In the spirit of the timeless classic, Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen (1923), Kruger sets out to illustrate the misguided truths clinging to liberal Christianity. Liberalism is nothing new, but simply comes under new guises like emergent and progressive. Like a “master class in half truths that sound appealing until you dig deeper” (6), Kruger dives in and explores the false foundations undergirding many of the progressive creeds today. In truth, liberal Christianity is not an offshoot from the Christian tradition, but a different religion altogether.

Kruger rightly affirms the partial truths baked into many assertions of progressives. He then proceeds to dismantle the bad argumentation biblically, illustrating the whole truth from the whole of Scripture. He debunks the 10 commandments of progressive Christianity, proffered by Phillip Gulley’s book, If the Church Were Christian (2010), and later affirmed by Richard Rohr’s devotional on Gulley’s work. Kruger realized there is still an “abiding presence of liberal Christianity” (5).

At only 55 pages, I wish the book were longer. Kruger’s critique is trenchant and insightful. While all 10 commandments are worth looking into, Kruger highlights three hallmarks: Focus on man over God, downplay of doctrine over morality, and the claim of uncertainty while being very certain (53). These can be seen in various dogmas of progressive ideals such as Jesus as a model for living more than an object for worship (ch. 1), affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their sin (ch. 2), and the work of reconciliation valued over making judgments (ch. 3). These ideas may be alluring on the surface, but do not present the whole truth. Knowing the Bible’s teaching is the best defense against seductive lies. Kruger is a great guide toward that end. ( )

Michael Kruger doesn’t hold back from his attack on unbiblical (progressive) Christianity but does so in a way that seems out of reactive anger to one source rather than a reasoned approach to an entire ideology. He’s right to be staunch on biblically based Christian faith, but seems to focus his entire discussion solely on the representation of one person (Gulley). While doing this, I can’t help but feel he swings hard with anger at the ideas as if not calmed down to engage the conversation. I appreciated the succinct nature of his “10 commandments” style set up, but do wish there was more depth with more focus than just the singular focus on Gulley’s statements as the representation of Progressive Christianity. I also felt he too often wanted to create a hard “black and white” with certain points when there were important pieces to note with regard to each side of a thought. This may have been induced by the seemingly “angry” writing. With all this said, I do believe it’s worth a read for anyone facing the confusion of modern Christianity vs biblically based Christianity. It is well done in it's succinct style. ( )