Why I Am Protestant by Beth Felker Jones (Ecumenical Dialogue Series)

Summary: A short defense of Protestant belief amid a larger ecumenical emphasis. 

I picked up Why I am Protestant in part because I have previously read a systematic theology textbook by Beth Felker Jones and I knew I could trust the book to be worth reading. I do not really need help understanding Protestant theology or an apologetic for being a Protestant, so I was really out of curiosity about what the book was about more than a particular need. This is part of a series by InterVarsity Press about ecclesiology and ecumenism. The series is assuming that Catholic, Orthodox and Protestants are all Christians and that rightly understanding both your own background and the backgrounds of others will help you to be a better Christian.

I cannot think of anything about the structure that I would change. The book opens with a defense of Christianity as a whole, before moving on to the particularity of Protestantism. And I think that is the right framing. We are all Christian, and some of us are Protestants. She then moves to a discussion of ecclesiology (the theology of the church and church structure) which frames the next two chapters on the strengths and weaknesses of the larger Protestant movement. I think looking at both the strengths and weaknesses is important to rightly defending a perspective. One of the problems of the modern apologetics movement (of which this isn’t really a part), is that the movement has largely focused on “winning” not exploring or persuading. This book is about exploring the reality of the Protestant world and to do so, we have to include weaknesses as well as strengths.

The next to the last chapter is a defense of diversity and again, I think this is an essential chapter for a book like this. Protestants go badly when we assume that we are the ones that have it right and all others are less than. But at the same time, we would not intentionally hold beliefs that we know to be wrong. Felker Jones gets the balance on that right.

The final chapter is a book on scripture. One of the strengths of the Protestant movement as a whole is a strong emphasis on scripture. I was in a book group this past fall that read a book about the prophets. And the group was mostly made up of Catholic and Episcopal members. As much as the group did include a number of theologically aware members, it also fell into the stereotypes of Catholics members who knew their theology but not their bibles. We need both. Felker Jones picked passages to discuss that were not focused on proving her right as a Protestant, but instead were focused on revealing blind spots that need to be pointed out if we are going to rightly read scripture.

This is a book that I think would make a great book group or Sunday School class discussion. But I also think it does a good job a pushing the reader just a bit. I am strongly ecumenical. But I also need to be reminded that the church is bigger than my little part of it. I overlapped reading this with the audiobook of The Myth of Good Christian Parenting and that reveals many of my biases in my theology. I strongly believe that Christianity is liberatory and anti-hierarchical.

There are other Christians, many of who were the subject of the Myth of Good Christian Parenting who believe the opposite, that Christianity is fundamentally hierarchical and that to oppose dominating hierarchy is to oppose God. With fundamental disagreements like that, it is hard to think we can both claim Christianity. But we can. That doesn’t mean that the differences should be papered over or minimized. I think the authors of the Myth of Good Christian Parenting were right to name the theological beliefs that make it more likely that the hierarchical teaching would lead to abuse. That doesn’t mean that all who believe in hierarchy are abusive, but there is a chicken and egg problem because there is a correlation if not causation. We just can’t answer whether those who are likely to abuse are drawn to hierarchical teaching or are those who are taught hierarchical teaching are more likely to abuse because of the teaching.

My point here isn’t to move into a discussion of the Myth of Good Christian Parenting, but to note that regardless of who you are and what your theological leanings are, there are people who are also Christian who disagree with that position. And we need to be reminded of the long history of ecumenical focus. Felker Jones rightly notes that Augustine in his strong opposition to the Donatists, still believed that the Donatists should be considered Christians even if they were teaching what he thought was heresy. The very nature of Christianity means that we need to affirm the Christian-ness of those who disagree with us, even when they are teaching things that we think are harmful (like teaching abusive practices as a requirement for Christian parents.) That doesn’t mean we should stop pointing out the problems. But we should do it from a position of affirming their Christianity.

Why I Am Protestant by Beth Felker Jones (Ecumenical Dialogue Series) Purchase Links: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook