What’s Shakin’ Next

I just got my copy of David Wells’ new book — The Courage to be Protestant — and it promises to be a magnificent read. I am not very far into it, but it is the capstone of four great books that came before it. But even though I just started, I was arrested by this comment on page 3, where he is talking about the pragmatism of contemporary evangelicals.

“Pragmatists to the last drop of blood, these evangelicals are now in the cultural waters, not to understand what is there, but to get some movement” (p. 3).

One of the points I have despaired of getting across to trendy young evangelicals (and which trend in trendy doesn’t much matter) is that this instinct for chasing the wave is one of the central traditions of evangelicals. Other things may come and go, but that remains constant. Whether we are talking about tattooed emergents or folks playing liturgical dress-ups, the point is always to be part of what’s shakin’ next.