Released in the UK May 2009
Released in the US July 2009
Large trade paperback | 256 Pages
9781845502843 • £8.99 $14.99
BISAC – REL067030
A Foreword by Sinclair B Ferguson. A collection of interviews on handling truth and error in the church. Contributors reflect on this issue in relation to the minister’s own life, pulpit ministry, local church leadership, seminary training, denominations, the impact of the academy, Evangelicalism, contemporary trends, history, creeds and confessions, and doctrines that are currently under attack. There is also personal reflection on these matters, lessons drawn from experience, and practical advice. The interviews are introduced by a primer on heresy and false teaching, and concluded with a chapters on why “Being Against Heresies is not enough” and “What really matters in ministry: directives for church leaders in Acts 20.”
Contributors include: Carl R. Trueman, Tom Schreiner, Michael Horton, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Derek Thomas, R. Scott Clark, Tom Ascol, Guy Waters, Kim Riddlebarger, Ron Gleason, Sean Michael Lucas, Gary L. W. Johnson, Conrad Mbewe, Geoffrey Thomas, Joel Beeke, Robert Peterson, Michael Ovey
Martin Downes
Until recently Martin Downes was Pastor of Christ Church, Deeside, North Wales, Martin blogs at against-heresies.blogspot.com. He has also contributed to Reforming or Conforming: Post-Conservative Evangelicals and the Emerging Church published by Crossway Books.
9781527109674 |
9781781916469 |
9781781913161 |
9781845503437 |
This is a book that promotes reflection. By introducing you to a number of leading Christian thinkers, it gives you a read that is interesting, informative and stimulating. It provides you with a treasure-chest of historical, theological and practical insights as it airs issues that are confronting the worldwide church and its leaders at the present time. Christian pastors, leaders and academics who neglect this book will be very much the poorer intellectually, spiritually and practically.
Stuart Olyott
Pastoral Director, Evangelical Movement of Wales
Martin Downes' book is very unusual. To be honest I had already seen it and decided its subject was so depressing that I didn't want to read it before reading the 'Exiled Preacher' interview led me to buy it. Martin has written the two introductory and two closing chapters and the rest of the book consists of twenty interviews with evangelical academics and pastors. There are some very sharp insights from some of the contributors but there are common emphases: 'the importance of biblical exposition in the life of the church, the value of well-tested and pastorally well-proven Confessions of the church, the importance of guarding the heart, the privilege of genuine friendships in which men seek to hold one another to a gospel life-style.' Well worth reading - I just read a chapter a day and gave time to thinking about what had been said.
"Risking the Truth is one of the most innovative and interesting books I have come across this year. Structurally, I have never encountered a book quite the same: in addressing a unified question, that of heresy within the Church, it draws on the insights and contributions of many leading Christian pastors, teachers, and theologians across the world..It is not a collection of essays or chapters on assigned topics, but rather a series of one-on-one interviews, conducted by Downes, which make for a unique set of enjoyable benefits that I discovered to be consistently threefold at least: first is the benefit of a personal glimpse into the lives and ministries of humble and capable men of God; second, immense collective insight into how to discern and address heresy within the Church; and third, analyses and reflections upon specific modern errors and heresies by those who are leading experts in their particular fields."
"What a novel way to approach this most vital of subjects! Given that theological reflection is human thought about the Scriptural revelation of a tri-personal God, I have always believed that the personal element has a place in all of our theologizing. The subjective should not-indeed cannot-be removed from theology. And here we see the way that some of the most important theological minds of our day personally grapple with how truth is to be defended. This mesh of subjectivity and Christian apologetics-in which objectivity is so vital-makes for both compelling and profoundly instructive reading."
Michael A. G. Haykin
Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky