The Lost Soul of American Protestantism

DG Hart explains how there is more in common between evangelicals and mainline Protestants than confessionalists. He does an awesome job in tracing why confessionalists are less popular but more faithful to historic Christianity than evangelicals and liberals. He's a sharp historian who is slightly out of the mainstream, but demands as much respect as a Noll or Marsden. A must read for thoughtful Christians and those who study religion in America.

When we think of Protestantism in the 20th century, we usually think of the dichotomy between liberals and evangelicals. In this book, Dr. D. G. Hart has carefully focused our attention on an overlooked group of Protestants: confessional Protestants such as those in Presbyterian, Reformed, Anglical, and Lutheran congregations. The value and richness of this book is in the fact that Dr. Hart reminds us that confessional Protestants are the true heritage of the Reformation of the Church in the 16th century. Both liberals and evangelicals come from the Pietism and Revivalism of the 18th century that was opposed to confessional Protestants. This will be a welcome edition to your library. It stimulates thought as a history, but additionally it will encourage those American Protestants who long to see the church return to the preaching of the Word, administration of the sacraments, and an appreciation for the visible church of Christ. I will quote from pg. xxx1. Dr. Hart writes: ...Confessionalism cannot produce immediate results the way pietism promises, through either the imminent inauguration of God's kingdom on earth (the liberal Protestant preference)or the speedy end of human history in divine judgment (the evangelical hope). But confessionalim's longer perspective on the flow of human history, thanks to its understanding of the institutional church, often yields as much wisdom as pietism produces results." Well said!