Sola by James K Allen, et al

The five solas are an essential aspect of the Protestant church. They are a foundation for the church, the authors say, and life giving for believers. This book covers all five and is a good introduction to them. The historical setting of each sola is given and then what they mean for the Christian life.

Each sola is written about by a different author. As is often the case with multiple authors, the writing style and emphasis differs among them. Jason Allen covered Scripture alone. He used 2 Tim. 3:15-17 to show the inspired nature of Scripture and that it is authoritative. I felt he failed to prove that it is our only source of authoritative truth.

Jared Wilson wrote about grace alone. He spent quite a bit of time on Scripture alone and faith alone, almost as much as he did on grace alone. I have found Wilson at times hard to follow. He wrote, “Salvation is all of grace. It's not turtles all the way down, it's grace!” (Loc. 363/1201) What? Turtles? I even read the previous paragraphs to understand the turtle reference. Nothing. (I guess I should have read Green's novel to understand Wilson's theology.)

Jason Duesing wrote about faith alone. He spent quite a bit of time relating Luther's story, how he became a monk and had a conversion experience. Mathew Barrett wrote on Christ alone. He went into the Roman Catholic view in detail. Owen Strachen wrote on God's glory alone. I found his writing to be the most encouraging and full of application, including a good section on suffering.

I recommend this book to Christians who want to know a bit about the solas. The work is not very theologically deep nor very rigorous.

You can read an excerpt here.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

Jason Allen is the president of Midwestern Baptist Seminary. He has served as pastor and interim pastor of Southern Baptist churches over the past fifteen years. You can find out more at www.jasonkallen.com. Jared Wilson is the Director of Content for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Managing Editor of For The Church, and Director if The Pastoral Training Center at Liberty Baptist Church in Kansas City. You can find out more at http://jaredcwilson.com/. Jason Duesing is the academic Provost and Associate Professor of Historical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He had previously been at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Matthew Barrett is Associate Professor of Christian Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine and is host of the Credo podcast. He is the author of numerous books. Owen Strachan is Associate Professor of Christian Theology as Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Director of The Center for Public Theology, and Director of the residency PhD program. He is the author of several book and numerous articles.

Moody Publishers, 144 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.