to apostolic teaching. And I say there's a lot of accretions in the non-Protestant traditions, and I basically just give two case studies. And those who watch my videos will be

familiar with these, but you'll get them in full form. with all the footnotes and everything. And I'm going to talk about Mariology, especially the assumption of Mary, the most recent Roman Catholic dogma, and then the veneration of icons. These are completely valid issues to look at when we're talking about church history.

Because they're really clear. I think the case is overwhelming that these are not apostolic, but also the importance attached to these dogmas and practices in the case of icon veneration is such, by the non-Protestant traditions, is such that they make it a wedge issue. They make it a deal breaker, and so it's fair game to look at. Then I have a conclusion where I basically walk through, okay, what do you do?

You know, let's suppose you're in anxiety. Let's suppose you're like 50-50 or you're wrestling with these things, and I just give some practical sort of pastoral guidance for those who are wrestling with these questions. So I just wanted to give you a little bit of an overview of the book, share about it. I really sincerely hope this book will help people. Again, I could summarize like this, my heart aches for people to explore the riches of Protestantism before they leave. So many people leave Protestantism without studying it.

I'm amazed at this. They go by their own anecdotal experience at their own evangelical megachurch or something like this. They think that's Protestantism, but they don't read historic Protestant theology. They never read the reformers. and then they leap off into another tradition. And I hope this book will be a resource for people who want to give Protestantism a fair shake and look into a historic Protestant case.

And ultimately, pastorily, I hope it will help bring a sense of assurance in the gospel. Ultimately, I'm not so much interested in Protestantism for the sake of Protestantism. I'm interested in it because I think it represents a genuine re-centering on the gospel. And I think that what is ultimately needed in the human heart is a sense of the love of God communicated through the gospel of Jesus Christ applied by the Holy Spirit to the heart that is penitent and has faith in Christ. And that is actually what I think is at the root of a lot of needs in these like ecclesial conversations.

People need a sense of assurance from the Holy Spirit. And that's what I hope my YouTube channel does. And that's what I hope this book will do is to help sort of minister to people who are, they feel like they're drowning in anxiety and help give them a sense of peace and assurance. Because that's what the Holy Spirit can do in our hearts as we're trusting in Christ. I love that focus on the simplicity of the gospel. And that's what I hope this book will really leave people with. So check it out.

Leave me a good review, if you're willing. That always helps on Amazon and elsewhere. If you can share about the book, if you're excited, if you believe in this book and you're willing to help me kind of get the word out, that helps. And you can find out details about how to purchase. the book in the video description as well. So I just wanted to share a little bit about it. I'm excited about it. I hope it helps people. All right, everybody, thanks for watching and thanks for being willing to check out the book. If you're willing to do that, I appreciate it. Take care.