THE FAITH
Given once for all - Jude 3
By Charles Colson and Harold Fickett. Zondervan. 226 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-0-310-27604-3
‘This book reads like a novel and packs the wallop of a sledgehammer. I think it is quite possibly the most important book Chuck has ever written’, writes Bill Hybels. J.I. Packer, Rick Warren and a host of others pay similar tributes. It certainly is well written and some of it is excellent. In my view, however, the book is not ‘a clear, concise and compelling summary of what followers of Jesus actually believe’ (Warren) but rather a manifesto for Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT).
The title of the book comes from Jude 3: ‘I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’. Colson is absolutely right in reminding us that, in a day when therapy all too easily replaces theology, Christians need urgently to know what they believe, why they believe it and why it matters. His assessment of contemporary church culture in America is very good, including the ‘emerging church’. His response to Dawkins and Da Vinci are superb, but it isn’t all like that!
